Building a stronger future for mental health care Last week Mental Health Australia co-hosted the Members and Leaders Forum with Mental Health First Aid, which brought together leaders, advocates, and professionals across the mental health sector to learn from our overseas counterparts about a whole-of-system approach to mental health care. We were honoured to have Chuck Ingoglia, President and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, as the keynote speaker. Chuck shared his insights from developing and scaling a community model of care in the U.S. – the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) program. This program has transformed mental health and substance use care across the United States by providing consistent, high-quality, community-based care through over 500 community centres. The centres are underpinned by a new financial model driving national and state government co-investment, providing both funding certainty and flexibility for providers, and access to care for people who would not otherwise be able to afford it. In Australia, we are already making strides toward similar place-based, collaborative approaches to improve access to mental health care, with the continued rollout of Medicare Mental Health Centres in particular. The panel discussion that followed Chuck’s keynote touched on several key themes vital to the future of mental health care. Both the U.S. and Australia are grappling with similar challenges around mental health workforce supply and sustainability, as well as supporting the cultural change that is needed to move to more collaborative and transdisciplinary ways of working. Another prominent theme was the importance of working in partnership across sectors – such as with justice, education and housing. Mental health does not exist in a vacuum, and neither can the solutions. Data-informed practice and decision-making was another recurring theme through our discussion. The ability to use real-time, accurate data to guide policy and practice is critical. The CCBHC model in the U.S. has benefitted enormously from data-driven approaches, and we must continue to prioritise this in our own systems here in Australia. The Australian’s Government’s recent release of the 2024 dashboard tracking progress against the Measuring What Matters framework, and the National Mental Health Commission’s National Report are steps forward, but without further mechanisms to collect and integrate data into decision making and practice, we still have a long way to go. The national policy and mental health landscape is constantly evolving, and so too must our approaches. By continuing to learn from global models like the CCBHCs in the U.S., and focussing on building strong partnerships, using data to inform practice, and listening to the voices of those with lived experience and their family, carers and supporters, we are well on our way to creating a more equitable, accessible, and effective mental health care system for all people in Australia. Carolyn Nikoloski CEO, Mental Health Australia | 
