What the Royal Commission said
The Royal Commission recommended a suite of reforms to provide children and families with early, culturally safe and flexible support through Aboriginal-led organisations in partnership with mental health services.
Aboriginal children and young people will be able to access specialist mental health services, family-oriented therapeutic care and intensive multidisciplinary care delivered within community settings. These reforms focus on care being delivered through Aboriginal organisations.
The Royal Commission called on the Victorian Government to:
- build on Interim Recommendation 4 to support Aboriginal social and emotional wellbeing, and resource the Social and Emotional Wellbeing Centre to establish two co-designed healing centres.
- resource Infant, Child and Youth Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services to support Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations by providing primary consultation, secondary consultation and shared care.
- resource Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations to commission the delivery of culturally appropriate, family-oriented, social and emotional wellbeing services for children and young people.
- resource the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, in partnership with an Infant, Child and Youth Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, to design and establish a culturally appropriate, family-oriented service for infants and children who require intensive social and emotional wellbeing supports.
What are we doing?
We are working to deliver better access to healing and social and emotional wellbeing services for Aboriginal infants, children and young people through family focused services.
Healing Centres
The Balit Durn Durn Centre for Excellence in Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing (Balit Durn Durn Centre) established by VACCHO in 2022, is leading a co-design process to develop a service model for two Aboriginal healing centres.
The co-design process involved the establishment of an Expert Advisory Group and consultations with the Aboriginal community-controlled sector to inform the co-design process. The sites for the healing centres have not yet been identified, but this work is underway. The healing centres are expected to be established by 2026.
Supporting Aboriginal children and young people with intensive social and emotional wellbeing needs
The Balit Durn Durn Centre is also leading the co-design of a service model for Aboriginal children and young people with intensive social and emotional wellbeing needs.
A draft service model framework ‘The Nest’ Aboriginal Wellbeing Service Model Framework (Nest framework), has been created by Balit Durn Durn Centre in consultation with an Expert Advisory Group formed to provide strategic direction for this project.
The Nest will provide guidance to health services to support the development of consistent and high-quality models of care delivered to Aboriginal children and families needing intensive social and emotional wellbeing supports.
The Nest will also guide how infant, child and youth mental health services can work in partnership with local Aboriginal community-controlled organisation to deliver shared care and wrap around supports to children and young people and their families.
Commissioning the delivery of culturally appropriate, family-oriented, social and emotional wellbeing services for children and young people
We are providing commissioning funding to Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations so they can commission and access primary and secondary consultations. This funding supports Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations to bring specialists into their services to work alongside social and emotional wellbeing teams.
Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations may also partner with mainstream services to provide continuous shared care for young people to support transitions to and from mainstream acute services (such as hospitals), where necessary.
Infant, Child and Youth Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services
We are providing recurrent funding for mainstream mental health services for 10 Koori Mental Health Liaison Officers (KMHLOs) positions within selected infant, child and youth area mental health and wellbeing services.
It includes Eastern Health, Orygen, Austin Health, Monash Health, Bendigo Health, Albury Wodonga Health, Alfred Health, Goulburn Valley Health, and Grampians Health. The KMHLOs play an important role in providing cultural support to Aboriginal children, young people and their families. They complement 10 KMHLO positions employed in adult area mental health services.
Reviewed 27 August 2024