Reducing Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health
Listen to the recording from the seminar on Wednesday 18 September 2024
On Wednesday 18 September 2024 the Disability Law Network hosted a seminar on Reducing Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health.
Reducing stigma and discrimination is important to create an Australian community where everyone has equal dignity, value and respect and opportunities to choose a life of personal meaning and purpose. It is also necessary to realise the human rights of persons with mental ill-health.
The Disability Law Network was proud to invite a panel of academic and lived experience experts namely Maria Katsonis, Professor Nicola Reavley, Dave Peters and Simon Katterl (see bio's below) to explain what stigma and discrimination are, the different types of stigma and discrimination and why it is crucial to reduce them. The panel was moderated by Emeritus Professor McSherry, who also discussed the recent National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy by the National Mental Health Commission and why the Federal Government needs to implement it immediately.
The panel of experts
Maria Katsonis is an Industry Fellow at the University of Melbourne where she teaches public policy and management at a postgraduate level. She was previously a senior executive in the Victorian public service for 20 years in the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Maria has been using her lived experience of mental illness as a consumer advocate for 16 years with Beyond Blue, Mental Health Australia and the National Mental Health Commission where she served on the Sterring Committee of the National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy. She is also the Deputy Chair of the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Professor Nicola Reavley is Deputy Director in the Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Her research focuses on the population monitoring and interventions to improve population mental health and mental health literacy and reduce stigma and discrimination.
Dave Peters has over 15 years in mental health and the suicide prevention sector and enjoys contributing to system and service reform. He is the Co-Chair for the Equally Well Alliance, advocating for reform to address premature mortality for people living with mental health issues. Dave also enjoys contributing to Higher Education in Occupational Therapy, assisting new and future practitioners understand user perspectives. Dave was a lived experience representative on the Stigma & Discrimination Working Group, focussing on the mainstream health system issues & inequities.
Simon Katterl (he/him) is a mental health advocate and consultant with lived experience of mental distress and trauma. Simon has written on discrimination law and the absence of vilification laws to protect against mental health stigma. He has previously worked at and advised the former Mental Health Complaints Commission, the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System, the Victorian Minister for Mental Health and was a member of the structural stigma committee for the National Mental Health Stigma Reduction Strategy.
Erandathie Jayakody draws on her personal experience of living with a mental health condition and peer support to promote the consumer perspective. She has advised on mental health law reform, is a member of the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal, developed the ‘Consumers Leading in Governance’ pilot programme and was a member of the Expert Advisory Committee to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
Moderator
Bernadette McSherry is an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne, having previously served as the Foundation Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute from 2013 to June 2021. Prior to that, she held the Louis Waller Chair of Law at Monash University. Her areas of expertise are mental health law and criminal law and she has published widely in these fields. She is currently a Commissioner with the Victorian Law Reform Commission. From February 2019 to February 2021, she served as a Commissioner with the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.