VMIAC - Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council

02/06/2026

We are inviting all VMIAC members to come together for an online meeting about the Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles guidance: From intent to impact, published by the Health and Wellbeing Commission Health (MHWC).

The meeting will be hosted by Ali Pain, MHWC’s Senior Advisor, Lived Experience-Consumer. She will give a 30–40-minute presentation followed by a Q&A.

You will learn how to use the principles to ask questions, understand people’s rights, and feel more confident when accessing or working in mental health services.

We hope to see you there.

Date: 17 June 2026
Time: 12pm to 1pm AEST
Location: Zoom
Register here: https://buff.ly/lZltuGW

If you are not yet a member, you can become a member here: https://buff.ly/2H10u4e

08/05/2026

Yesterday we attended the VCOSS Treasurer’s Lunch at Melbourne Town Hall. We’re now reflecting on what we heard and going through the budget in detail. We’ll be sharing our considered analysis and the implications for our community here soon as well as in our upcoming newsletter. Stay tuned.

24/04/2026

The Victorian Government is currently conducting an inquiry into anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes in Victoria.

VMIAC is preparing a submission and we want to hear directly from our members. Your input will help ensure our submission reflects lived experience and community priorities.

This survey should take around 10 minutes. You can answer as many or as few questions as you like. Take the survey: https://buff.ly/5CiWPO5

The inquiry is considering:
- The scale and scope of anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes occurring in Victoria
- The communication and recruitment methods of anti-LGBTIQA+ influencers and hate groups
- Current strategies to counter hate crimes, hate prevention initiatives, existing public and online safety initiatives
- The role and responsibilities of social media and digital platform owners in preventing and responding to anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes
- Existing data regarding the prevalence and trends of hate crimes Australia-wide
- The impact of hate crimes on diverse LGBTIQA+ communities
- Interjurisdictional strategies to combat hate crimes across borders
- Relevant work for the Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities and relevant government advisory groups

Read more about the inquiry: https://buff.ly/XBbelBN

The Committee will inquire into the scale and scope of anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes occurring in Victoria including the communication and recruitment methods of anti-LGBTIQA+ influencers and hate groups, current strategies to counter hate crimes, hate prevention initiatives, existing public and online....

17/04/2026

On Wednesday, VMIAC welcomed Minister Stitt to our offices along with representatives from Self Help Addiction Resource Centre - SHARC and Tandem Carers to celebrate the passing of the Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2025.

The bill now ensures important oversight and safeguards for mental health consumers are protected and lived experience leadership will continue at the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission and the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.

We are grateful to Minister Stitt and the Victorian Government for engaging with us on amendments to the bill. When our community raised concerns, they listened.

We are also grateful to our friends and partners at SHARC and Tandem for their collaboration on the amendments. And, of course, we send a huge thank-you to our consumer community across Victoria for their tireless advocacy.

07/04/2026

We're excited to join Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing at its Reform in Practice sector engagement day - on Friday 17 April.

Reform in Practice is bringing together Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing system and is an opportunity to connect with the mental health practitioners, researchers and people with lived experience to explore the reform needed across the sector.

We’re excited by this chance to come together as a sector, collaborate and take part in collective learning to help connect ideas, evidence and practice.

For more information and a full program, please visit the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing - Link: https://buff.ly/kjbmbaP

You can register your attendance via this link - https://buff.ly/Rkg80b5

27/03/2026

We want to hear from you.

Five years after Victoria’s Royal Commission into mental health, some changes have happened, while others are still underway - but how have these reforms affected your experience of the system?

VMIAC and Mind Australia are interested in hearing from consumers who have experienced mental health services before and after the reforms, including times you couldn’t access support or chose not to seek help.

Your input matters. Findings from this study will help inform VMIAC’s advocacy work, and may also be shared in academic publications, conferences, and other presentations.

Take our 15-minute online survey and help shape the future of mental health care in Victoria.

https://buff.ly/Nu8Cly2

19/03/2026

We're five years on from the Royal Commission, and VMIAC wants to hear from you about your experience of Victoria's mental health system since then.

Have you had challenges accessing mental health services? Has your experience of the system changed or stayed the same in the last five years? Your story matters!

If you want to share your experiences, we're running an online survey in collaboration with Mind Australia. There's also opportunities to participate in interviews and focus groups. Find out more here: https://buff.ly/eGX8mfk

The Royal Commission into Victorian mental health services made 74 specific recommendations for reforms, and the Victorian Government committed to these in 2021. Details of the reforms can be found here. Some reforms have already occurred, while others have not. VMIAC and Mind Australia are interest...

25/02/2026

VMIAC - along with other organisations such as Tandem Carers, Self Help Addiction Resource Centre - SHARC, the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU), Mind Australia, the National Mental Health Consumer Alliance, and more - are speaking out to stop the proposed changes to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission and the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing. The changes represent a serious step backwards from the vision and commitments established through the Royal Commission.

We're calling on the government and upper house MPs to stop the bill’s passage through parliament to retain lived experience requirements for leadership positions, to report on mental health funding more transparently, and to expand the commission’s powers.

Read more here: https://buff.ly/n8fPyVG

“This should alarm anyone who cares about transparency, accountability and public trust,” mental health organisations say.

18/02/2026

Applications for our Consumers Leading in Governance program are due soon!

Delivered in partnership with the Institute of Community Directors Australia, you'll learn about leadership and governance through a human rights, consumer, and Indigenous lens, and complete a real world placement to deepen your knowledge.

Learn more: https://buff.ly/1XCDsRx

The Consumers Leading in Governance (CLIG) Program supports lived and living experience consumer leaders to build the confidence, skills, and knowledge needed to meaningfully participate in governance and decision-making across Victoria’s mental health sector. Developed by VMIAC and first piloted ...

06/02/2026

VMIAC's Consumers Leading in Governance program (CLIG) returns in 2026!�

If you're a lived and living experience consumer wanting to build the confidence, skills, and knowledge needed to meaningfully participate in governance and decision-making across Victoria’s mental health sector, this is the program for you.�

Find out more and express your interest here: https://buff.ly/PLRKYgU