From left to right:
Professor Stewart Einfeld, Chair of Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney
Holly Priddis, co-founder of the Luke Priddis Foundation
Associate Professor Julian Trollor, Chair of Intellectual Disability Mental Health, University of New South Wales
John Feneley, NSW Mental Health Commissioner
On Friday 7th November, the NSW Mental Health Commissioner, Mr John Feneley, launched ‘The Guide: Accessible Mental Health Services for People with an Intellectual Disability (The Guide)’ here in NSW. The Launch was held at the “Developmental Disabilities, Challenging Behaviour and Mental Health: Research to Practice and Policy Conference” at the University of Sydney. The Conference, hosted by the Centre for Disability Research and Policy, presented the latest developments in disability and mental health research with presentations from a number of highly esteemed disability advocates and researchers, including Professor Eric Emerson, Professor Roger Stancliffe, and Professor Pat Howlin. The conference was attended by researchers and clinical practitioners from across NSW.
Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, The Guide is a national framework of understanding and action for frontline mental health service providers with respect to people with an intellectual disability. A national launch of The Guide was provided in May this year at the 2014 Royal Australia & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Congress held in Perth.
This state launch by the NSW Mental Health Commissioner is a tremendous endorsement on the need for such a framework and the reasons why accessible health and mental health services are important for people with an intellectual disability.
For more information about The Guide, please see http://3dn.unsw.edu.au/the-guide.
For more information about the Conference, please see http://sydney.edu.au/health-sciences/cdrp/events/developmental-disabilities-conference.shtml.
