Recommendation 63

What the Royal Commission said

The Royal Commission recommended the Victorian Government establish a new Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The new Centre will:

• work with existing research institutes and centres
• help mental health research across Victoria have a direct impact on services and systems
• make sure new research is in line with the Royal Commission’s priorities
• connect networks of academics and mental health practitioners that can apply research in services
• make sure research and evidence informs education and training for the mental health workforce
• collect, combine and share information from research
• provide advice to people working in mental health services about best practice approaches to treatment, care and support.

The Royal Commission also recommended the Victorian Government promote opportunities to increase collaboration on research into the mental health and wellbeing of infants, children and young people.

What are the opportunities?

This recommendation is linked to recommendation 65 and interim recommendation 1.

The Royal Commission highlighted opportunities to create an adaptive mental health and wellbeing system. This means a system that continues to improve over time. The features of an adaptive system include:

• research to establish a strong evidence base
• innovation to test and grow new ideas
• processes to capture new knowledge and translate it into practice
• evaluating the effects of new approaches
• sharing information so lessons learned can influence decisions about policy, program and practice improvements.

What are we doing?

We have established the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing to drive innovation in mental health treatment, care and support.

The centre is governed by an independent board which includes consumer and carer representation.

The centre has two lead partners, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne, supported by a network of 18 other mental health and research collaborators.

The centre brings together lived experience leadership, innovative service delivery, and cutting-edge mental health research to drive mental health system transformation.

It facilitates the wide dissemination of translational research and leads the development of a capable and compassionate workforce, backed by evidence-based models of care.

Read more about the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.