The new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 introduces important changes to the way mental health decisions must be made for consumers. Natalie’s article explores the way that mental health principles can be used so that consumer views and preferences are respected and given proper consideration in mental health decision making.
Snapshot
- Mental health principles failed to be embedded into clinical practice and use of compulsory treatment was not reduced under the Mental Health Act 2014.
- The Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 adopts a new approach for the promotion of human rights in mental health decision making.
- Decision makers will need to understand the differentiated and content-based principles and their obligation to give proper consideration to the rights-based principles.
Mental health laws seek to find an appropriate balance between the human rights of vulnerable consumers and the use of coercive powers to prevent serious harm to consumers and the public.
The Mental Health Act 2014 (MH Act) failed to strike that balance with the introduction of high-level mental health principles. The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (RCVMHS) heard accounts from consumers of this reality. One such account was from “Barbara B”, a consumer who was given compulsory treatment. Barbara B shared her personal story with the RCVMHS, saying that she did not know why she was given compulsory treatment and “ended up” in a psychiatric ward.
