In response to The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System recommendations, Northern Health became a designated mental health service on 1 July 2022. Northern Health is the third largest mental health service in Victoria, providing services to adults and older adults aged 26+ who have a diagnosed mental health condition in the Whittlesea, Hume, Merri-bek and Darebin LGAs.
In the 2023/24 financial year, we provided 144 826 community appointments and there were 2817 admissions to our Inpatient beds. We have just over 1100 staff working in our division.
We pride ourselves on providing high quality mental health services to people living in the northern regions of Melbourne, and work in a collaborative way with consumers and carers based on recovery principles. We aim to provide strong clinical leadership to support all staff in the provision of professional treatment and care by our integrated community teams, inpatient, and residential services.
Consumer and Carer Advisory Group (CCAG)
The purpose of the Lived Experience Consumer and Carer Advisory Group (CCAG) is to uphold Northern Health’s commitment to the participation of consumers, families and carers in the improvement of service delivery, in line with the Royal Commission recommendations. The formal advisory group ensures the voices of consumers, families and carers are heard and their lived experience perspectives are incorporated in all program development levels.
The group is accountable to the Northern Health Quality & Risk Management Committee (QRM) and must adhere to Northern Health’s values of Safe, Kind and Together. The Consumer and Carer Advisory Group operates within a co-design framework where staff members can present ideas and new project proposals to the group and work with them to collaborate on a desired outcome and integrate the lived experience perspective into their work.
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING ACT 2022
The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System recommended the establishment of a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act, replacing the Mental Health Act (2014). The new Act (2022) has an increased focus on human rights and emphasises the importance of supported decision-making and rights, and rights and recognition of the valuable support of family and carers.
The Act’s supported decision-making principles aim to ensure people are supported to make their own decisions about their treatment, care and support
The Act has measures to promote and assist communication between practitioners and people with mental illness and their families, carers and supporters. These measures support people receiving mental health and wellbeing services to understand information and participate in decision making.
For information related to the Mental health and Wellbeing Act 2022, go to:
Our Partners
The Mental Health, Wellbeing and Social needs of all consumer groups (from child and youth to older adults) are met either through direct service delivery or partnerships. Key partners of the Mental health division include:
Partners in care
Partners in Education
