THE INNER WEST CONSUMER ADVISORY GROUP

Consumer Advisory Group

The Consumer Consultants at Inner West Area Mental Health Service have recently started up a ‘Consumer Advisory Group’.

It currently consists of approx. 8 consumers of Inner West AMHS and the two Consumer Consultants, Neil and James.

It is a good opportunity for us as consumers to meet and group together, and work through discussion (in a meeting style) towards common goals. In particular we will look at issues regarding the feedback, evaluation and improvement of services at Inner West AMHS.

Every meeting has an agenda, and lasts for about 1 ½ hours. Consumers and consumer consultants work collaboratively on setting these agendas. Feedback is minuted, and agendas and minutes of the meetings are send out to participants before or after the meeting (respectively). Our minutes and findings are also reported (in a non-identified manner) to the Management and Clinical Standards committees at the service.

Some of the themes discussed at our first Consumer Advisory Group (CAG), held in August 07, were –

• Methods and visions for Consumer Participation at Inner West
• Our focus or goal for these (CAG) meetings
• Setting the agenda for our meetings
• Current consumer issues
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities – how to involve people from different cultural backgrounds
• Information about an upcoming Case Management Forum
• Information about a Mental Health Legal Centre presentation

Through these meetings we also hope to look planning issues for the service, as well as policy development and training requirements for staff.

Participants are given a voucher in the form of payment for their time, and light food / drinks are provided.

The group meets on the third Monday of each month at the Waratah Clinic.

We currently have a small availability for consumers of Inner West to take part in this group. Any consumer of Inner West can apply for membership, and you do not need to have any specialised knowledge, other than feedback, and an opinion on the service you receive.

If you would like to express interest, or join the Consumer Participation information and mailing list, please contact Neil Turton-Lane or James Kelso on 9377 3505. neil.turton-lane@mh.org.au james.kelso@mh.org.au



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