Deinstitutionalisation and mental health activism in Australia

Emerging voices of individuals with lived experience of severe mental distress, 1975–1985

Bibliographic Data

ID12650710
AuthorsRobyn Dunlop (0000-0002-5735-2715, University of Newcastle Australia), Hans Pols (0000-0003-1722-3860, The University of Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume19
Issue1
Pages92-114
Publication date2022-01-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory Australia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1449-0854 • E-ISSN: 1833-4881
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14490854.2022.2028559
OpenAlexW4212764151
LanguageEN
Citations received1

Starting in the 1960s, large numbers of patients in Australia’s mental hospitals were released even though hardly any support services were available in the community. By the 1970s, a small number of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, volunteers, and consumer advocates were building alliances and coalitions with each other and with politicians and health bureaucrats to realise change. Using archival records and interviews as sources, we analyse how, in the early 1980s, Simon Champ, Meg Smith, and Janet Meagher, three pioneering Australian consumer advocates, started to speak out and influence discussions about mental health policy. They were also invited to join boards of non-government organisations in mental health care, foreshadowing later developments. Today, the participation of consumers of mental health care in mental health services is taken for granted and mandated, and most services have consumer advisory groups

Distress · Government (linguistics · Mental distress · Mental health · Mental health care · Mental healthcare · Political science · Psychiatry · Public relations · Sociology · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Psychology

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