A two-year independent investigation in Pennsylvania has revealed the devastating consequences of underfunding, broken promises, and systemic neglect in mental health care. Once heralded as a leader in deinstitutionalisation and community reform, the state’s vision for a modern, community-based mental health system has collapsed into a grim reality of homelessness, incarceration, and preventable deaths.

In the July 2025 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly, the article "Nowhere to Turn" lays bare a devastating truth: Australia's mental health system is on the brink. Emergency departments are overwhelmed. Suicide rates are rising. Too many Australians, especially women and young people, have nowhere to turn.

Today, Shane Warren (Chair) and Philip Armstrong (CEO) of the Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association of Australia (VMHPAA) formally met with representatives from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing - specifically the Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Division of the Primary and Community Care Group.

The Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association Australia (VMHPAA) fully endorses The Australian Women’s Weekly exposé Nowhere to Turn: Inside Australia’s Mental Health Crisis, which underscores a mental health system at breaking point - overwhelmed, under-resourced, and fragmented.

In recent weeks, VMHPAA has lodged formal concerns with federal decision-makers, while also petitioning State Premiers, Health Ministers, and Senators to draw urgent attention to the following risks...

The Productivity Commission’s recent review of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement confirms what many of us working in the community already know all too well: the agreement, while well-intentioned, has failed to deliver real outcomes for the people it was meant to support.

The Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association Australia (VMHPAA) acknowledges the concerns raised by recent scrutiny of Victoria’s mental health reform progress, following revelations that despite the collection of over $1.1 billion through the Mental Health and Wellbeing Payroll Levy, the availability of acute mental health beds remains grossly inadequate.