Over the past 25 years, mental health awareness has transformed from silence to visibility. Campaigns, school programs, and social media have played an important role in breaking stigma and encouraging help-seeking. Yet as Professor Patrick McGorry highlights, blanket awareness programs in schools may be creating unintended harms including increased distress, misdiagnosis, and misplaced confidence in “awareness” as a substitute for real care.

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.