Recent commentary from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reignited debate on the growing trend of using AI chatbots for therapeutic support. Surveys suggest that nearly half of people experiencing mental health challenges who also use AI are turning to large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT for help. While these tools are attractive, always available, cost-free, and accessible, serious concerns remain about privacy, safety, and efficacy.

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.

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.

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.

As June marks the beginning of Pride Month, the Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association Australia (VMHPAA) calls on all Australians to reflect, celebrate, and recommit to a society where every person, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, is seen, valued, and safe.

Today, the Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association Australia (VMHPAA) proudly recognises Pansexual Visibility Day, celebrating the breadth and diversity of identities within the LGBTIQA+SB community and reaffirming its commitment to inclusive, affirming mental health care.

Today, on World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association Australia (VMHPAA) celebrates the richness of cultural diversity and calls attention to the critical role vocationally trained mental health practitioners play in fostering culturally safe, inclusive, and responsive care.