Projects

Read our draft Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2024-2029 here

Draft Workforce Strategy – The Three Pillars landscape poster

QAMH has partnered with Queensland Health to develop a Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy in response to the unique workforce challenges facing the sector. While existing federal and state strategies address broader mental health workforces, Queensland is leading the way in developing the first workforce strategy specifically targeting the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Sector. Challenges such as complex funding streams, a diversity of qualifications and training pathways, and greater representation of lived experience workers mean that distinct actions will be required to address the complexity of workforce issues facing the sector.

The draft Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2024-2029 was released mid-November 2023. This strategy is a culmination of over 12 months work with the sector. Extensive state-wide public consultation with the expertise of Lived Experience of both consumers and carers, academia and key stakeholders occurred between March and June 2023, building on the strong foundations of the Issues Paper, which was used to initiate discussions about workforce challenges and solutions. The draft strategy is further supported by the Workforce Survey Report which explored the top issues including workforce shortages, inadequate funding and insecure contracts.

We’ve used all this knowledge to structure this strategy into 19 key priorities. This is an Australian-first for our sector and one we hope will reap reform.

The draft Core Competency Framework (the Framework) forms one of the key components of the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2024-2029, which has been developed by the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health (QAMH) in partnership with Queensland Health. The Framework outlines the competencies required by the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing workforce to deliver high quality, safe and effective supports to those experiencing mental health challenges.

We would like to acknowledge everyone who has contributed to this project over the past 12 months. Your input has helped shape this framework which will guide workforce planning, policy direction and funding priorities over the next five years.

Watch the 2023 Annual Alliance Members Meeting and Workforce Strategy Summit here: