We have recently received the very disappointing news from the The Mental Health and Wellbeing Division of Victoria’s Department of Health that the funding for VMIAC’s CHECK-IN Program will not be extended beyond June 30 of this year. Current participants of CHECK-IN will continue to be supported up until this time.
Our amazing peer support workers, in their time at VMIAC, developed a program and expertise that has been highly valued by consumers, lived experience workers and organisations.
Their commitment to CHECK-IN and VMIAC has been extraordinary and we are sad that this projects funding has not been continued.
VMIAC appeared today at the Parliamentary Committee (State) into the Pandemic and Pandemic Orders, and as part of the evidence we gave, VMIAC outlined how the cessation of CHECK-IN funding has and will affect consumers and VMIAC. This information was of great interest, concern and curiosity to the committee, and as a result we have been contacted by outlets such as the ABC for further comments.
Though we had intended to contact consumers, members, and stakeholders directly about these changes to CHECK-IN, as the issues may be discussed in the media tonight, we wanted to inform people ahead of time.
CHECK-IN has been an amazing piece of VMIAC, and the learnings, teachings and experience of CHECK-IN will continue to inform VMIAC’s work.
I’m currently participating in some of these sessions and they have been a valuable source of self care for me. As a lived experience sole trader it is quite challenging to make time to undertake these types of activities and I have been exposed to some great tools, and the wonderful VMIAC facilitators. I’m saddened and disappointed that the funding has been discontinued. Hopefully it will be resurrected one day.