We submitted our response to the Victorian Department of Health’s Discussion Paper on the draft Strategy towards the elimination of seclusion and restraint this week.
The submission brings together a review of research, data from our yearly seclusion and restraint reports, and consultations involving 40 surveys and 42 interviews.
The submission outlines how:
- Restrictive practices, including seclusion and all forms of restraint violate consumers’ human rights to liberty, autonomy, equality before the law, bodily and mental integrity.
- Mental health treatment should be psychologically and emotionally safe, as well as physically safe.
- To uphold human rights, supported decision-making should be at the centre of clinical practice, and
- System reform, including the elimination of seclusion and restraint, must be driven by consumers, the people most affected by the changes.
We would like thank the consumers with lived experience of seclusion and restraint who participated in the engagement and in the development of this important document.
We would also like to thank the Victorian Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisations (VACCHO) for their work on the consultations and Deaf Victoria, who also supported this engagement process.
You can find the full submission on our policy page or by clicking below: