VMIAC Membership Update

We wished to update the membership base on what’s happening behind the scenes at VMIAC in relation to the Membership and the Consumer Register.  

 You may remember that following the Royal Commission (RC) into Mental Health VMIAC received additional funding from the Department of Health. VMIAC used the additional budget allocation to create key positions.   

One role was for the Membership Lead role. The membership lead role is an investment in you, and the consumer membership base and the consumer movement. Our members are the power of VMIAC and we exist because of and for you. The Membership Lead also has responsibility for supporting the growth of our systems and processes for  the consumer register.  In case you don’t know the Consumer Register is an avenue where people with lived experience of mental or emotional distress can be part of policy and service development in the mental health sector. We are excited to now be taking expressions of interest for our Consumer Register. Go here to express your interest in joining.  

 In September we announced Chantelle Higgs (she/her) had joined us as the Membership Lead. Since joining Chantelle has been learning about the incredible work undertaken before her arrival. Now she is thinking about the steps ahead for VMIAC’s membership. You can find out more about Chantelle, via the Team page on our website.

 Currently, this involves reviewing our systems and process for the membership and the register. It’s necessary to turn inward to prepare for work and information flowing from the RC recommendations. It’s also important to look at these aspects of the work as the membership and register haven’t been funded in the past. This means we are establishing new processes and sometimes creating new systems. We want to spend time on this now, because we know the new year will create increased demand on us to ensure the consumer voice is heard and is not only at the table but building the decision-making table.   

Following this phase, we will embark on a new round of activities for our membership. We will revisit the learnings from our Membership Connect project to forecast and plan for exciting things in 2022. We will also continue our previous efforts to support the Consumer Register grow and strengthen.   

To sustain this growth in opportunities for consumers to shape and build policy and services we need more people power. We will soon be recruiting for two positions to support us grow our work. Watch this space for more information on our activities and recruitment.  

 We will want you involved in the next exciting aspect of our work too. Developing an engagement strategy in recognition that VMIAC has increased capacity to engage communities we haven’t historically connected with, or sustained connection with.  

Please feel free to let us know via membership@vmiac.org.au if you would like updates of this kind as the Membership Lead, Chantelle, steps in the new role.