Why is this important?
Communities play a central role in supporting and protecting mental health and wellbeing by fostering social inclusion and connectedness, and enabling access to resources and services.
This occurs through community engagement, participation and cohesion, as well as by addressing specific factors within communities that can facilitate or diminish mental health and wellbeing.
Strengthening approaches to mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention provides a key opportunity to improve outcomes across all life domains.
What we want to achieve
Promotion, prevention and early intervention alongside treatment and support are core pillars of a contemporary mental health and wellbeing system.
It involves targeted action to enhance or maintain individual mental health and wellbeing, prevent mental ill-health, and promote the social, economic and environmental conditions of daily life.
It also includes a focus on identifying concerns and providing support as early as possible, whether in life course, illness or distress.
Protecting the mental health and wellbeing of Queenslanders requires addressing risk and protective factors, as well as supporting groups and communities who experience higher barriers to good health.
This requires a systemic approach to further shift the balance of investment and prioritisation towards the community, with delivery of initiatives occurring in a planned, coordinated and impactful way.
Directions, priorities and actions
Strengthen mental health and wellbeing
Priorities |
Actions |
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Increase individual literacy and community awareness, and address stigma and discrimination |
1. Expand universal and targeted programs to increase mental health and alcohol and other drugs literacy across the community to enable early detection and engagement with supports 2. Integrate approaches across different tiers of government to address stigma and discrimination at individual, system and community levels, particularly for First Nations people |
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Support mental health and wellbeing in educational settings and workplaces |
3. Support mental health and wellbeing in early childhood education and care, and other educational settings including through the continued rollout of the Student Wellbeing Package, regular student wellbeing surveys, and enhanced access to evidence-based programs and resources for schools 4. Build the capacity and capability of the tertiary and vocational education settings to improve student wellbeing 5. Strengthen the capability and capacity of organisations to foster mentally healthy |
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Enhance, support and build community capacity and resilience, including approaches to social isolation and loneliness, and responses to natural disasters and other adverse events |
6. Expand and strengthen community capacity to promote, support and facilitate mental health and wellbeing and community resilience. This includes a focus on neighbourhood centres, men’s sheds, women’s groups, sporting and active recreation organisations, playgroups, libraries, faith organisations and other community organisations |
Getting in early
Priorities |
Actions |
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Promote the optimal start in life (0–11 years old) |
7. Expand and strengthen access to integrated, place-based services and supports across the first 2,000 days, including universal perinatal screening; expanded maternity, children’s health and allied health services; home visits; and centre-based services 8. Strengthen services and supports for children 5–12 years old and their families, focusing on those experiencing adversity, and those requiring additional support with parenting or transitioning children into schooling 9. Embed early mental health and alcohol and other drug supports for infants, children, young people and families in contact with or at risk of contact with the child protection and/or youth justice systems |
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Support the mental health and wellbeing of young people (12–25 years old) |
10. Explore options for increasing service provision for young people requiring care and treatment at a secondary or moderate level of care, who fall outside eligibility for existing services 11. Support and inform the current discussion and decision-making at both national and state levels regarding the age of criminal responsibility, particularly with consideration of youth alcohol and other drug-related offences 12. Continue to work on improving young people’s school engagement, attendance and retention |
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Reduce the impact of adversity and trauma |
13. Enhance approaches to trauma and healing, including through the development and early implementation of a whole-of-system trauma strategy to reduce the incidence and impact of adversity and trauma across the life course 14. Expand early intervention capacity and tailored responses to individuals disproportionately impacted by adversity and trauma, such as First Nations people, refugees and people seeking asylum |
Advance First Nations health equity
Priorities |
Actions |
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Strengthen the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations Queenslanders |
15. Expand mental health and alcohol and other drug service capacity and capability within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Organisations, and expand cultural capability in mental health and alcohol and other drug services 16. Actively address the trauma experienced by First Nations people through whole-of-government implementation of Leading healing our way: Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Strategy 2020–2040 17. Embed the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration principles into policies, programs and services across sectors and government agencies 18. Develop and implement strategies to support First Nations people during Path to Treaty, in particular truth-telling processes |
