Our Projects

Whose care? Our care! is a national mental health research initiative to address structural inequalities affecting priority populations which include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, rural, regional and remote communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, and people from culturally diverse backgrounds and people living with mental ill-health.

Led by the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation, this five-year collaboration between seven universities and seven mental health organisations and across 25 locations will grow multi-level collective strategies to respond to structural inequalities impacting on mental health and wellbeing.

The partnerships are across providers of Medicare Mental Health Centres, Safe Spaces and Community Led Safe Spaces and First Nations led and governed models of care.

Whose Care is the sole project to be awarded Medical Research Future Funding for the Million Minds Mental Health Research Mission (Stream 1 Targeted Research Call). The project leads are Victoria Palmer, Sandra Eades (Noongar), Michelle Banfield.

Why focus on structural inequalities?

People from culturally diverse communities or rural and remote locations experience challenges in accessibility when seeking and receiving mental health and support for social and emotional wellbeing care. Most modern-day mental health service models are founded in Western culture and beliefs. They are not always culturally centred nor appropriate and can impact negatively on social and emotional wellbeing. It can also be hard for people from priority populations to access the care they need due to the rigid operating hours, eligibility criteria and limited localities with appropriately trained workforces accustomed to working with people with lived-experience as peer workers.

Recent data has shown that priority populations are choosing to access these models of care based in communities. We want to find out what these services are and whether they are being tailored for priority populations through exploring the cultural responsiveness, lived-experience integration and communication of accessibility.

What will the project do?

• Mapping geographies and inequalities of local areas.
• Understanding models and experiences over time.
• Creating a new national database for What Matters.
• Fostering two-way learning with First Nations-led and governed approaches partner organisation Children’s Ground, Northern Territory to grow participatory ecosystems.
• 25 action groups to develop collective strategies to respond to structural inequalities.

What does Whose Care hope to achieve?

• Participatory ecosystems that provide connected and enduring care that is led by the strengths of communities.
• Services and new models of care that are embedded in place and part of an ecosystem response for equitable wellbeing and mental health systems transformation.

Project Investigators and Research Team

Partner Universities

Partner Organisations