October 2002

Partners in mental health program

The Royal Children’s Hospital and the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service have become partners to a Memorandum of Understanding.

The organisations have worked together for nearly three years to establish the Royal Children’s Hospital Koorie Mental Health Program.

Signing the Memorandum of Understanding, formally committing his organisation to a five-year collaborative partnership with the Royal Children’s Hospital, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service Chief Executive Officer Tony McCartney said the partnership between the two organisations was a very important one.

He cited the hard work put into the Koorie Mental Health Program by both organisations enabling it to grow into a model of good practice in addressing Koorie mental health needs within a mainstream context.

Also signing the agreement, Executive Director of the Royal Children’s Hospital Professor Glenn Bowes commended the program’s steering committee for facilitating the partnership.

Professor Bowes said the document was the first of its kind between the Aboriginal community and the hospital.

The services directly involved in the agreement are the Koorie Kids and Adolescent Mental Health Network and the Royal Children’s Hospital Mental Health Service.

The agreement sets out the roles of each organisation in the partnership ‘to achieve comparable objectives in mental health outcomes for Koorie children and young people.’

It establishes a foundation for other partnerships between mainstream services and Aboriginal community organisations.

• For further information about the Koorie Mental Health Program contact Shawana Andrews on 9345 6011.