Mental Health Commission

Individual Advocacy Review

We contract Individual Advocacy (IA) services that represent the rights and interests of people with a mental illness, on a one-to-one basis, by addressing instances of discrimination, abuse, and neglect. Individual advocates work with people with mental illness on either a short-term or issue-specific basis.

We contract five service providers to deliver IA services – Carers WA, Rise Network, Multicultural Futures, Ruah Legal Services Limited and Health Consumers Council.

In late 2022, the Commission appointed a consultant to conduct an independent review of the IA program area. The IA Review outcomes provided a clear roadmap to guide our decisions for this program area.

The IA Review had two focus areas:

  • to assess the extent to which Commission-contracted IA services are meeting community need and identify opportunities to contemporise the delivery of these services
  • to identify opportunities to jointly plan and co-commission IA services to deliver better, shared outcomes for consumers, families and carers and the community across WA, in conjunction with other state and Federal Government agencies.

A six-month extensive stakeholder engagement process took place between January and July 2023, with a diverse range of stakeholders. Workshops, focus groups and individual consultations were held with service providers, peak bodies, people with lived experience, an academic researcher and other State Government agencies.

The IA Review summary report provides a summary of the findings and recommendations. The Final Consultation summary report provides a summary of key themes categorised by each stakeholder group.

Download Report Download Consultation Summary

All information gathered through the IA Review process has been analysed and an Implementation Plan is being developed. When the Implementation Plan is finalised, we will progress the recommendations with IA Service Providers and key stakeholders.

Page last updated1 May 2025

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