Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Senior Officials Group (MHSPSO)

Role

Australian Government and state and territory government Health Chief Executives as well as relevant Mental Health Chief Executives are responsible and accountable for implementing the national agreement. However, the Executives can delegate implementation functions to MHSPSO.

MHSPSO will report on:

key risks and implementation issues
new and emerging mental health and suicide prevention policy developments
any governance, policy or funding issues with the national agreement that should be brought to relevant ministers to consider and decide on before the final review
the benefits and lessons learned from implementation
high level issues that cannot be resolved at the senior officials’ level.

Members

Membership of MHSPSO includes:

senior representatives from the Australian Government and all states and territories
5 lived experience members, including 2 First Nations representatives
2 First Nations representatives nominated from the Closing the Gap’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing Policy Partnership.

Representation	Organisation
Chair	Deputy Secretary, Primary and Community Care, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care
Australian Government	First Assistant Secretary, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Division, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care
Jurisdictions	Australian Capital Territory Acting Executive Branch Manager, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Division, ACT Health Directorate New South Wales Deputy Secretary, Health System Strategy and Planning, NSW Ministry of Health Executive Director, Mental Health Branch, NSW Ministry of Health Northern Territory Deputy Chief Executive, Commissioning and System Improvement, NT Health Chief Psychiatrist, NT Health Queensland Senior Director, Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy and Planning Branch, Clinical Planning and Services Strategy Division, Qld Health Executive Director, Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Branch, Clinical Excellence Queensland, Qld Health South Australia Executive Director, Mental Health Strategy and Planning, SA Department for Health and Wellbeing Tasmania Deputy Secretary, Community Mental Health and Wellbeing, Tasmanian Department of Health General Manager, Mental Health Alcohol and Drug Directorate, Tasmanian Department of Health Victoria Executive Director, Prevention, Policy and First Peoples, Mental Health & Wellbeing Division, Victorian Department of Health Deputy Secretary, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Victorian Department of Health Western Australia Executive Director, Governance and System Support, WA Department of Health  Commissioner, WA Mental Health Commission
Lived and Living Experience	CEO, the National Mental Health Consumer Alliance CEO, Mental Health Carers Australia Co-chair of the Victorian Government Suicide Prevention and Response Expert Advisory Committee Suicide Prevention Australia Policy Committee and lived experience advisory groups with Lifeline, Black Dog Institute, and Beyondblue Head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre, Black Dog Institute Specialist Consultant for Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Social and Emotional Wellbeing Policy Partnership	CEO, Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia Representative of Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia

Meetings

The group will hold quarterly meetings to discuss and progress key initiatives under the national agreement.

Communiques

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Senior Officials Group – Communiques

This collection includes communiques from the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Senior Officials Group (MHSPSO) meetings.

Related committees or groups

The MHSPSO reports to government through the Health Chief Executives and Health Ministers Forum.

Learn more

Contact

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Senior Officials Group contact

MH.WoAG@health.gov.au

Date last updated:

24 February 2025

Tags:

Mental health and suicide prevention