When Victoria’s mental health royal commission made landmark findings of systemic human rights breaches in 2021, there was little that surprised Anna*.
At the time of the inquiry’s hearings, Anna had numerous stints in the psychiatric wards of Victorian public hospitals. She said the experiences were “dehumanising” and often chipped away at her will to live.
Once, when suicidal, she was handcuffed in a police van and later tied down to a hospital bed with restraints.
“I chewed my way through the restraints in front of two security guards who were laughing at me,” she said.
“One of them said: ‘if you really wanted to kill yourself, you should have tried harder’.”
Anna – who works as a mental health researcher – is among the clients and carers from Victoria’s public mental health system calling for the Andrew’s government to initiate a restorative justice process to acknowledge harms and human rights breaches in the sector.
A report commissioned by the state’s health department has recommended that the government formally apologise for harms caused by the system, along with a truth-telling process to hear and document those it says are unresolved.
It points to a variety of mistreatment in the mental health system such as the use of practices like seclusion and restraint and making the loved ones of clients feel invisible.
The state’s royal commission into the issue found clients continued to have their human rights breached through compulsory treatment and the use of seclusion and restraints.
The inquiry recommended the government stamp out seclusion and restraints within a decade. But Victoria is still secluding and restraining people more frequently and for longer than national averages.
“We can’t just keep going with the same system that has caused these harms,” Anna said.
She said an apology would allow people like her to begin trusting mental health institutions.
Simon Katterl, a mental health and human rights advocate who led the project, said the report was the first in the world to recommend a formal “restorative justice” mental health process to a government.
He said the royal commission was policy focused, but had not adequately investigated harm and human rights breaches.
“Until we resolve this, we’ll have the same issues coming up. We need to deal with the harm first before we can reach the future mental health system we all want to get to,” he said.
Co-author Lorna Downes, who has been a carer, said it was vital the report recommendations included the perspective of carers and recognised that family and friends were often made to feel invisible.
“If they’re communicated with at all, it’s around practical matters, not around their own support needs or the impact of witnessing harm to their family member in the system, ” she said.
Chris MacBean, a co-author of the report with lived experience of the mental health care system, said: “I have seen harm that I would never want to see again”.
The report said the restorative justice process should be led by commissioners with lived experience at the state’s mental health commission. It said after this, the Victorian government should issue apologies to consumers and carers in the mental health system in parliament.
The National Mental Health Consumer Alliance supports the report’s recommendations and said a restorative justice process would help create a “more fair, inclusive and equal relationship” between mental health providers and those who use the system.
A spokesperson for the health department said it had established an advisory group, including people with lived experience, to consider options to acknowledge people’s experiences.
“Following the royal commission, the Department of Health engaged with people with lived experience to better understand people’s experiences within the Victorian mental health system and harms caused to people,” the spokesperson said.
* Not her real name
Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.
