Effective Stakeholder Management at QLD Mental Health Commission

Queensland Mental Health Commission (QMHC) was set up under the Queensland Mental Health Act 2013. The Commission’s job is to drive ongoing reform towards a more integrated, evidence-based, recovery-oriented mental health and substance misuse system. QMHC has been able to achieve this through the use of effective stakeholder management in its process.

QMHC Key Priorities

QMHC brings together experience and professional expertise by partnering with the community, government, and industry across a range of areas including health, employment, education, housing and justice. Through these partnerships, QMHC finds solutions and guides action to improve the systems that support people with, or at higher risk of, mental illness or substance misuse, as well as their families, carers, support persons, and the Queensland community.

QMHC’s key priorities include:

• Development of the Queensland Mental Health and Drug Strategic Plan
• Research, review, and report projects such as Ed-LinQ; Least restrictive practice; New mental health legislation; Social housing; Perinatal and infant mental health
• Promotion and awareness – Some of the key initiatives are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing; Early Action: Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention Action Plan 2015-17; Economic participation; Stronger Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Grants Program; Suicide prevention; Workplace mental health
• Effective governance and encouraging broad participation. Key initiatives include Operation of the Mental Health and Drug Advisory Council; Enabling the involvement of people with lived experience, their families, carers and support persons; Sponsorship for events, conferences and other activities; and System reform

Stakeholder Database enables Better Partnerships

Darzin was implemented as a stakeholder database for QMHC in August 2013, shortly after the Commission was formed. Darzin was chosen as a central stakeholder engagement system for:

• Maintaining an up-to-date stakeholder database so all team members have access to stakeholder details – not only who they are and what business they are in but also information on how the team interacts with them. This is key for effective stakeholder management at QMHC
• Registering key engagement events such as consultation forums and mailouts
• Recording stakeholder communications so staff have information about previous activities with key stakeholders. For example, to whom a copy of the annual report was sent to last year. This information helps determine the list of stakeholders list for the next annual report mail out.
• Easily teasing out the relevant stakeholders from the master list to set up the key stakeholders for a consultation project and also to see all existing interactions linked to these stakeholders.

Darzin not only allows QMHC staff to leverage off existing stakeholder relationships but also to track and report on stakeholder issues, concerns, suggestions and feedback that assist in informed decisions on key reform projects such as the QLD Mental Health and Drug Strategic Plan.