Today Assistant Minister for Mental Health, Hon Emma McBride and a team of other government officials and stakeholders held a one-day forum at the Members Policy Forum for Mental Health Australia to discuss the fallout from the budget. At this meeting it was announced that: “The government will invest $0.3 million over 2 years to develop national standards for counsellors and psychotherapists.”

This meets the recommendation made by the Prime Ministers Select Committee for Suicide and Mental Health that ACA made a presentation to last year.

The purpose of the recommendation is to secure confidence by the government through the development of a National Standard so counsellors and psychotherapists can potentially move into the Primary Health Network and Medicare spaces.

Philip Armstrong the CEO of ACA stated, “This is great news, after decades of advocacy we now have an unequivocal message from the Federal Government that we have been formally recognised. To be mentioned in a budget and be allocated funding for the purpose of laying down of a National Standard reflects the government now recognises counselling and psychotherapy as a profession in our own right, distinct from other mental health disciplines.”

Philip went on further to mention he has been informed he will be contacted by the Department of Health to start discussing ACA’s role in the development of a National Standard in the next few weeks.