Deadline: 27-Aug-21
Nominations are now open for the Australian Mental Health Prize that was established in 2016 by UNSW Medicine and Health through its School of Psychiatry, Australia’s pre-eminent psychiatric research department. It recognises Australians who have made outstanding contributions to either the promotion of mental health, or the prevention and treatment of mental illness.
Aims
- Acknowledge and recognise the important and ground-breaking work that many Australians are doing for mental health
- Raise public awareness on the importance of mental health
- Provide an incentive to improve services and outcomes for people with mental illness
Why establish the Australian Mental Health Prize?
Australia has led the way internationally in many aspects of mental health, such as community awareness, public advocacy and innovative services. This includes innovative programs such as Beyond Blue, the Black Dog Institute, and headspace, the national network of youth mental health services. The open public discourse involving politicians and high-profile individuals occurs in few other countries.
The importance of mental health in Australia
Mental illnesses are common and highly disabling. In any one year, one in five adult Australians and one in seven children aged 4 to 17 will experience some form of mental illness. One in three will have a mental illness in their lifetime.
- Mental illness impacts severely on the capacity to work, to earn a living, and maintain close relationships.
- The average lifespan of people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is shortened by 10-15 years.
- Suicide rates are still unacceptably high, with over 2,000 Australians taking their own life each year.
- Suicide is the most common cause of death in males under 45.
Eligibility Criteria
- Entry is by nomination only.
- Any member of the public or a third party organisation (public, non-government or private) may nominate an entry for the Prize.
- Self-nominations will not be accepted.
- Employees of UNSW Sydney may nominate a person for entry.
- Current UNSW employees are ineligible for nomination.
- If a nominee is not over the age of eighteen (18), a parent/guardian must accept the nominee’s entry on the nominee’s behalf.
- A nominee must be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident.
Criteria
- The Prize is awarded annually to an Australian who has made outstanding contributions to either the promotion of mental health, or the prevention/treatment of mental illness – in areas such as advocacy, research or service provision. The prize will recognise contributions undertaken in Australia which are of national significance.
For more information, visit https://www.australianmentalhealthprize.org.au/
