Title: I want to make a complaint
Producer: Independent Mental Health Advocacy
Name of speaker: Wanda Bennetts (all speech content)
Speech Content
Do you want to make a complaint? You might not know it, but the Victorian Mental Health and Wellbeing Act says you have rights that mental health services must respect.
Independent mental health advocacy, or IMHA, helps people to learn about and use their rights. This video is a guide to your rights and options if you want to make a complaint.
Some reasons people make complaints are that their rights have been breached or they haven't been respected, to fix something that has gone wrong during treatment, to prevent a mistake that occurred from happening to someone else, and to make sure that the service improves after learning about your experiences.
There are several places you can complain. The most common are your mental health and wellbeing service and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission.
It is your decision what you put in a complaint. Some people find the following points helpful when making a complaint. Identify the issues. Highlight what rights you think have been affected. Write down what happened and how it impacted on you. And be clear about what will address your concerns. This is what you're asking for. It is your decision what you ask for, and it can help to talk to IMHA or another person you trust.
Some common things people ask for are a change to their treatment, a change in behaviour from their treating team, a meeting with the mental health service, and you can have a support person present for this, an acknowledgment or apology from the service, actions to improve the system so that any mistake doesn't happen again, or compensation for harm received.
If you want legal information and advice about compensation, you can contact Victoria Legal Aid. If you would like to learn more or talk to an IMHA advocate, you can call us on 1300 947 820, hear a recording of your rights on 1800 959 353, see our website on www.imha.vic.gov.au, or see our fact sheets which should be available at your service.
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