In June 2015, eleven organisations from across the health, community and social sectors in the Murrumbidgee region signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form the Murrumbidgee Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Alliance.

Today, the Murrumbidgee MHDA Alliance has 25 member organisations who share a commitment to work together to improve mental health and drug and alcohol outcomes for the Murrumbidgee population.

Alliance members agree to:

  • Focus on consumer outcomes not organisational outcomes and place the consumer as the central focus;
  • Recognise the value that the wider community and social sectors contribute to addressing the needs of mental health and drug and alcohol consumers; and
  • Communicate and work together with each other in a collaborative, open and transparent manner that recognises the values, skills and expertise that members bring to the Alliance.

Meet Our Members

Consumer and Carer Representatives

Vital to the work of the Alliance is the participation of Consumer and Carer Representatives, people with lived, living and/or carer experience of mental health, drug and alcohol challenges.

These representatives are full voting members of the Alliance and use their experiences and perspectives to inform the priorities and strategies of the Alliance.

It is essential that all services and initiatives are co-designed and informed by the people for whom the services exist. The role of Lived, Living and Carer Experience representatives is to ensure that the work of the Alliance is informed by the experiences of people using Alliance member services.

Are you interested in representing lived or carer experience as part of the Alliance?

Governance

The Alliance is chaired by an Independent Chairperson, not engaged by any individual organisation, to support the principle that all member organisations are equal and to mitigate the risk of domination by larger organisations. It is accepted though, that the larger organisations have greater capacity to commit resources to the work of the Alliance and they do so on behalf of the Alliance, not of their own organisation.

The Alliance has a Governance Group which has the role of planning Alliance meetings and providing oversight of progress of Alliance initiatives, making recommendations where appropriate to support progress. The Governance Group includes representatives of five member organisations, a Consumer Representative and the Independent Chair. The Governance Group does not have any other decision-making authority.

Each member organisation has two nominated representatives to attend meetings. Any substitute representatives must be notified to the Chair before the meeting. This is to keep representation constant and have informed and empowered representatives participating in the meetings.

Where voting is required, each agency has one vote, although decisions are usually reached by consensus.

Each Alliance meeting has a standing agenda item where agencies take a turn at presenting to the meeting on the services their organisation provides. This serves to keep all members updated on the range of services available to the population and which agencies provide those services.

Are you an organisation in the Murrumbidgee delivering services for people experiencing challenges with their mental health, drug or alcohol use?