Humanizing mental health care: some lessons from Australia

In this paper I want to describe the history of the development of mental health services in Australia since colonial times, before providing an outline and critique of selected aspects of recent mental health reform in that country. The paper discusses the main priorities of current Australian mental health policy, and the extent to which the policy direction has sought to address concerns for improving the quality of services while at the same time safeguarding the citizenship entitlements and human rights of the mentally ill. A number of lessons can be gleaned from the recent Australian experience of mental health reform, and these are outlined in preliminary form in the concluding section of the paper