Australian Mental Health Leaders Fellowship (AMHLF): A national program that supports the development of leadership skills among emerging leaders with a passion and commitment to mental health. These leaders include consumers, carers, mental health professionals and others outside the traditional boundaries of the mental health sector, including emergency service workers, students and early career researchers, and professionals in industry, finance and the justice system.

Carer: In this document, the term carer refers to an individual who provides ongoing personal care, support, advocacy and/or assistance to a person with mental illness or mental ill health.

Commission: The Chair, Commissioners and Chief Executive Officer.

Consumers: People who identify as having a living or lived experience of mental illness or mental ill health, irrespective of whether they have a formal diagnosis, who have accessed mental health services and/ or received treatment. This includes people who describe themselves as a ‘peer’, ‘survivor’ or ‘expert by experience’.

Contributing Life: A fulfilling life where people living with a mental health difficulty can expect the same rights, opportunities and health as the wider community. It is a life enriched with close connections to family and friends, supported by good health, wellbeing and health care. It means having a safe, stable and secure home and having something to do each day that provides meaning and purpose, whether it is a job, supporting others or volunteering.

Council of Australian Governments (COAG): The peak intergovernmental forum in Australia, comprising the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association. On 29 May 2020, the Prime Minister announced that the Council of Australian Government (COAG) will cease and a new National Federation Reform Council (NFRC) will be formed, with National Cabinet at the centre of the NFRC.

Co-design: An approach to design that includes all stakeholders (for example, consumers, carers, researchers, health workers, clinicians, funders, policy-makers).

Formal Commission meeting: Full meetings of the Commission, of which there will be a minimum of six per year in accordance with the Operating Principles. The Commission may also conduct business out-of-session.

Fifth Plan: Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.

Lived experience: In this report, lived experience refers to people who have either current or past experience of mental illness or mental ill health as a consumer and/or a carer.

Mental health: A state of wellbeing in which every person realises their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to contribute to their community. (World Health Organization definition).

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS): The NDIS provides individualised support packages for eligible people with permanent and significant disability, their families and carers. Roll out commenced on 1 July2016 and is expected to be complete by 2020.

Peer workforce: The supply of people who are employed, either part-time or fulltime, on the basis of their lived experience, to provide support to people experiencing a similar situation. The people who make up the peer workforce may be called peer workers, consumer workers, carer workers and/or lived experience workers.

Primary Health Network (PHN): A PHN is an administrative health region established to deliver access to primary care services for patients, as well as co-ordinate with local hospitals to improve the operational efficiency of the network. The six key priorities for targeted work for PHNs are: mental health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, population health, health workforce, eHealth and aged care.

Psychosocial disability: A term used in the context of the NDIS to describe a disability arising from a mental illness, that is likely to make the person eligible for an individual support package under the scheme.

Restraint: The restriction of an individual’s freedom of movement by physical or mechanical means.

Seclusion: The confinement of an individual at any time of the day or night alone in a room or area from which free exit is prevented.

Social and emotional wellbeing: A holistic concept that reflects the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander understanding of health and recognises the importance of connection to land, culture, spirituality, ancestry, family and community and how these affect the individual.

Secretariat: Support provided for meetings of the Commissioners.

Stigma: Stigma is a mark of shame, disgrace or disapproval on the basis of an individual’s characteristics, which results in that individual being rejected, discriminated against, and/or excluded from participating in a number of different areas of society.

Support person: A person whose life is affected by virtue of a family or close relationship role with a person with mental illness.

AASB: Australian Accounting Standards Board

AHMAC: Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council

ABS: Australian Bureau of Statistics

AIDA: Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association

AIME: Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience

AIHW: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

AMHLF: Australian Mental Health Leaders Fellowship (the Fellowship)

ARACY: Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth

ASL: Average Staffing Level

CEO: Chief Executive Officer

CFO: Chief Financial Officer

COO: Chief Operating Officer

CP: Corporate Plan

COAG: Council of Australian Governments

DCB: Departmental Capital Budget

ESD: ecologically sustainable development

FOI: Freedom of Information

FPTAG: Fifth Plan Technical Advisory Group

FRR: Financial Reporting Rule

GST: Goods and Services Tax

IPS: Information Publication Scheme

KPI: Key Performance Indicator

MHISSC: Mental Health information Strategy Standing Committee

MHWA: Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance (the Alliance)

NDIS: National Disability Insurance Scheme

NFRC: National Federation Reform Council

NHMRC: National Health and Medical Research Council

NMHC: National Mental Health Commission

NMHCCF: National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum

NMHRS: National Mental Health Research Strategy

NMHSPF: National Mental Health Services Planning Framework

NWI: National Workplace Initiative

OPA: Official Public Account

PBS: Portfolio Budget Statements

PGPA Act: Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth)

PHN: Primary Health Network

PREMISE: Prevention and Early Intervention in Mental Illness and Substance Use

PRIDoC: Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors’ Congress

SQPSC: Safety and Quality Partnership Standing Committee

WAAMH: Western Australian Association for Mental Health