Laying new foundations for 21st century community mental health services: An Australian perspective.

While there has been a significant increase in investment in community mental health in Australia since the advent of the National Mental Health Strategy in the early 1990s, there has been little guidance on service design and delivery. This has led to a growing diversity of approaches and concern about the adequacy of care with repeated calls for a system overhaul. Consumers and carers have very largely been absent from decision-making about service design and development which has led to a system primarily designed by healthcare professionals.