Convenor’s Welcome

It is my great pleasure as Convenor of the twelfth national Towards Eliminating Restrictive Practices (TERP) Forum, to invite you to Hobart on the 7th and 8th of November 2018 for two days of engrossing discussion about how we can meet the challenge of eliminating restrictive practices in mental health care.

The forum provides an opportunity for clinicians, policy makers, researchers and people with lived experience of mental illness from across Australia to share innovative ideas and be informed about evidence based policy and service delivery directions.

The program will include a variety of keynote speakers organised around the theme How far can we go?

Since publication of the ‘National safety priorities in mental health: a national plan for reducing harm’ in 2005, there has been a sustained emphasis on identifying, avoiding and reducing harm across all environments in which care for people with mental illness is provided. Australia made a commitment to reduce the use of and eliminate restrictive practices as a priority for action.

National forums have been held every one to two years around Australia to contribute to this aim, providing an opportunity to share information about and learn from local and national initiatives that aim to eliminate restrictive practices.

The forum is hosted by a nominated jurisdiction in conjunction with the Safety and Quality Partnership Standing Committee (a subcommittee of the Mental Health Principal Committee). The host jurisdiction is funded through the Mental Health Principal Committee and supported by the National Mental Health Commission to deliver the forum.

Tasmania is proud to host the forum for the first time in 2018, to demonstrate its commitment to eliminating the use of restrictive practices and working together to create safer environments for everyone. Tasmania is hosting the forum through the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate in the Department of Health and Human Services.

We look forward to welcoming you to the conference venue on the Hobart waterfront and the conference dinner at MONA. We will all have the opportunity to share thoughts, experiences and approaches on a topic of central importance in mental health care.

Aaron Groves

Chief Psychiatrist, Tasmania