Stewart Sarah, Watson Sandy, Montague Roslyn, Stevenson Caroline
NSW Institute of Psychiatry, Parramatta, NSW, Australia.
Australas Psychiatry. 2008 Oct;16(5):348-53. doi: 10.1080/10398560802047367.
The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a survey of consumers of mental health services who are working (in either paid or unpaid positions) in NSW Health and in the Non Government Organisation sector in NSW.
A survey was distributed through the NSW Consumer Advisory Group newsletter to elicit the roles and assess the training needs of consumer employees, as well as those who were working in voluntary capacities as consumer representatives, within the mental health system in NSW.
Many mental health consumers have been placed in the untenable position of being engaged in representation and/or advocacy roles with unclear job descriptions and no training. The majority of consumers want a code of ethics and performance standards for consumer workers.
The rhetoric of consumer participation is not matched by effective and timely strategies that ensure that consumer involvement is underpinned by relevant training and supportive infrastructure. The goal of meaningful consumer participation in mental health services, as outlined in policy, is yet to be achieved.
本文旨在呈现一项针对新南威尔士州卫生部门以及新南威尔士州非政府组织部门中从事工作（包括带薪或无薪岗位）的心理健康服务消费者的调查结果。
通过新南威尔士州消费者咨询小组时事通讯分发了一项调查，以了解消费者员工以及在新南威尔士州心理健康系统中以消费者代表身份从事志愿工作的人员的角色，并评估他们的培训需求。
许多心理健康消费者处于难以维持的境地，他们在担任代表和/或倡导角色时，工作描述不明确且未接受培训。大多数消费者希望为消费者工作者制定道德准则和绩效标准。
消费者参与的言辞与有效且及时的策略不匹配，这些策略应确保消费者的参与有相关培训和支持性基础设施作为支撑。政策中概述的消费者有意义地参与心理健康服务的目标尚未实现。
