About the Alliance
Structure of the Alliance
The Alliance provides a structured mechanism for community, government, private services and people with lived experience to identify key priorities, improve communication and collaboration, and support shared decision-making. This structure is adaptive and will evolve to meet the emerging needs of the Alliance membership. The existing structure seeks to provide opportunities for a range of activities to occur across different stakeholder groups, within and across sectors.
Explore the structure
The Alliance and its components
Everything inside the green zone makes up the Alliance. Select a component to read what it does.
The Alliance
Alliance Forums
Open to all members, the forums provide an opportunity to meet from across the Alliance 2–3 times each year. Forums can include consultations, topic ‘deep dives’, Alliance project updates, strategic prioritising and networking.
Working Group
A group of members from government and the community sector that meets to progress specific projects aligned to the Alliance’s current priorities. Sometimes, the Working Group will commission papers related to their objectives.
Community of Practice
A group which focuses on developing shared learnings across the sector with service information sharing, connection building, and problem identification and monitoring. Alliance members can engage in varying degrees of participation.
Coordinating Committee
Constituted by representatives from across the sector, government, academia and the YRG, the Coordinating Committee provides governance, strategic planning, and oversight of the Alliance. They help develop processes, and engage in monitoring and evaluation informed by the broader Alliance membership.
Youth Reference Group (YRG)
A group of young people 16–24 with lived experience of mental ill health who provide a contemporary and local youth perspective to the Alliance’s activities. Beyond their consultative functions, they are active participants across Forums, the Coordinating Committee, and in the wider community. They also pursue independent projects aimed at addressing gaps in the conversation around young people and mental ill health.
Formal Information Dissemination
Spanning the Alliance’s website, eBulletin, mailing list, member surveys, and other publications, formal information dissemination provides ongoing transparency and a soft entry point to the Alliance.
Outside the Alliance
Related networks and context
These groups sit outside the Alliance but connect to and inform its work. They are part of the wider system the Alliance operates within.
Other Child and Youth Sector Networks and Groups
e.g. Mental Health Community Coalition (MHCC) Leadership Group, Mental Health Consumer Network, Youth Coalition, Multicultural Youth Affairs Network (MYAN), Youth Housing and Homelessness Forum (YHHF), headspace Consortiums, Joint Pathways, Youth Worker Network (YWN).
Other Related Networks and Agencies
Other Youth Participation Mechanisms
e.g. Youth Advisory Council (YAC), headspace Reference Groups.
Oversight Agencies
Mental Health Executive Group, ACT Mental Health Advisory Council (MHAC), IDC, Coordinators General.