A statement from Orygen executive director Professor Patrick McGorry
The Australian Government has today taken a decisive step in responding to the mental health impact of COVID-19 in appointing Associate Professor Ruth Vine as Deputy Chief Medical Officer to provide expert advice to the Chief Medical Officer and to stand alongside Christine Morgan, CEO of the National Mental Health Commission, in communicating the government’s approach to the public.
Ruth has had a long and distinguished career as a public sector psychiatrist, including as Director of Mental Health in the Victorian Department of Health and also Chief Psychiatrist in Victoria for many years.
Ruth’s heartfelt and lifelong commitment to people with severe, complex, and enduring mental illness will greatly strengthen Australia’s mental health response to COVID-19.
Although Australia has been measured in its initial response, with the scale of the challenge we are about to confront, I now look forward to Friday’s National Cabinet and a plan that commits to a series of key strategies to flatten the curve of mental ill-health and close substantial newly exposed gaps in our mental health response to the pandemic.