Equally Well: Backbone team - working collaboratively to improve the physical health of people living with mental illness

The NZ EquallyWell backbone team have supported the collaborative to where it stands today. EquallyWell Australia has adopted a similar model and in August, 2018 the UK EquallyWell collaborative commenced. In New Zealand and Australian our approach is based on the Tamarack Institute’s, and Surman and Surman’s constellation model of collective impact. This approach seeks to address the multiple drivers contributing to people living with mental illness dying up to 25 years prematurely. This presentation will focus on the backbone team’s role in EquallyWell NZ and Australia. We will reflect on the wins and what plans are ahead to further grow and enhance the impact. The presentation will overview the similarities, differences and collaboration between the two countries. The NZ Government’s inquiry into mental health and addiction services and cited Equally Well because of how we work collaboratively toward a common goal. In Australia, the implementation of EquallyWell is an action the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. Backbone support is an essential component of successful collective impact initiatives. Our experience and learning and their implications for good practice and application to other complex and entrenched issues affecting the mental health and addiction sectors will be explored. Keywords Co-design, Attitudes, Stigma and Discrimination; Challenges; Communities; Comorbidity; Culture & Society; Funding, Government Policy; Innovation, Quality; Lifespan young people, adults, older people; Lived Experience; Mental Health Service Reform; Research & Evaluation Informing Practice; Service Systems and Programs; Social Justice, Social Inclusion; Wellbeing.