“What does ‘good’ look like in mental health research partnerships with rural communities?”

Rural mental health is very much underfunded, and a lot of research ends up benefitting just the researchers, and not the community or the community partners who made the research possible.
As part of an ongoing process, this workshop will inform the development of a national statement on rural mental health research practice, values and policy. This will be a highly interactive session, with your feedback to contribute to the position statement. With your permission, we will also acknowledge your participation in any publications arising. We expect the first versions to be complete in early 2024. The statement is being led by Charles Sturt University, in collaboration with the Manna Institute and the University of Canberra Mental Health Policy Unit. It is expected this work will feed into an international statement on the principles and practices of mental health research partnerships with rural communities to be published in June 2024.
The National Position Statement on Rural Mental Health Research will:
•Act as a guide for new and emerging rural mental health researchers
•Will influence funders and governments to set appropriate project guidelines and timelines
•Ensure that rural mental health research is socially, ethically and ethically responsible.
•Be used for advocate for fair and equitable funding for rural mental health research.

Some of the questions we will explore together are:
•What do we want rural mental health researchers to not do?
•What sort of legacy should be evident in the community after the research project has been completed?
•How should researchers first engage with rural communities?
•How should the research be guided and governed across its various stages (conception, planning, implementation, publication, dissemination?
•How best should we advocate funding equity for rural mental health research?