Victoria, Australia, Mental Health Wards Putting More Patients in Seclusion
From ABC NEWS: “According to a new report produced by the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), the state’s seclusion rate is higher than the national average and Victorians are being secluded for longer than their interstate counterparts . . .
VMIAC chair Dr Chris Maylea said seclusion practices varied widely across services and more needed to be done to make individual services accountable . . .
‘There needs to be much stronger leadership in the mental health system to address this issue immediately.’
Dr Maylea said he hoped coronavirus lockdowns would help the public have a better insight into what seclusion was like. ‘I think Victorians now more than ever are aware that being locked up in a small place is not a nice experience,’ he said. ‘And it’s not something that we should put people through when they’re in distress.’