On 11 April, Prof Dainius Pūras, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable physical and mental health, joined a panel discussion at the La Trobe Law School and the Care Economy Research Institute, Australia. The panel discussed the Transformation of Mental Health Policy, Practice, and Law in Victoria and beyond. Dainius was joined on the panel by Mary O’Hagan, Executive Director Lived Experience in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Division at the Department of Health, Victoria, and Professor Lisa Brophy, Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University. The panel was chaired by Associate Professor Piers Gooding from the La Trobe Law School, and guests were welcomed by Professor Irene Blackberry, Director of the Care Economy Research Institute.
While in Australia, Dainius also met with contacts at Deakin University to discuss mental health and deafness and he also presented at the University of Melbourne on mental health policy.