About us
INDICATE is developing clear standards for assessing compliance of Australia’s mental health law, policy and practice with international human rights law.
Overview
Funded by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Program, INDICATE is a collaborative partnership with Wellways Australia, dedicated to co-designing the first human rights indicator for assessing compliance with Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘CRPD’) with consumers of mental health services (with involvement from carers and supporters).
Background
Despite ratification of the CRPD, human rights violations are an ongoing issue in Australian mental health services and CRPD implementation has been slow. Recent major Royal Commissions have highlighted how service gaps, involuntary psychiatric intervention, and restrictive practices in mental health service settings can breach civil and political human rights and undermine economic, social and cultural rights.
A major barrier to effective CRPD implementation is the absence of an implementation assessment framework – or ‘indicator’ – for assessing CRPD compliance.
INDICATE aims to address this issue by undertaking research to develop clear compliance indicators to help identify, analyse, and measure progress towards CRPD compliance in the mental health context.
Our aim
INDICATE has three primary aims:
- To advance human rights compliance in the context of mental health law, policy and practice and across broader society through the development of a co-designed ‘CRPD Indicator’.
- Refine the use of the CRPD indicator, applying it in Victoria and Queensland and making recommendations for improving compliance in these jurisdictions.
- Provide resources, tools and guidance for civil society organisations (such as consumer and carer advocacy organisations), governments, and services seeking to apply the indicator.
Our approach
INDICATE is co-designing a CRPD indicator using participatory research methods and rights-based conceptual frameworks.
INDICATE adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data collection with stakeholder interviews to cross-verify insights into human rights compliance.
The project also involves doctrinal research, through the systematic examination of legislation (such as mental health legislation) and comparative legal research in the two Australian jurisdictions.
INDICATE is developing a literature review to examine good practices in human rights indicators in their social and policy context, as well as engaging with critical literature on the role of human rights indicators in global governance.
Our team
INDICATE Research Team
- Professor Piers Gooding | Lead Chief Investigator, La Trobe University
- Professor Chris Maylea | Chief Investigator, La Trobe University (Co-Lead)
- Dr Catherine Brasier | Partner Investigator, Wellways Australia
- Prof Neeraj Gill | Chief Investigator, Griffith University
- Professor Jill Stavert | Partner Investigator, Edinburgh Napier University
- Dr Panos Karanikolas | Postdoctoral Fellow
- Jessica Rodríguez García | PhD Candidate
Co-design Group
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Advisory and Implementation Group
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