Building a Stronger Mental Health System for Queensland: The Case for Intentional Peer Support
Despite growing awareness of mental health and wellbeing, community managed mental health services remain chronically underfunded. According to Productivity Commission data, investment in community based mental-health organisations has nearly halved between 2017 and 2020 falling from $95 million to just over $50 million.
Although there has been recognition and renewed investment, it still doesn’t adequately support what we know works. Programs that could prevent hospitalisation and focus on social connection, mutual support, and early recovery are being squeezed.
The consequence of under-investing in community based support
When community programs lose funding, the effects ripple across the system:
People who could recover safely at home are pushed toward hospital care.
Families and carers shoulder greater emotional and financial strain.
Workers experience burnout as acute services become overstretched.
Why connection matters as much as care
Mental illness often begins, or worsens, when people become disconnected. Loneliness, uncertainty, loss of control, and social isolation are powerful drivers of distress. Clinical services, while essential, cannot on their own rebuild a sense of belonging or meaning.
That’s where Intentional Peer Support (IPS) comes in. IPS is a structured approach to mutual learning and relational recovery. It’s built on equality, shared responsibility, empathy, and the belief that everyone has something to contribute to the healing process.
Through intentional peer relationships, people rediscover confidence, purpose, and community. It’s not about “fixing” someone, it’s about growing together.
A vision for Queensland
A sustainable mental-health system must be both clinical and communal. It requires intentional investment in connection, mutuality, and lived experience leadership.
By restoring balance between hospital based and community based care, Queensland can create a system where people are not just surviving but contributing, belonging, and thriving.
About the author
This article was adapted from a submission to a Parliamentary Inquiry in Queensland examining workforce wellbeing, peer support, and system reform.
Sharon Friel is a consultant and strategist specialising in organisational design, lived-experience leadership, and peer-based models of care. Through Sharon Friel Consulting, she partners with community, health, and human-services organisations to build sustainable, human-centred systems that work.
To explore how Intentional Peer Support or peer-leadership frameworks could strengthen your organisation’s workforce and community impact, visit sfconsulting.com.au or contact Sharon directly.
