MHV experienced great change this year when Marcelle Mogg joined us as CEO. We sat down with her to hear more about her early impressions, her vision for the organisation and her hopes for the sector more broadly.
Tell us a bit about your background, and how it’s set you up for your role with MHV.
I’ve worked predominantly in health and health related areas.
Most recently that was at St John of God Healthcare, which is a group of private hospital providers, headquartered in Perth but with services in NSW, Victoria, New Zealand and Timor Leste.
They also do some mental health services, including hospitals and community-based services, as well as a mental health based outreach service in PNG.
My role at St John of God was about helping to articulate the organisational identity, and how it influenced the model of care we were providing.
Why do you see organisational identity as being particularly important?
I think organisations tend to be most effective when they’re clear on what they stand for and what their purpose is, and then work out of that premise.
Allied to that is knowing who you exist to serve. It’s important to know who we exist to serve and to then align ourselves to get the best outcome for those people.
For me that’s one of the points of attraction around MHV. This is not about turning over money for shareholders — nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t get me out of bed in the morning.
It’s about doing what we can to support the wellbeing of some of the more vulnerable people in our community.
What do you see as the big challenges and great strengths in the mental health sector?
I was always impressed by the voice of the consumer in mental health. That was something we came to much later in other areas of healthcare.
When I first began in healthcare, it was the end of what were then institutional approaches to mental health. I saw, at a distance, the de-institutionalisation process.
It was welcome, but I was concerned. Have we got the resources and new services to support people through the transition — both people accessing services and people providing services?
Seeing the hollowing out of the system, services not connected, people bouncing from place to place, or presenting in crisis because they couldn’t get care when they needed it, was distressing.
I was really pleased to see the advent of the Royal Commission, and recognised it represents a massive generational opportunity for us to do things differently.
I also recognise no one moment in time can capture what needs to happen next. You can’t pin a wave on the beach down, we need to evolve and respond to the continuing and changing need.
How would you describe your vision for Mental Health Victoria?
I’m really excited to be at MHV. It’s an enormous opportunity and I’m really mindful of this moment in time we have in the wake of the Royal Commission.
I appreciate also there’s diversity of opinion about how we craft solutions, which solutions should take priority, and whether they continue to be sufficient.
That’s perhaps where there’s a vulnerability. If we are to realise the impact in terms of sector reform, service reform, funding reform, policy reform, we need everybody to stay around the table.
I think there’s a role for MHV to play as a bit of a relationship broker. Listening to the pain points, helping each group understand the other a little bit more, and then help us all find a way forward.
Again, I think keeping in mind who we all exist to serve is critical.
If any of us are taking decisions that don’t make sense to somebody with lived experience, or somebody who is supporting or caring for someone with lived experience, then why are we doing it?
It’s as simple and as difficult as that.
What do you do to practice self-care?
Jax our husky plays a big part in my mental health and wellbeing. Getting him out every day for a walk is an important part of my self-care.
I also made a commitment to myself to go back and have swimming lessons. I’m working on my swimming technique so I can do it better. My goal is to be able to do bay swims.
When I was swimming last night I felt this was so good for me, physically and mentally. Having made that commitment to myself and finally met it, I felt really encouraged.
