Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA) CEO Kerry Hawkins joined Jeff Bullen on RTRFM 92.1’s On The Record on Tuesday 22 September 2026 to talk about our report, Capturing the Economic Value of Psychosocial Support.
The report was commissioned by CMHA and produced by Professor Paul Flatau and the team at the Centre for Social Impact at UWA. It looks at the value of psychosocial support: the practical, everyday supports outside clinical care that help people manage daily life, find and keep housing and work, and stay connected to their communities.
Kerry explained that where psychosocial programs have been properly evaluated, the results are strong. They reduce hospital and emergency presentations and give people meaningful gains in quality of life.
“Our members see the difference psychosocial support makes in people’s lives every day, and that difference translates into real savings for government,” Kerry said.
She also talked about the gap the report exposes. Psychosocial support makes up only a small share of mental health spending, and very few programs have ever been fully evaluated, so their true value is not showing up in the numbers.
“The evidence is genuinely promising. Our job now is to build on it, with longer funding cycles and stronger evaluation, so governments can invest with confidence,” Kerry said.
Kerry’s interview starts at the 15.41 minute mark. Click here to listen.
Thank you to Jeff and the On The Record team for helping us take this conversation to a wider audience.
