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Who we are

Find out about the Transforming Trauma Victoria consortium members and how they will address the impacts of trauma.

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Transforming Trauma Victoria (TTV) was established in 2022 in response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

TTV is a world first service of its kind created to address the impact of trauma across an entire community.

Currently in the design and development phase, TTV expects to offer innovative therapeutic services, workforce training, and research to transform how trauma is recognised and treated within Victoria’s mental health system.

Our mission is to ensure that trauma is identified early, and individuals across all ages receive the support they need to heal.

Led by Phoenix Australia, TTV consists of 13 organisations, including experts in trauma care, research, and service delivery. The consortium brings together lived experience, service providers, and researchers, creating a diverse leadership team to deliver the best possible outcome for Victorians.

Please note that in our design phase we are unable to accept referrals.

Our consortium members

TTV is a collaborative effort between organisations that bring together world-class expertise in trauma care, research, training, and mental health service delivery. Led by Phoenix Australia and supported by our consortium members, we are working to make trauma-informed care a consistent practice across Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing system.

Our consortium includes:

Clinical, lived experience and research leaders from each organisation meet regularly to oversee the design and development of TTV. Each consortium member brings specific knowledge and expertise, so TTV can build on, and surpass, current best practice in trauma-informed care.

A new approach to trauma care

The Royal Commission recommended the Victorian Government establish a mental health statewide trauma service to deliver the best possible mental health and wellbeing outcomes for people with lived experience of trauma.

In October 2022, a group of organisations led by Phoenix Australia was appointed to design and deliver the mental health statewide trauma service, now known as Transforming Trauma Victoria.

Supported by the Victorian Department of Health, TTV has co-designed a new approach to trauma care that involves research, service delivery, and workforce development. Learn more about our work.

Timeline

Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System established

Royal Commission’s final report published

Consortium led by Phoenix Australia appointed to design and deliver the Mental Health Statewide Trauma Service (contract finalised January 2023)

Collaborative agreement signed between partners, established dedicated co-design teams and formal TTV advisory group

First open EOI for co-design participants and establishment of working groups

Co-designed service name (Transforming Trauma Victoria)

Appointment of Lived Experience co-director

Launch of pilot programs at Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals (Brimbank and Greater Geelong and Queenscliffe)

Launch of TTV pilot at Women’s Recovery Network with Shepparton site visit

Completion of Aboriginal Self-Determination Project

Continued design work and refinement of TTV operating model

Completion of TTV operating model

Addressing the impact of trauma

Recommendation 23 of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s mental health system asked the Victorian Government to fund a statewide trauma service to bring together mental health practitioners, trauma experts, peer workers and consumers with lived experience of trauma. It said the service should deliver a workforce with a high level of expertise and knowledge, a dedicated research focus and provide treatment.

There is a need to address the growing impact of trauma:

  1. Trauma has a significant impact on individuals, families and communities Up to 75% of Australians will experience a potentially traumatic event in their life (Milles et al, 2011). It can severely affect the mental health of individuals, families, and communities, with children often falling through service gaps. These gaps lead to lasting consequences for mental wellbeing, life outcomes, and social and economic participation. Trauma can cause a threefold increase in mental illness, suicide rates, and service use. It can also cause lower educational outcomes, increase in domestic violence rates and involvement with the justice system.
  2. Gaps in the current systems The Royal Commission found consumers who have experienced trauma ‘cycle in and out of’, ‘move between’ and get ‘bounced between’ services, without receiving coordinated, therapeutic care for their trauma. TTV is vital for addressing these gaps, particularly for those with complex needs.
  3. Growing cost of trauma Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a classic outcome of trauma, is our second most common mental illness and costs approximately $17 billion in annual value loss (CPI adjusted) (McCallum et al, 2019). Despite this prevalence and cost, the diagnosis is one of the most frequently missed. One study in an Australian hospital found that while 46% had PTSD, only 5.4% had been identified (McFarlane, 2006). A 2022 Lancet review estimates that half of those accessing mental health services have complex PTSD (Maercker et al, 2022).

The good news is that there are a growing range of effective treatments. They have large effect sizes and help not just symptoms but also in getting people back to everyday life. TTV is committed to ensuring that trauma-informed care becomes a consistent practice across Victoria’s mental health system.

Maercker, A., Cloitre, M., Bachem, R., Schlumpf, Y. R., Khoury, B., Hitchcock, C., & Bohus, M. (2022). Complex post-traumatic stress disorder. The Lancet, 400(10345), 60–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00821-2

McCallum, S. M., Batterham, P. J., Calear, A. L., Sunderland, M., & Carragher, N. (2019). Reductions in quality of life and increased economic burden associated with mental disorders in an Australian adult sample. Australian Health Review, 43(6), 644. https://doi.org/10.1071/AH16276

McFarlane, A., Schrader, G., Bookless, C., & Browne, D. (2006). Prevalence of Victimization, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Violent Behaviour in the Seriously Mentally Ill. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40(11–12), 1010–1015. https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2006.01925.x

Mills, K. L., McFarlane, A. C., Slade, T., Creamer, M., Silove, D., Teesson, M., & Bryant, R. (2011). Assessing the Prevalence of Trauma Exposure in Epidemiological Surveys. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 45(5), 407–415. https://doi.org/10.3109/00048674.2010.543654

Updated 6 November 2024

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