We sat down with Corinne Henderson, Director of Policy & Systems Reform at Mental Health Coordinating Council, to gain insight into her experiences and vision for the future of mental health care. Here’s what she had to say — but first, a little about her journey.

After spending over 25 years in the textiles manufacturing industry specialising in design and senior management and executive roles, Corinne was confronted with an industry on its knees. In 2003, Corinne took a significant step in her professional journey, requalifying with a postgraduate diploma in Applied Psychology, followed by a Master’s Degree in Counselling and Trauma.

At this time, Corinne was already working part-time in a clinical role at a Women’s Health Service in Bankstown, but was searching for a second placement.

That’s when she discovered Mental Health Coordinating Council.

Like many in the mental health field, Corinne’s training had been deeply rooted in theory and one-on-one practice. However, stepping through the doors of Mental Health Coordinating Council opened her eyes to a much broader landscape—one that extended beyond the therapeutic bubble into the world of policy, reform, and systems change.

Fast forward to 2025, and Corinne is now celebrating 21 years with us.

Over the last two decades, Corinne has grown to be a leader in the policy space with a profound impact on community-managed mental health services, particularly around recovery-oriented language and trauma-informed practices. Corinne has led too many pieces of work to name, in advocacy for frontline services and the community-managed mental health sector at large.

Corinne’s journey is a testament to the power of stepping beyond comfort zones, embracing new perspectives, and a human rights, person-centred, and peer-led approach to care for people living with mental health challenges.

A passion for change

How has the sector changed in your experience?

The most significant transformation has been the recognition of the vital role peers play in the codesign and coproduction of services and in evaluating outcomes. Their voice has moved the goal posts for accountability and legislative and policy reform.

The community-managed mental health sector has rapidly professionalised, with both the mental health and peer workforce evolving alongside organisations adapting to higher standards of governance, best practice, and accountability. This shift brought a new wave of leaders with diverse backgrounds, making CEO roles and Board appointments more prestigious. However, while workloads have increased, general workforce conditions have remained largely unchanged. The mental health landscape looks and is a very different place, although for many consumers, that is not so.  Many still battle to access the services they need in the right place at the right time and the social determinants remain a constant battle for us all to rail against.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is March Forward, what does this mean to you?

The theme to me highlights the equity and freedom for all women in shaping their own economic, social, political, and personal paths—much like the Women’s Movement of the 1960s. It’s disheartening that progress has been so slow, with violence and coercion still a reality for many women worldwide, including in Australia. From young girls to older women, many still have a daily battle to assert their autonomy, lacking control over their bodies and family decisions despite the great strides we have all made in terms of education and employment in the western world. I’m deeply grateful for the freedom I had to pursue my own path, even if not all dreams were achieved.

How do you take care of your mental health?

I’m not a good role model I must say, but walking my much loved pooch, Skye, spending time with friends, watching Scandie Noir TV series and still life drawing are things I like to do that help me lower my stress levels.

LESSONS FROM THE FIELD

What advice would you give to professionals entering the mental health sector?

Speak to professionals broadly across the sector, find out what they do and understand what their job entails, and what aspects really interest you and would keep you motivated. Understand how the system works and objectively look at where you might fit in. Speak to those you work with, ask the silly questions, listen to your clients and find out what they need – it may be quite different to what assessments say they need.

What is your favourite part about your job?

I love turning reform into reality— getting down into the weeds of what’s wrong, shaping policy and legislation, and improving care models to better serve people with mental health challenges, their families, and the workforce that supports them. After years in business, I felt jaded, but the people in this sector changed that. I love working with people and colleagues who genuinely care about their work and those they work with.

A vision for the future

What are your hopes for the future of mental health care in our community?

I hope that the community workforce will be respected appropriately, receive the working conditions they deserve, and be considered on a par with their colleagues in the public sectors, and not regarded as less knowledgeable, competent and skilled. That one day the sector will receive 35% of the whole mental health budget and be able to deliver the services people need to stay well in the community; live the life they choose and make real the goals and outcomes they aspire to.

I would like to see much more cross government collaboration to stop the silo of portfolios and service delivery environments, and to enhance the funding of programs that address the social determinants of health. I’d like to get the message through to different departments that a dollar spent in one area would reap savings in another, providing better outcomes for consumers; and by realigning funding priorities to meet a broader focus, we would see meaningful change in people’s lives. Portfolios are often tunnel visioned, inflexible and fail to see the big picture. They fiddle at the edges, are reactive to crises, and pander to what will reap political mileage.

Working at MHCC for 21 years has been a privilege—never boring, endlessly rewarding, and full of opportunities to innovate alongside those who share my vision. Thanks to all those who have helped me on my journey, to those that support me now and to those who share my passion for this sector.