Mental wealth initiative

The Mental Wealth of a nation is the combined cognitive and emotional resources of all its peoples.

Mental illness and its impact on the national economy is significant and yet under-researched. One key reason lies in the difficulty of applying health economics to mental illness as many of the costs exist outside the realm of health services and within economic constructs – housing, education, employment and more.

The Mental Wealth Initiative aims to address four key questions:

• What is mental wealth and how can it be maximised in an Australian context?
• How can the concept of mental wealth drive better policy?
• Are resources allocated efficiently to promote mental health and address mental illness in Australia?
• Where are the best returns on investment in responding to the burden of mental illness in Australia?

Answers to these questions will better place Australia and our population in dealing with mental health by ensuring our constructs and frameworks, both within and outside of the health sector, are optimised to effectively reduce the personal and economic burden associated with mental illness.

• Overall, the cost of the burden of disease associated with serious mental illness in Australia in 2019 has been estimated at around $43-51 billion per year of total Gross Domestic Product, however, this does not include the impact of psychological distress independent of serious mental illness.
• The case for investing in population mental health and wellbeing is not only morally and socially compelling, it is economically fundamental. 
• There is an often-overlooked vital link between the mental wellbeing of Australians and our economic performance as a nation.
• National and international collaborating partners of the Mental Wealth Initiative recognise the importance of properly accounting for the broader whole-of-economy impacts of the social determinants of mental ill health, like housing, employment, and education to provide a holistic assessment of the economic impact of diminished mental health and wellbeing.
• We also recognise the need for significant investment in bringing together economic, clinical and mental health services research, and policy reform expertise, to integrate broader macroeconomic factors into our models that drive, and are driven by, a nation’s mental health and wellbeing, particularly among young people.

1.    Jo-An Occhipinti, John Buchanan, Adam Skinner, Allan Fels, Yun Ju C. Song, Kristen Tran, Sebastian Rosenberg, P. Murali Doraiswamy, Petra Meier, Ante Prodan, Ian B. Hickie. Measuring, modelling, and forecasting the Mental Wealth of Nations. Frontiers in Public Health, 2022, Vol 10: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.879183.

1.    Adam Skinner, Jo-An Occhipinti, Yun Ju Christine Song, Ian B. Hickie. Population mental health improves with increasing access to treatment: evidence from a dynamic modelling analysis. BMC Psychiatry, 2022; Vol 22: https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-022-04352-w

1.    Jo-An Occhipinti, Adam Skinner, P. Murali Doraiswamy, Cameron Fox, Helen Herrman, Shekhar Saxena, Elisha London, Yun Ju Christine Song, Ian Hickie, on behalf of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Mental Health. Mental health: Build predictive models to steer policy. Nature 2021; 597: 633-636: https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-021-02581-9/d41586-021-02581-9.pdf

1.    Yun Ju Christine Song, Sebastian Rosenberg, John Mendoza, Jo-An Occhipinti, Belinda Smith, Adam Skinner, Samuel Hockey, Louise Freebairn, Ian Hickie. Missing in action: The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of mental health care. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 2022; Vol 16 (26): https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-022-00537-8

1.    Jo-An Occhipinti, Ian Hickie, John Buchanan, Sebastian Rosenburg, Mental wealth: Measuring progress towards the wellbeing economy, The Mandarin, 28^th July 2022: https://www.themandarin.com.au/195705-mental-wealth-measuring-progress-towards-the-wellbeing-economy/

1.    John Buchanan, Ian Hickie, Jo-An Occhipinti. Mental wealth and jobs: without it, we’re just pouring water into a leaking bucket. The Conversation, 1^st September, 2022: https://theconversation.com/mental-wealth-and-jobs-without-it-were-just-pouring-water-into-a-leaking-bucket-189539

Erin Smith, Jay Weatherill, Carol Graham, Andrew Robb, Rym Ayadi, Sanjiv Das, Peter Palmer, Jo-An Occhipinti, William Hynes, Thomas Dougherty, and Harris A. Eyre: Brain capital: A new vector for democracy strengthening, Brookings Institution, Up Front, 8^th November 2022: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/11/08/brain-capital-a-new-vector-for-democracy-strengthening/

1.    Jo-An Occhipinti, Ian Hickie. Crafting policies to bolster ‘Mental Wealth’ in World Economic Forum, Future Focus 2025 Pathways for Progress from the Network of Global Future Councils 2020–2022: Insight Report June 2022 (page 76-78): https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_Focus_2025.pdf

1.    Kristen Tran, John Buchanan, Yun Ju C Song, Sebastian Rosenberg, Jo-An Occhipinti,^ Ian B. Hickie.^  A Mental Wealth perspective: Crossing disciplines to understand the value of collective mental and social assets in the post-COVID-19 era. (Accepted,  International Journal of Mental Health Systems, December 2022)

1.    John Buchanan & Jo-An Occhipinti. Mental wealth – the neglected force in national prosperity. Sydney Business Insights: https://sbi.sydney.edu.au/mental-wealth-the-neglected-force-in-national-prosperity/ March 2022.

1.    Jo-An Occhipinti, Ian Hickie. Crafting policies to bolster ‘Mental Wealth’ in World Economic Forum, Future Focus 2025 Pathways for Progress from the Network of Global Future Councils 2020–2022: Insight Report June 2022 (page 76-78): https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_Focus_2025.pdf

1.    Jo-An Occhipinti & Adam Skinner. Mathematical modelling and computer simulations guide better mental health policy. Scientific American 2021 (18^th September): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mathematical-modeling-and-computer-simulations-guide-better-mental-health-policy/?previewid=6D1FDB5C-C181-4669-A4EF18E0229D4B13

• Co-Director,  Professor John Buchanan
• Co-Director, Associate Professor Jo-An Occhipinti
• Professor Ian Hickie
• Dr  Sebastian Rosenberg
• Dr Adam Skinner 
• Mr Goran Ujdur

• Dr Yun (Christine) Song
• Professor Jakelin Troy
• Ms Kristen Tran
• Dr Troy Henderson 
• Dr Ante Prodan
• Dr Andrea Natsky
• Mr Raphael Hasudungan

• The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull AC - Former Prime Minister of Australia
• Lucinda Mary Turnbull AO - Buisinesswoman, Philanthropist, Urbanist
• Professor Alan Fells AO - Economist, Lawyer, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
• The Hon. Dr Craig Emerson - Economist and Former Politician (Australian  Labour Party)
• Professor William Hynes - Economist and Head of New Approaches to Economic Challenges, OECD Paris
• Dr Harris Eyre - Head of Brain Capital Alliance