Collaborative Networks of the Victorian Mental Health Service System (CANVAS)

CANVAS Project

Collaborative Networks of the Victorian Mental Health Service System

 

The CANVAS project is a University of Melbourne research initiative undertaken in partnership with the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing. It maps the networks of collaboration connecting mental health and wellbeing service providers across Victoria.

 

CANVAS was developed in direct response to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System, which identified fragmentation and poor coordination as persistent structural challenges in the sector. Using social network analysis CANVAS examines how services collaborate at the system level.

 

The pilot phase focused on providers of Adult and Older Adults mental health services in two regions:

• Western Metropolitan Melbourne
• The Hume region in Northeast Victoria

 

The pilot included data from 15 organisations and 22 sub teams. Data collection in the Grampians region commenced but was deferred. The project examined three types of collaboration: information and resource sharing, collaboration on advocacy, and desired (but not yet occurring) relationships.

 

Finding 1: Local services are the hub, but gaps remain

Local Mental Health and Wellbeing service providers (Local NGOs) sit at the centre of the existing collaboration network. Network statistical analysis confirmed that:

• Local Mental Health and Wellbeing providers are central to the collaboration network.
• Other mental health providers, including hospitals, alcohol and other drug (AOD) services, and community-focused organisations, want even more collaboration with Local services than currently exists.
• Significant gaps remain. While Local services collaborate strongly with each other and with hospitals, their connections to AOD-focused organisations and community-focused diversity groups are thin, despite strong desire from those organisations to collaborate.

 

 

Finding 2: Collaboration is one-on-one, not alliance-based

Across the network, collaborative service delivery is primarily occurring between pairs of organisations (referred to technically as 'dyadic' collaboration), rather than through broader alliances or coalitions.

• Collaboration is highly reciprocal; when one organisation reports working with another, that relationship is usually confirmed in both directions. This is a positive indicator of genuine partnership.
• However, transitive clustering (where Organisation A works with B, and B works with C, and therefore A also works with C) is consistently low across all collaboration types. Three-way or alliance-style structures are rare.

 

 

Finding 3: Peer workforce reform leaders are well-connected, but only among themselves

To understand how Living and Lived Experience (peer) workforce reforms are progressing, the project examined three practices aligned with National Mental Health Commission guidelines: designated peer roles at various organisational levels, training for non-designated staff, and formal targets or KPIs for peer workforce development.

Network statistical modelling found that:

• Organisations leading peer workforce reform are also well-connected in advocacy and policy networks. They advise one another and collaborate closely on sector influence.
• However, this clustering does not extend to everyday service delivery. Organisations at very different stages of peer workforce development still interact routinely through information and resource sharing, creating a potential source of friction and misunderstanding.

 

 

Fifteen stakeholders working across the Victorian mental health and psychosocial support system participated in qualitative interviews and focus groups conducted between late 2024 and early 2025. Four themes emerged:

 

Referral pathways

Referral knowledge is largely held by individuals rather than embedded in organisational systems, making it vulnerable to staff turnover. Participants described the service landscape as constantly shifting and difficult to keep pace with. Navigation support, including helping clients and other professionals find appropriate services, is a core but informal function of many organisations.

 

Service gaps and challenges

Key challenges include a shortage of affordable, accessible, and appropriate services, particularly for people with complex or overlapping needs (including AOD, housing, and cultural considerations). Wait times, eligibility thresholds, and geography all contribute to people being 'bounced around' the system or falling through the gaps. Funding constraints leave many services unable to meet demand.

 

Lived experience in the workforce

Participants strongly affirmed the value of lived experience roles. However, concerns were raised about the adequacy of support structures for people in these roles, and inconsistency in how lived experience is understood and integrated across organisations.

 

Information sharing and collaboration

Participants valued collaboration and information sharing but acknowledged barriers including confidentiality obligations, staff turnover, and the sheer difficulty of keeping service information current. Shared directories and mapping tools were seen as helpful but challenging to maintain.

 

The CANVAS pilot project represents a novel and timely contribution to evidence-based mental health reform in Victoria. Social network mapping has demonstrated clear potential as a tool for understanding and addressing system fragmentation, making visible the connections, gaps, and structural patterns that shape how services work together.

 

Key conclusions from the pilot include:

• Local Mental Health and Wellbeing services are well-positioned to anchor system coordination, but targeted effort is needed to bring AOD and community-focused organisations into the network.
• The system currently lacks the alliance-based collaboration needed to support strong collective governance. This must be deliberately built.
• Peer workforce reform has a strong leadership core, but cross-sector training and support are needed to embed reform more broadly.
• Qualitative insights highlight the human dimensions of a fragmented system: knowledge held by individuals, services stretched beyond capacity, and the difficulty of navigating a rapidly changing landscape.

 

The project has established conceptual, methodological, and research infrastructure foundations including a live reporting platform for ongoing network data collection and visualisation that position CANVAS well for future longitudinal monitoring of system change.