Resilience Is Not a Funding Model: Structural Reform Lessons from Regional, Rural and Remote Queensland
Tracks
Monarch
| Friday, November 6, 2026 |
| 9:05 AM - 9:35 AM |
Overview
Dr Rosa Flaherty, Queensland Alliance for Mental Health
Three Key Learnings
1. Structural inequity drives the problem. Rural and remote communities aren't lacking capability; they're operating within systems designed around metropolitan realities.
2. Invisible relational work is holding things together, unsustainably. Informal networks, peer and First Nations leadership, and workers going beyond their funded roles are filling critical gaps that commissioning frameworks don't recognise or reward.
3. Reform requires deliberate system redesign. Rural resilience is real but cannot substitute for long-term place-based funding, workforce strategies, and navigation infrastructure built for non-metropolitan realities.
Presenter
Dr Rosa Flaherty
CEO
Queensland Alliance For Mental Health
Resilience Is Not a Funding Model: Structural Reform Lessons from Regional, Rural and Remote Queensland
Presentation Overview
People living outside metropolitan centres experience higher rates of psychological distress and suicide, yet face reduced access to timely mental health support. These inequities are compounded by workforce shortages, siloed service systems and funding models poorly suited to dispersed communities.
In 2025, the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health undertook a Regional, Rural and Remote Roadshow across seven Queensland communities, engaging 83 participants from 48 organisations. Through structured discussions, we explored shared system pressures, local practice strengths and emerging risks across non-government community-based mental health services. In settings where collaboration is limited, the process created opportunities for providers to connect, map service pathways and strengthen referral relationships.
What we heard across regions was consistent and structural. Services described fragmented, program-based funding that undermines continuity of care, difficulty attracting and retaining staff, escalating burnout, and shrinking community-based options for people whose needs are too complex for low-intensity support but not acute enough for hospital care. Small teams are “multi-hatting” to sustain service viability, while thin markets, housing pressures and short-term contracts destabilise workforce sustainability.
At the same time, services are holding their systems together through relationships, local knowledge and peer and First Nations leadership. Informal networks fill gaps when services are unavailable or funding ends, with workers stepping beyond funded roles to keep people connected and prevent crisis. This relational and culturally grounded work keeps local systems functioning, yet remains largely invisible in commissioning design.
Rural communities are not lacking capability; they are working within systems that were not designed for their reality. Building sustainable community-based mental health services outside metropolitan centres requires long-term place-based funding, targeted workforce strategies, formalised peer pathways and investment in navigation infrastructure that strengthens continuity across systems. Rural resilience is a profound strength, but it cannot continue to function as a substitute for sustainable system design.
In 2025, the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health undertook a Regional, Rural and Remote Roadshow across seven Queensland communities, engaging 83 participants from 48 organisations. Through structured discussions, we explored shared system pressures, local practice strengths and emerging risks across non-government community-based mental health services. In settings where collaboration is limited, the process created opportunities for providers to connect, map service pathways and strengthen referral relationships.
What we heard across regions was consistent and structural. Services described fragmented, program-based funding that undermines continuity of care, difficulty attracting and retaining staff, escalating burnout, and shrinking community-based options for people whose needs are too complex for low-intensity support but not acute enough for hospital care. Small teams are “multi-hatting” to sustain service viability, while thin markets, housing pressures and short-term contracts destabilise workforce sustainability.
At the same time, services are holding their systems together through relationships, local knowledge and peer and First Nations leadership. Informal networks fill gaps when services are unavailable or funding ends, with workers stepping beyond funded roles to keep people connected and prevent crisis. This relational and culturally grounded work keeps local systems functioning, yet remains largely invisible in commissioning design.
Rural communities are not lacking capability; they are working within systems that were not designed for their reality. Building sustainable community-based mental health services outside metropolitan centres requires long-term place-based funding, targeted workforce strategies, formalised peer pathways and investment in navigation infrastructure that strengthens continuity across systems. Rural resilience is a profound strength, but it cannot continue to function as a substitute for sustainable system design.
Biography
Dr Rosa Flaherty is the CEO of the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health and brings extensive leadership experience across the health, social services and child protection sectors, with deep expertise in government engagement, policy reform, and organisational transformation. She is also a senior psychologist with a PhD in Psychology. Commencing her career as a residential support worker in a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week Mental Health Group Home in a rural area, Rosa is passionate about supporting the delivery of programs and services that enable people in our communities to live their best lives.
