Complex Needs Conference 2025 – Call for Abstracts
The Australian Community Support Organisation (ACSO) and ermha365 (Mental Health Disability Complex Services), are proud to be hosting the Complex Needs Conference 2025 (funded by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing) on Wednesday 26 & Thursday 27 March 2025 at The Grand Hyatt Melbourne.
Welcome and event summary
We invite practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and individuals with lived experience to submit abstracts for the Complex Needs Conference 2025.
This conference seeks to bring together a diverse group of people to explore the challenges and solutions for supporting individuals with complex needs. By fostering a collaborative environment, we aim to share ideas, research, and personal experience. These aim to inspire, inform, and drive better practices in delivering coordinated care for people with diverse and complex needs.
Whether you are a practitioner, researcher, policy maker, and/or a person with lived experience, we are united by a shared goal. We aim to find practical solutions that improve the lives of people experiencing:
- Mental health issues
- Harmful substance use
- Behaviour that can lead to risk to self and others
- Homelessness
- Trauma; and
- Disability.
The Complex Needs Conference will build on the work of the Complex Needs Project, introduced in 2023 by the Victorian Government. The project aims to improve the service system for people with complex needs including those who experience significant barriers to service system involvement or access, and who present risk to self and others. As part of the project, ACSO and erhma365 have been funded to deliver an assertive outreach and support service with the aim to trial a model of assertive engagement, and intensive approaches to case management, care team support and risk management. The Conference will help to build on the momentum of the project and equip practitioners, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience with insights and tools to enhance their work.
We look forward to engaging discussions across our three streams:
- Interconnected systems
- Research insights; and
- Lived experience.
Together, we will explore how to:
- Bridge gaps in community safety and service provision
- Enhance mental health and housing outcomes, and
- Foster stronger community connections for people facing challenging times.
Your participation is vital in driving change and enhancing support systems for those who need it most.
ABSTRACTS CLOSING DATE:
MONDAY 16 DECEMBER 2024
Abstract themes
With the overarching theme for the conference "Making it work: overcoming barriers and simplifying support for people with complex needs", we are seeking abstracts across 3 conference streams. Each stream is designed to help attendees better support individuals with diverse and complex needs. This includes mental health challenges, harmful substance use, trauma, disability, behaviour that can lead to risk to self and others, and chronic conditions. This conference will highlight innovative, evidence-based strategies for delivering holistic, multidisciplinary care that truly makes a difference.
Please read the information below (by clicking the + symbol to the right) to see which theme is most suitable for your presentation.
Practice stream
Interconnected systems: building bridges and traversing multiple services
Abstracts in this stream should focus on the practical application of multidisciplinary approaches and best practices in navigating complex systems of care. Abstracts should highlight examples of collaboration between different support services, showcasing successful strategies for providing coordinated care for clients with diverse needs.
Key Topics:
- Innovative case management approaches
- Overcoming barriers to effective service delivery
- Service integration
- Multidisciplinary collaboration
- System navigation
- Addressing service barriers
- Trauma-informed care in practice
- Care continuity approaches
- Technology-enabled services and systems
Research and program showcase
What’s working, what’s next: inspiring research and insights from proven programs
Abstracts in this stream should present the latest research, evaluation, and evidence-based practices that contribute to better outcomes for individuals with complex needs. This stream will also include forward-thinking discussions on emerging trends, technologies, and interventions that promise to shape the future of service delivery.
Key Topics:
- Evidence-based practices
- Program and pilot evaluation outcomes and learnings
- Trauma-informed care and trauma recovery
- Balancing community safety and harm reduction
- Health equity
- Workforce development
- Innovative interventions
Lived experience
Real stories, real solutions: hearing from those who’ve been there
This stream will share the stories of people who have firsthand experience with complex service systems. This can be as an individual seeking support, carer or family member. We’re looking for presentations that share personal journeys of resilience, overcoming challenges, and finding paths to support and stability. We especially welcome stories about solutions and supports that led to positive outcomes.
Key Topics:
- Mental health
- Substance use
- Homelessness
- Personal journeys to recovery
- Culturally relevant care
- Transformative relationships with providers
- Overcoming stigma
- Barriers to accessing support
- Peer support and advocacy
- Role of family and community support
Abstract guidelines
All abstracts must be submitted by completing the below form before the closing date, Monday 16 December 2024 to be included in the reviewing process.
Dates and deadlines:
- Call for Abstracts Opens: 5 November 2024
- Abstracts Submission Deadline: 16 December 2024
- Notification of Abstracts to Authors: 16 January 2025
- Presenter Registration Deadline: 21 February 2025
Please email isabella@alignmentevents.com.au should you have any questions in relation to this event. We look forward to receiving your submission soon.
Abstract submission form
Terms and conditions
- Only abstracts submitted in English will be reviewed.
- Abstracts will be original work and must be submitted using the online form, by the presenting author.
- Submissions must include a biography of the presenter of up to 150 words.
- All abbreviations must be spelled out on first use.
- Abstracts should be thoroughly checked for correct spelling and grammar.
- Abstracts must be submitted by Monday 16 December 2024 for consideration by the Conference Organising Committee. Authors will be notified of provisional acceptance of abstracts by late January 2025.
- To be formally accepted, abstract authors must be registered and paid to attend the Conference by 21 February 2025.
- If successful, PowerPoint presentations must be provided in their final format ready for presenting one week prior to the conference
- If successful, the Organising Committee reserve the right to display and distribute the successful PowerPoint presentation post conference as a PDF document