Directorates Portfolio

• The Directorate for Social Change and Mental Health Services (DSCMHS) is the statutory national authority responsible for overseeing and coordinating all psychiatric, mental health, and social transformation services in Papua New Guinea. Established under the Mental Health Act 2015, its dual-purpose portfolio combines clinical health provision with social reform to combat stigma and build community resilience.
  
  The primary responsibilities within its portfolio are divided into specific operational pillars:
  
• Policy Implementation The Directorate is legally mandated to implement and govern three key national health frameworks.
• National Mental Health Policy: Guiding the expansion and standardization of psychiatric services nationwide.
• National Alcohol Policy: Overseeing strategies and regulations to mitigate substance abuse impacts.
• National Traditional Medicine Policy: Working to safely integrate indigenous cultural norms and plant-based healing systems into mainstream mental health care.
• Clinical Psychiatric Services. The DSCMHS directly supervises clinical branches to provide specialized, medical, and psychological care through facilities like Laloki Public Psychiatric Hospital and community clinics.
• Specialized Clinics: Managing targeted units for Child & Adolescent psychiatry, Trauma Counseling, and Addiction/Substance Rehabilitation.
• Mental Health Nursing: Standardizing specialized nursing care for psychiatric patients.
• Standards & Auditing: Creating benchmarks for psychiatric treatments and auditing facilities to ensure patient safety and rights protection.
  Rehabilitation and Social Promotion Beyond hospitals, the portfolio actively targets grassroots social changes to address the underlying drivers of mental illness:
• Anti-Stigma & Education Campaigns: Conducting public outreach with community leaders, NGOs, and youth groups to reframe how mental illnesses are viewed.
• Workplace & Community Wellness: Initiating programs focused on emerging social challenges like workplace burnout and domestic stress.
• Crisis Intervention: Managing community mental health outreach networks and operational crisis lifelines.

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