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Wednesday 4 – Friday 6, November 2026
RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast
What Works, Where It Matters: Strengthening Integrated Rural Mental Health Systems, Workforce and Communities
Last year we asked the question;
“What are the issues in Rural Mental Health and who is affected?”
and this year we’re asking the question;
“What actually works, how do we implement it, and how do we sustain it?”
The Rural Mental Health Conference 2026 (RMHC26) unites those working across regional, rural and remote Australia to improve mental health, wellbeing and recovery.
Join us for three days on the Gold Coast and engage in practical learning and honest, solutions-focused conversations grounded in real rural experience.
RMHC26 is designed to strengthen capability, improve pathways and support place-based solutions that work in community.
At RMHC, we’re having the honest conversations…
Honest conversations about what it really takes to support mental health in rural and remote communities.
Conversations about prevention and early intervention, safe suicide prevention, workforce sustainability, community leadership, digital care that works in the real world, and the social and economic factors that shape recovery.
You’ve attended before – so what’s new this year?
RMHC 2026 is a shift from awareness to action—designed for those ready to implement, lead and sustain change in rural mental health.
This year, the focus moves beyond exploring issues to building pathways, capability and confidence you can take straight back to your community, service or organisation.
What’s changed in 2026?
More action, fewer abstractions.
Clearer pathways, practical models and real-world solutions to the challenges you face every day in rural and remote contexts.
Less theory, stronger evidence.
A sharper focus on what works: safely, inclusively and effectively—across stepped care, suicide prevention, digital delivery and community-led practice.
From participation to leadership.
Lived experience, workforce sustainability and inclusion are no longer side conversations. They’re central to how rural mental health systems are designed, led and sustained.
If you attended RMHC before, 2026 is your next step - deeper, more practical, and aligned with where the sector is heading.
The Mission
Strengthening rural communities to support mental health, wellbeing and recovery.
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To create a national platform for rural, regional and remote voices, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
- To support place-based, community-led and culturally responsive approaches to mental health.
- To share practical models, case studies and evidence that can be applied immediately in rural contexts.
- To strengthen workforce capability, sustainability and leadership across rural mental health systems.
- To move from insight to implementation in the face of growing complexity and demand.
More About RMHC26
- Does this sound like you?
- Is RMHC for me?
- What will you gain from attending?
- The Fun Stuff
Does this sound like you?
A snapshot of who you’ll connect with at RMHC26
RMHC delegates come from across regional, rural and remote Australia, representing health, community, education, government and lived experience perspectives.
Typically, delegates include:
- Rural and regional mental health practitioners and clinicians
- Community-based service providers and program managers
- Primary care professionals working in rural settings
- Lived experience and peer workers
- Community leaders, coordinators and place-based initiatives
- Researchers and academics with a focus on rural mental health
- Policy, commissioning and funding professionals
- Workforce leaders, supervisors and service managers
Is RMHC for me?
Yes! The Rural Mental Health Conference is for you if you’re looking for…
- A safe, inclusive space for open, respectful and trauma-informed conversation
- Practical tools, models and pathways you can adapt to your local context
- Evidence-informed sessions grounded in rural realities
- Cross-sector learning that reflects the complexity of rural systems
- Time away from day-to-day pressures to reflect, connect and plan forward
What will you gain from attending?
Leave with clarity, confidence and capability
RMHC26 will support you to better understand what rural communities and workforces need now, and how to respond effectively.
You will gain:
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Practical insights you can take back to your role, service or community
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Exposure to emerging evidence, policy directions and best practice
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Stronger professional connections across regions and sectors
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Confidence to navigate complex systems and pathways
Delegate inclusions:
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Access to recorded keynote sessions
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Access to selected recorded concurrent sessions
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Conference app access
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Conference materials
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10 CPD hours
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Certificate of attendance
The Fun Stuff
Step away from your inbox and into community
Alongside the learning, RMHC26 includes opportunities to connect and recharge:
- Welcome networking function
- Catering throughout the conference days
- Dedicated spaces to pause, reflect and connect
- Informal networking and community moments
What we’ll cover at RMHC26
What Works, Where It Matters: Strengthening Integrated Rural Mental Health Systems, Workforce and Communities
1. From Awareness to Action: Building Rural Mental Health-Capable Communities
Rural communities need more than awareness campaigns — they need shared language, confidence, and practical pathways that support wellbeing before crisis emerges. This stream focuses on place-based prevention and the power of local leadership, highlighting community-led approaches, volunteer and connector models, and the strengths that small towns and remote communities bring to mental health and wellbeing. Sessions explore stigma reduction, family and carer involvement, and community responses to mental ill-health, suicide risk, alcohol and other drug (AOD) harm, and complex needs, while sharing what is already working so effective rural models can be learned from, adapted across communities, and connected into broader regional systems.
2. Work, Study and Economic Participation as Mental Health Recovery
Meaningful work and education are powerful drivers of mental health recovery, especially in regional and rural areas. This stream explores youth and school-to-work transitions, supported employment models, and employer partnerships that promote participation, retention, and wellbeing. Sessions focus on recovery for people experiencing mental ill-health, alcohol and other drug (AOD) challenges, or multiple intersecting barriers — including neurodivergence — and the practical ways vocational pathways can be integrated into care, education, and community support systems.
3. Digital Care That Works in the Real World
This stream explores what effective digital mental health care looks like in rural and regional contexts, drawing on evidence for telehealth, hybrid outreach models, digital peer support, and emerging technologies. Sessions examine quality, safety, equity, and access challenges, including privacy, connectivity, workforce readiness, and the growing role of artificial intelligence in mental health care, suicide prevention, and treatment. The focus is on what works in practice — and how digital approaches can strengthen coordinated, integrated rural systems of care.
4. Suicide Prevention: Safe Language, Lived Experience and Practice
Safe and responsible approaches are essential in suicide prevention, particularly in close-knit rural and regional communities. This stream centres lived experience leadership, safe communication, and practical prevention approaches that support individuals, families, workplaces, and communities. Sessions address postvention, continuity of care after crisis, and the intersections between suicide risk, alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, trauma, and complex psychosocial needs, with a focus on strengthening coordination across services and communities.
5. The Missing Middle: Stepped Care, Navigation and Early Intervention
This stream focuses on people with moderate to severe mental health needs who require more than low-intensity support but do not meet thresholds for tertiary care — a group often described as the “missing middle.” Sessions explore stepped-care pathways, service navigation, and early intervention for people experiencing combined mental health, alcohol and other drug (AOD), trauma, violence, and psychosocial needs. The focus is on peer navigation and continuity of care, with the goal of smoother pathways, earlier support, and a more connected rural system that catches people before they fall.
6. Neurodivergence in Rural Communities: Clients and Workforce
This stream focuses on neurodivergence in rural communities, recognising its intersection with mental health, disability, trauma, and workforce participation. Sessions explore neuroaffirming, strengths-based practice across the lifespan, alongside the experiences of neurodivergent people working in or accessing rural mental health and community services. The focus is on inclusion, accessibility, and reducing mental health risk associated with unmet support needs, fragmented systems, and structural barriers in rural contexts.
7. Women’s Wellbeing in Rural Australia: Mental Health Across the Life Course
Rural women often face layered mental health risks shaped by life stage, caregiving roles, work demands, and limited access to services. During perimenopause and menopause, significant hormonal changes further increase mental health risk and influence both the drivers and treatment needs of depression, anxiety, and related conditions. This stream explores women’s mental health across the life course, including caregiving, workplace wellbeing, screening and referral pathways, and collaborative care within rural service systems, while acknowledging the intersection of mental health, alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, trauma, gendered harm, and social isolation.
8. Climate, Disaster and Recovery: Preparedness, Resilience and the Long Tail
This stream examines mental health and wellbeing across the full disaster life cycle, from mitigation and preparedness through response, recovery, and long-term adaptation in rural and regional communities. Sessions explore how to strengthen protective psychological and practical factors before disasters occur, support individuals and communities during crisis, and foster sustainable recovery that builds future preparedness across communities, services, and regional systems. First Nations–led resilience and recovery models are prioritised, recognising the central role of culture, place, and connection in long-term healing.
9. Workforce Sustainability, Wellbeing and Leadership
A sustainable and integrated rural mental health system depends on a supported, skilled, and empowered workforce, including the peer workforce. This stream addresses burnout prevention, psychosocial risk mitigation, sexual harassment and gendered workplace harm, retention strategies, flexible work models, private practice sustainability, and inclusive leadership. Sessions also build practical skills in advocacy, funding and commissioning literacy, and system navigation, including managing complexity related to comorbidity, alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, and cross-sector care.
Program Advisory Committee
Annette Beautrais
Suicide Prevention/Postvention Co-ordinator, Psychosocial Support Rural Health NZ
Maja Asmus
Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Manager, Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network
Registration Options
$ 499 + GST
Virtual
Save $100 with early bird. Ends 21/09/2026.
- Live streaming of all keynote presenters
- Live streaming of all sessions in the plenary room over three day conference period
- Virtual presentations
- Complete online access to audio and visual presentations for 30 days*
- Over 15 hours towards CPD points
- Live online support
- Your personalised certificate of attendance
$ 1,199 + GST
In-Person | 3 Day Program
Save $350 with early bird. Ends 21/09/2026.
- All keynote presentations
- All concurrent presentations
- Discounted accommodation rates
- Access to conference app
- Conference catering package
- Access to exclusive networking functions
- Complete online access to audio and visual presentations for 30 days post-event
- Printed conference materials
- Over 15 hours towards CPD points
- Your personalised certificate of attendance
- Exposure for your organisation
- Plus, chances to win great prizes!
$ 3,297 + GST
In-Person Group of 3
Save $200 with early bird. Ends 21/09/2026.
- All keynote presentations
- All concurrent presentations
- Discounted accommodation rates
- Access to conference app
- Conference catering package
- Access to exclusive networking functions
- Complete online access to audio and visual presentations for 30 days post-event
- Printed conference materials
- Over 15 hours towards CPD points
- Your personalised certificate of attendance
- Exposure for your organisation
- Plus, chances to win great prizes!
Have a team of 4 or more?
Fill in this form to receive a personal call from our team with your best possible rate.
What people are saying
RMHC Testimonials
"The conference was well organised, lots of session options and the presentations were very relevant to rural areas. The social get together after the program was a great opportunity to network in the field."
"Being in the room with so many people from various sectors, parts of Australia and experience was really valuable!"
"I was impressed by the range and calibre of presenters and found the content inspiring and thought provoking. It was very well organised and I found the organising team to be very responsive and accommodating."
"Wide variety of presentations and stall holders, ample opportunities for networking and supportive environment to feel vulnerable while learning from others"
"For me it was a great mix of old connections and new. It was a good mix of ideas and evidence. And the number of people meant that both of those things could be achieved."
"Go! It's a wonderful experience, it's amazing hearing from ordinary, everyday people doing extraordinary things on the daily. It's inspiring and really brings home how important our work is."
"Attend if you can… the opportunity to network and hear from others helps recharge the batteries."
"This is the conference to learn how much is going on in rural communities and to spark exciting ideas for what you and your organisation could do next."
"I have been inspired by so many likeminded clinicians and especially lived experience colleagues. I have learnt so much and really look forward to inspiring change in practices."
Me
Me & My Team
Venue & Accommodation
Accommodation is optional and can be booked during registration.
| Room + Breakfast for One | $295 per night |
| Room + Breakfast for Two | $325 per night |
All prices are AUD and include GST.
Join us on the Gold Coast
The Gold Coast provides a central and accessible location for rural mental health professionals from across Australia to come together, share knowledge, and strengthen the systems that support regional and remote communities.
While the setting may be coastal, the focus remains firmly on rural mental health in action. Hosting RMHC26 on the Gold Coast allows delegates from even the most remote areas to access more direct travel routes, greater accommodation availability, and a location where professionals can step away from day-to-day service pressures to think more strategically about the future of rural mental health.
The setting also provides space to reconnect with peers and reflect alongside colleagues who understand the unique realities of rural work.
Many organisations choose to bring teams to RMHC to share learning, strengthen networks, and return to their communities with renewed ideas and energy.
Speak with us about group registration options and how we can support your team to attend RMHC26.
Sponsors
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