CoRTA-MH
What is CoRTA?
The Co-design and Research Translation Alliance in Mental Health (CoRTA-MH) is a place-based consortium designed to enable research and its translation into policy and practice to improve outcomes for communities.
The current scope is to support research that improves recovery-oriented services for people with high-need mental health challenges across Brisbane North and South regions.
The consortium is a partnership with service providers, policymakers, and researchers. Lived experience leadership is embedded in our governance structure to drive meaningful reform that meets the needs of the communities we serve.
This diverse partnership is guided by our motto:
“Individual activity with collective values for systemic benefit”
The following values are embedded into how we operate:
Our Vision and mission are:
Vision: A connected and inclusive community in which community-led research drives innovation and reform in the mental health and wellbeing sector.
Mission: To enable evidence-informed changes that meet the health and wellbeing needs of the communities we serve.
CoRTA-MH is a collective commitment to research with purpose and translation to real world impact.
Why is this needed?
Translational research aims to progress evidence into improved health outcomes for the intended beneficiaries of services. However, it’s estimated that this translation of evidence into policy and practice can take decades because of misalignment with the priorities of people with lived experience and policy directions. This leads to ‘research waste’ and missed opportunities to respond to community needs.
A sustainable partnership is needed between service providers, policymakers, and researchers for the efficient conduct of research and its translation into real world impact. By embedding lived experience leadership into this place-based approach, and involving local universities and research institutes as collaborators from the outset, innovation and reform can be evidence-based and driven by the community it’s intended to benefit.
How are we different?
This is a ‘grassroots’ initiative based on a decade of collaboration and diverse partnership across government and non-government organisations. Our partnership is unique in its equitable approach to enabling research that challenges conventional power structures.
Conventional structures involve a single institution as the administrator of network coordination, priority setting, and research oversight. By separating these core responsibilities, community leadership, equitability, and transparency are embedded in the way we operate, enhancing collaboration toward a common goal.
Priority setting: A lived experience authority will be established within a lived experience organisation. This authority will be a cornerstone of the governance structure and oversee co-design of research priorities and co-production of the research and its translation.
Research: Mental health research teams and service providers will collaborate for implementation research that addresses the co-designed priorities.
Coordination: As an advocacy body for research in the mental health sector, Psychosis Australia acts as a neutral coordinator of the network, responding with agility to develop specific policies and procedures for transparent coordination of the consortium.
Where to from here?
The CoRTA-MH consortium is based on a decade of collaboration with partners in the Brisbane region. The consortium has been developing over the last two years in consultation with partners, and led by Dr Justin Chapman in his capacity as a Board member of Psychosis Australia. Psychosis Australia coordinates the Steering Committees, which currently oversee one translational research project about exercise for improving quality of life for people with severe and persistent mental health challenges, administered by Griffith University.
The Queensland Mental Health Commission is sponsoring a workshop to develop a draft research strategy and action plan in March 2026, which will be presented at the 2026 Leading Reform Summit. Funding will be sought to establish the Lived Experience Authority and co-design research priorities relevant to the local service setting in partnership with service providers and researchers.
