ACSO Hosts the Inaugural Complex Needs Conference
Under the shared leadership of ACSO and ermha365, the inaugural Complex Needs Conference brought together diverse service areas to explore how we can improve outcomes for people with complex needs.
Funded by Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), and supported by Swinburne University of Technology, the conference focused on knowledge sharing with the aim of fostering greater collaboration and bridging gaps in service provision.
Vaughan Winther, CEO of ACSO, put it this way in his keynote address: “We need to recognise that we can’t do this work in isolation. Supporting people with complex needs takes a village, and it’s not only ACSO doing this work; it’s our partners in government and our partners in industry as well.”
Featuring 117 speakers and 71 presentations, the conference was split across three streams:
- Best practice: building interconnected systems.
- Innovative research: what's working and what's next
- Real stories, real solutions: hear from those who have been there.
The program featured keynote addresses from internationally renowned experts Associate Professor Armon Tamatea and Dr Tonia Nicholls. Together, these keynotes, alongside numerous presenters and lived experience experts, explored the programs and policies that are making a difference in the lives of people with complex needs, and how we can achieve better outcomes.
“It’s wonderful to have a chance to see the breadth of the supports and how they link together and to see what other mental health and clinical services organisations are doing. It can really inform practice.”
– Tim Wong (Clinical Services)
By any metric, the Complex Needs Conference 2025 was a success. Tickets sold out, and over 700 people attended across the two days. The conference also initiated a roundtable, bringing together key decision makers from across Victoria to discuss new approaches for supporting people with complex needs. Attendees at the workshop included Victorian Government departments (Department of Families Fairness and Housing (DFFH), Department of Health (DH), and Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS), ACSO, Victoria Police, Jesuit Social Services (JSS) and ermha365.
Later in the year, DFFH announced it will fund the Complex Needs Conference again for 2026. Considering our breadth of services and our ongoing role hosting the Complex Needs Conference, ACSO is well placed to provide leadership in this space.