GLHV director Anne Mitchell steps down

After eight years heading Victoria’s peak GLBTI health advocacy body Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria (GLHV), Anne Mitchell is stepping down.

Launched in July 2003 after the State Government’s recommendation of establishing a health resource for GLBTI Victorians, GLHV is the first of its kind in the world.

“There is much I will miss about GLHV, it has been the biggest professional challenge of my life to set it up and see it succeed beyond expectations,” Mitchell said.

“I have worked with the best staff one could imagine over that time and felt, with them, that we are part of a big wave of change delivering more legitimacy and better health care to GLBTI people.”

Mitchell was one of the principal authors of the Private Lives report on the health and well-being of GLBTI Australians, published in 2006 and one of the largest surveys of GLBTI health and wellbeing ever conducted. A follow up study, Private Lives 2, will be released next month.