Authors: Trisha Haynes, Bill Koffmann, Kathryn Little, Lyndall Jones, Samantha McIntosh, Christine Kaine, Sharon Lawn,
Year: 2022
Event: 2022 TheMHS Conference
Subject: rural, remote, services, suicide prevention
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: LEAD PRESENTATION: Emergency Department to Community - Integrating care to improve health and wellbeing
Trisha Haynes, Bill Koffmann, Kathryn Little, Lyndall Jones
Background
Emergency Department to Community Program (EDC) supports people who frequently present to ED with intersecting complex physical, social and mental health needs. Individuals are linked with appropriate community based health and social service providers. Mental Health and Integrated Care clinicians facilitate collaboration with multidisciplinary and multi-sectorial key stakeholders.
Methods
A holistic person centred Model of Care is utilised to address various physical, social, cultural and mental health needs that significantly impact on the wellbeing of the individual, their family and carers. Key elements include identifying the target cohort, assessment, interventions, monitoring and reviewing - promoting a seamless transfer of care.
Results
Improving an individual’s care experience through culturally safe, timely, and appropriate resource allocation. Achieved by driving care in the community; connecting people to the right care at the right time.
Strengthening stakeholder’s experience of providing care through pathway development, shared care planning, expertise and goal setting.
Improving efficacy of care by reducing avoidable presentations to ED, reducing cost to the health system and tailored to the individual’s need.
Conclusion
The robust partnership between Mental Health and Integrated Care fosters positive health outcomes for people with complex health and social needs by providing appropriate health, social and emotional supports.
PANEL PRESENTATION: Suicide Postvention Support for the Whole of Community; Responding to Community Distress
Samantha McIntosh
A town in rural Victoria experienced a high number of suicide deaths in a short period of time. In response to these events Wellways led a whole of community response, using a co design approach to rapidly adapt service delivery to reduce barriers to service access, using an integrated approach.
The concept involved establishing a a temporary, community identified safe space, that was non clinical, culturally safe , and not connected to one particular business or organisation. The vision was to create a space where multiple services could be present and accessible to the community at a time when they needed the most, with a strong focus on accessibility, service navigation, warm referral and support pathways.
Staffing of the space was based on a ‘hot spot’ style where agencies could allocate staff to the space at certain times reducing confusion for bereaved families and communities in service navigation, providing a ‘one stop shop’ service.
During the six weeks of operation, there were 37 direct referrals for individuals to local support services, clearing indicating the benefits of creating spaces that are accessible, based on community need, flexible and economically efficient
PANEL PRESENTATION: Lived experience learnings across the decade about rural and remote mental health
Christine Kaine, Sharon Lawn
Over the past 10 years Lived Experience Australia (LEA) has reached out to people with lived experience of mental ill-health as consumers and family/carers to hear their experiences across different aspects of access and engagement with mental health services. This included examining the experiences of people with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and their families/carers, exploring consumers’ and carers’ experiences of telehealth and psychological services, and exploring the ‘Missing Middle’ and their experiences of engagement, disengagement and re-engagement with mental health services. People from rural and remote Australia have always had disproportionately high representation in our research samples, suggesting that they have been particularly motivated by unique and significant needs and experiences which have found voice through their participation in research with LEA. In this presentation, we will discuss the consistent themes that we have heard from a lived experience perspective across this body of research with the goal of identifying what really matters to them when navigating support for their mental health within a rural and remote context.
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