
Authors: Keith Sutton, Eleanor Mitchell
Year: 2017
Event: 2017 TheMHS Conference
Subject: Promotion, Prevention, Early Intervention,Change, Innovation, Reform,Service Systems, Delivery, Implementation
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: This presentation will describe the way in which Save the Children Australia: Good Beginnings - East Gippsland staff has adapted an evidence informed programme to suit their rural environment. The Parents and Infants Relationships (PAIRS) Programme is an attachment theory informed intervention designed and developed for parents who are experiencing difficulties which impact upon the parent-infant relationship following the birth of a baby. Developed in Melbourne in 1996, the PAIRS Programme is delivered in a number of metropolitan centres across Australia.
Save the Children Australia: Good Beginnings East Gippsland was the first service to implement the PAIRS Programme in a rural setting. A range of local challenges, common to rural areas, prevented the organisation from maintaining complete fidelity to the PAIRS Programme model. However, the implementation team adapted their approach to suit their local environment. The resulting innovation led to the implementation and delivery of a sustainable informed programme to support parents and infants experiencing difficulties in the parent-infant relationship. The challenges of delivering mental health services in rural and remote Australia limit access to evidence informed mental health care; however, these drawbacks present opportunities for innovation.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: The audience will take away a real world example that the challenges of delivering evidence informed services in a rural setting can be the springboard for innovation.
Learning Objective 2: This topic provides an example of how the challenges of service delivery in a rural setting can lead to innovations in service delivery.
References
Moore, T., Sutton, K. & Maybery, D. (2010). Rural mental health workforce difficulties: a management perspective. Rural and Remote Health. 10: 1519. (Online) 2010. Available at: http://www.rrh.org.au .
Smith, J., Cumming, A., & Xeros-Constantinides, S. (2010) A Decade of Parent and Infant Relationship Support Group Therapy Programs. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. 60(1): pp 59 - 89
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