Authors: Sarah Rijs, Hamish Cowan
Year: 2017
Event: 2017 TheMHS Conference
Subject: Service Systems, Delivery, Implementation,Promotion, Prevention, Early Intervention,Lived Experience, Recovery
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: The headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program (hYEPP) in Bentleigh implemented a Mobile Assessment and Treatment (MAT) Team in 2014. The MAT Team is a multidisciplinary team, which works seven days a week providing; cutting edge, needs adapted treatment to the most at risk and vulnerable, young people experiencing unusual experiences or psychosis. MAT works collaboratively with young people and their support systems to deliver crisis assessment and short term intensive assertive outreach support. When required, MAT is able to provide longer term case management to young people presenting with complex mental health difficulties who may not have capacity to engage in a traditional continuing care team framework.
Using an assertive outreach approach to facilitate engagement; the MAT team works collaboratively with other agencies, employing a psychosocial recovery focus, supporting our young people to remain meaningfully engaged in their communities.
This paper will provide an over of how MAT engages young people and support networks. It will use a case study to illustrate this model, which will include the voices of a young person and those of their support network reflecting on their experiences with the MAT Team.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: Audience members for this presentation will come away with a sense of how assertive recovery oriented outreach can facilitate engagement with their young clients and maintain connectedness to their communities.
Learning Objective 2: This topic is particularly relevant to contemporary mental health services wanting to explore innovative ways of establishing genuinely collaborative engagement with young people, and their support networks.
References
Schley, C., Yuen, K., Fletcher, K. and Radovini A. (2012) Does engagement with an intensive outreach service predict better treatment outcomes in ‘high risk’ youth?.’ Early intervention in psychiatry 6 (2): 176-184.
Wright, N., Callaghan, P. and Bartlett, P. (2011). ‘Mental health service users' and practitioners' experiences of engagement in assertive outreach: a qualitative study.’ Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 18(9): 822-832.
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