A Recovery-Based Outreach Program in Rural Victoria

Abstract

Objective: A recovery-based outreach program for people with severe mental illness in regional Victoria is described. The paper covers a description of the program, the services provided and outcomes achieved. The program emphasized active collaboration between patients and clinicians as outlined in the collaborative recovery model and recognized that recovery from mental illness is an individual, personal process.

Conclusions: The program provided service to 108 people over 3 years and had a positive impact on clinicians, patients and carers. The benefits of recovery orientation, multidisciplinary teams, collaborative relationships and carer involvement are discussed. The paper highlights the need for a focus on recovery and comprehensive care for people with severe mental illness.

Keywords

collaborative recovery model mental health services recovery severe mental illness Victoria

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. Meadows

Singh

. Victoria on the move’: mental health services in a decade of transition 1992–2002. Australasian Psychiatry; 2003; 11: 62–67.

2. Castle

Pantelis

. Comprehensive care for people with schizophrenia living in the community. Medical Journal of Australia 2003; 178((Suppl))S45–S46.

3. Jablensky

, McGrath

, Herrman

. People Living with Psychotic Illness: an Australian Study 1997–98. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, 1999. Available at http://health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs/$FILE/psyover.pdf (accessed Jan 2006).

4. Andrews

. The crisis in mental health: the chariot needs one horseman. Medical Journal of Australia 2005; 182: 372–373.

5. MacCallum

Robertson

. The life of a new long stay patient: a reflexive experience. Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing 1999; 6: 339–346.

6. Richards

Smith

Harvey

Pantelis

. Characteristics of the new long-stay population in an inner Melbourne acute psychiatric hospital. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 1997; 31: 488–495.

7. Priebe

Badesconyi

Fioritti

. Reinstitutionalisation in mental health care: comparison of data on service provision from six European countries. British Medical Journal 2005; 330: 123–126.

8. Priebe

, Turner

Reinstitutionalisation in mental health care. British Medical Journal 203; 326: 175–176.

9. Harvey

Fielding

. The configuration of mental health services to facilitate care for people with schizophrenia. Medical Journal of Australia 2003; 178((Suppl))S49–S52.

10.

10. Crosse

. A meaningful day: integrating psychosocial rehabilitation into community treatment of schizophrenia. Medical Journal of Australia 2003; 178((Suppl))S76–S78.

11.

11. Trauer

Farhall

Newton

Cheung

. From long-stay psychiatric hospital to Community Care Unit: evaluation at 1 year. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2001; 36: 416–419.

12.

12. Freeman

Malone

Hunt

. A state wide survey of high-support services for people with chronic mental illness: assessment of needs for care, level of functioning and satisfaction. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2004; 38: 811–818.

13.

13. Oades

Deane

Crowe

Lambert

Kavanagh

Lloyd

. Collaborative recovery: an integrative model for working with individuals who experience chronic and recurring mental illness. Australasian Psychiatry 2005; 13: 279–284.

14.

14. Andresen

Caputi

Oades

. Inter-rater reliability of the Camberwell assessment of need short appraisal schedule (CANSAS). Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2000; 34: 856–861.

15.

15. Corrigan

Giffort

Rashid

Leary

Okeke

. Recovery as a psychological construct. Community Mental Health Journal 1999; 35: 231–239.

16.

16. Wing

Curtis

Beevor

. HoNOS: Health of the Nation Outcome Scale: Report on Research and Development July 1993 – December 1995. Royal College of Psychiatrists, London 1996.

17.

17. Rosen

Hadzi-Pavlovic

Parker

. The Life Skills Profile: a measure assessing function and disability in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 1989; 15: 325–337.

18.

18. Judd

Humphreys

. Mental health issues for rural and remote Australia. Australian Journal of Rural Health 2001; 9: 254–258.

19.

19. Conner

. Collaboration or chaos: a consumer perspective. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing 1999; 8: 79–85.

20.

Rickwood

Recovery in Australia: slowly but surely. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 2004; 3. http://www.auseinet.com/journal/vol3iss1/rickwoodeditorial.pdf (accessed 25 January 2006).

21.

21. Ellis

, King

Recovery focused interventions: Perceptions of mental health consumers and their case managers. Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 2003; 2. http://www.auseinet.com/journal/vol2iss2/ellis.pdf (accessed 25 January 2006).

22.

Glover

Recovery based service delivery: are we ready to transform the words into a paradigm shift?

Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health 2005; 4. http://www.auseinet.com/journal/vol4iss3/glovereditorial.pdf (accessed 25 January 2006).

23.

23. Lloyd

King

. Consumer and carer participation in mental health services. Australasian Psychiatry 2003; 11: 180–184.

24.

24. Sowers

. Transforming systems of care: the American Association of Community Psychiatrists guidelines for recovery oriented services. Community Mental Health Journal 2005; 41: 757–774.