Mental Health Awareness Week
7th - 10th October 2008
The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2008 is:
Make your mark for Mental Health “What’s your global handprint?”
Providing choice and an alternative model of mental health support in the community
Wellink is establishing New Zealand’s first Short Term Assessment and Recovery Service (STARs) in partnership with Capital and Coast District Health Board. For people in crisis, STARs is a community-based alternative to staying at home or being admitted to an acute admissions unit.
Modelling Hope
This will be a unique model made up of a composite of Maori cultural perspectives, principles of intentional peer support, the four quadrant integral approach, the values of the tidal model and clinical knowledge and approaches. These unique perspectives complement each other and can successfully be employed together to offer people who use STARs a positive experience.
The service model will be a collaborative approach, offering the best of clinical and non clinical approaches, which will result in a mix of skills and perspectives. It will be important for the team to work together in a respectful manner making full use of their different skill bases.
Making The Connections
A key part of bringing this team together as a whanau, will be the implementation of culturally responsive processes to ensure that everyone feels welcome and valued. In acknowledging the status of Maori as Tangata whenua, STARs will implement a service that incorporates tikanga, manaakitanga and aroha, the right process, care and understanding in recognising that a culturally responsive service is as much about how we get there as it is to where were going, supporting journeys not just destinations.
In keeping with this people will be offered space to rest as well as group and individual support. People will be encouraged to maintain daily living skills and to make any contributions to the group as they are able to. Everyone will be valued for their role and contribution. Collaborative working relationships with community mental health teams will be essential to increase continuity of support and facilitate admission and leaving. There will be an emphasis on putting people in touch with whichever community services are needed as part of moving back to their community.
The model is aimed at minimising the distress and trauma people experience when they need to use mental health services. It intends to provide treatment and support in a more home-like environment than a hospital ward, thus supporting people to maintain many of their usual daily activities and connection to the community. Progress to recovery and return home can be expected to be smoother and perhaps faster than via the traditional hospital based acute services model.
Round The Clock Support
STARs will provide 24 hour residential assessment, treatment and recovery support for up to 10 people experiencing an acute episode of mental illness and whose needs can be met well in a community-based facility. The service will be trialed and evaluated for a one year period to enable the model to be tested. Early process outcomes will inform the final service model.
There will be women’s only space provided, when required, and there is also disability access. The staff will be made up of a psychiatrist or two part time psychiatrist (employed by CCDHB), registered mental health nurses, peer workers, Kaimaanaki (cultural workers), an administrator, a housekeeper and cleaners.
STARs is not for people to stay long term, it is intended that people will stay for three weeks only. At STARs we want to support people to get on with their lives as quickly as possible.
