Our work in South Australia in services supporting people with mental illness continue to grow, and again was where the majority of our work was based.
Our approach to mental health support operates within a framework of recovery, encouraging an individual’s involvement in decision-making when planning their care and recovery process.
Delivered by qualified staff, our services include:
- psychosocial rehabilitation support individually tailored to promote community participation and access, and the development of living skills that promote independence
- supported accommodation within a home or residential unit in the community and which may be transitional, on a long-term basis or 24 hour support
- respite care through in-home or centre-based care, host families, supported holidays and community activities.
Psychosocial rehabilitation support
Our psychosocial rehabilitation support services are delivered in an individual’s own home and community. Structured through a community outreach approach, services are tailored to the individual’s needs, promoting community participation and the development of living skills that promote independence.
Services are delivered in partnership with the individual, carers and local mental health service providers to enhance the individual’s capacity to manage their own health requirements within their community.
Supported Accommodation
Supported accommodation can be transitional or provided on a long-term basis and may include 24 hour support as determined by the individual’s care plan. This may include community access, social skill development and support with daily living activities. Support is tailored to an individual’s identified needs and goals, with a focus on developing their skills, strengthening their links within the community and maximising independence and choice.
Respite
LWBs respite services provide carers or families of people with a mental illness with planned, short-term breaks that support and maintain the primary care-giving relationship. Our respite services are an important part of our holistic care model and include in-home, centre-based, host family, supported holidays and community options. They expand our carers’ networks, and provide a positive experience for clients, offering key learning and skill development opportunities.
Intensive Psychosocial Sub-Acute service
In 2013, LWB has embarked on a sub-acute service as part of the National Partnership Agreement on supporting individuals to avoid hospitalisation. We do that through intensive psycho-social support that is client-focussed. This funding is for sub-acute services for people at risk of becoming unwell or stepping back into the community from a short stay in hospital; and for home-based sub-acute mental health services.
Early feedback is showing it is reducing the amount of time a person either stays in hospital or avoids hospital care as their mental health needs are being supported within their community environment. This is done by individually tailoring intensive support which can occur over seven days a week addressing areas across wellbeing through a psychosocial approach. We do this in very close partnership with government mental health services.
Alcohol and other drug counselling
LWB provides free, confidential counselling services through its face-to-face and telephone Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) programs. In partnership with the people we support we develop an action plan that includes intervention strategies such as inpatient detoxification and relapse prevention programs with assistance from mental health services, health support services, and financial and personal services.
Snapshot of other services:
| South Australia | Alcohol dependency services |
| New South Wales | Socialisation support service |
| Victoria | Individual psychosocial support program delivered in consortia |
| Western Australia | Residential rehabilitation and respite service for young people |
| Queensland | Housing and Support. Individual and family psychosocial support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Transitional Recovery for high needs clients |
| Tasmania | Youth care packages (12-18yrs) and psychosocial rehabilitation |
My work as an Alcohol and Other Drugs support worker
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Our Life Without Barriers drug and alcohol service in Mount Gambier is the first service of this type offered by LWB. I consider myself very fortunate to have been given the task of setting up this new service in our community. I see this role as being the highlight of my lengthy nursing career, and feel very privileged to be able to work with such a resilient client group, and to be given the trust of people who are stigmatised and ostracized by not only the community, but often families and even the health care system. Nursing was my choice of career early in my life, and I have worked in many areas of health. My interest in working with clients who have AOD problems, originated during my time working in the Emergency Department in the South East Regional Health Service, in the SE of South Australia. Now a significant part of my work is supporting families of people with ICE or Crystal Methamphetamine dependence. As our community (and most communities around Australia) experiencing increased ICE use, working with families affected by it is requiring more and more of my time. This substance has devastating effects both on users and their families, and even relatively short term use can impair cognitive function, damage physical health and leave users with permanent mental health disorders. The challenges in working with this group of clients are abundant, as they often don’t seek assistance until they have lost everything, including any support they may have had. I take every opportunity to enlighten others about the realities of drug dependence in an effort to create change around the stigma and labelling attached to drug use. I often think to myself when hearing judgement, “if only you knew their story”, as there is always a story. These stories are heart breaking realities of human suffering, and I hear them every day. These addiction disorders are recognised in the DSM 1V, the internationally recognised mental health diagnostic tool. However the stigma persists. The word choice is commonly attached to drug use as dependence being seen as a ‘choice’, with a belief that they should ‘just stop’. Wouldn’t they if they could? Drug and alcohol use often begins in an experimental manner. However, if a young person finds alcohol or other drugs a good means of temporary escape from emotional distress and poor self-esteem, then dependence is more likely. Drug dependence is a cruel, chronic and relapsing illness, and on a daily basis, I am humbled by the stories I hear, and the resilience that my clients show.
Lois Rose-Smith
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