Demonstration site: Darwin - Palmerston
Organisation: Mission Australia
Mission Australia is a non-denominational Christian community service organisation that operates more than 320 services in all states and territories across Australia.
These services include more than 91 Personal Support Programs (PSPs) with a combined caseload of 7000 clients Australia-wide. In a survey, around 76 per cent of these clients reported they had a mental illness.
Despite its wide range of service models, many of Mission Australia's programs have a strengths-based, recovery-focused, case management approach to service provision. These include its PSPs and its Job Placement Employment and Training (JPET) program.
Mission Australia also has significant experience in providing psychosocial rehabilitation support services to people with a mental illness, gained through its Housing Accommodation and Support Initiative (HASI) programs in New South Wales. HASI provides psychosocial rehabilitation support services to assist people with a mental illness to maintain their tenancies and participate in their communities. The program is consumer-driven, recovery-focused, strengths-based and employs flexible service delivery to facilitate sustainable outcomes for clients.
Mission Australia works extensively in rural areas and with remote communities. It also has experience in delivering programs for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and for Indigenous communities.
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Demonstration site: Katherine
Organisation: Australian Red Cross
The Australian Red Cross (ARC) has a strong history of providing support to the Australian community including through programs such as Meals on Wheels and various mentoring programs that target prisoners, newly arrived migrants and young people.
ARC also offers a range of programs and services specifically supporting people with mental illness. These programs operate in various states and territories with the view to expansion to other locations and include:
- MATES (Mentally ill people And Their Equal Supports) Program which focuses on reconnection with the community through recruiting, training and supporting volunteers to offer ongoing support and friendship to a person with a diagnosed mental illness
- SAM (Save a Mate) Program which promotes the health and wellbeing of young people by providing education and support on mental health and drug and alcohol use
- Save a Mate Our Way Program which is specifically tailored to meet the needs of young Indigenous people, and
- Talk Out Loud Program which is part of the SAM Program and involves training young people in New South Wales and South Australia in peer education skills and knowledge of mental health issues.
In the Northern Territory, ARC has well-established links with clinical and community services. This has been achieved through ARC currently providing Home and Community Care, Telecross, Meals on Wheels, Community Aged Care Packages and Aged Care Residential accommodation in the area. ARC has collaborative partnerships with various mental health services; respite facilities; Aboriginal clinics and local GPs.
ARC's services and programs take a recovery-focused, strengths-based approach and recognise the importance of involving consumers, and where possible families and carers, in all aspects of their service delivery.
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Demonstration site: Top End
Organisation: Australian Red Cross
The Australian Red Cross (ARC) has a strong history of providing support to the Australian community including through programs such as Meals on Wheels and various mentoring programs that target prisoners, newly arrived migrants and young people.
ARC also offers a range of programs and services specifically supporting people with mental illness. These programs operate in various states and territories with the view to expansion to other locations and include:
- MATES (Mentally ill people And Their Equal Supports) Program which focuses on reconnection with the community through recruiting, training and supporting volunteers to offer ongoing support and friendship to a person with a diagnosed mental illness
- SAM (Save a Mate) Program which promotes the health and wellbeing of young people by providing education and support on mental health and drug and alcohol use
- Save a Mate Our Way Program which is specifically tailored to meet the needs of young Indigenous people, and
- Talk Out Loud Program which is part of the SAM Program and involves training young people in New South Wales and South Australia in peer education skills and knowledge of mental health issues.
In the Northern Territory, ARC has well-established links with clinical and community services. This has been achieved through ARC currently providing Home and Community Care, Telecross, Meals on Wheels, Community Aged Care Packages and Aged Care Residential accommodation in the area. ARC has collaborative partnerships with various mental health services; respite facilities; Aboriginal clinics and local GPs.
ARC's services and programs take a recovery-focused, strengths-based approach and recognise the importance of involving consumers, and where possible families and carers, in all aspects of their service delivery.