Evaluation of NSW Community-based Mental Health Programs: Community Living Supports and Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative. CLS-HASI Evaluation Report

The Community Living Supports (CLS) and Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI) are community-based programs that support people with severe mental illness to live and participate in the community, the way that they want to. The programs offer psychosocial support, tenancy support and, where appropriate, clinical mental health services. Many consumers are also supported to access secure housing. CLS-HASI are statewide programs funded by the NSW Ministry of Health (Ministry) and delivered locally through partnerships between local health district (LHD) mental health services and specialist mental health Community Managed Organisations (CMOs). The programs also have a strong partnership with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and community housing providers for social housing. The Ministry commissioned the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) to evaluate the CLS-HASI programs. The evaluation involved two rounds of qualitative interviews and focus groups, as well as the analysis of quantitative program data and statewide outcomes data about consumers. It ran from November 2017 to January 2020. CLS-HASI supported 5,533 consumers in the study period from 2015 to 2019. Most consumers were in the programs for only part of this period. The average time in CLS-HASI was 10.7 months. Overall, the evaluation shows that CLS-HASI is generally working well, achieving its goals and is cost effective. At a broad summary level: • Consumers liked the programs, and most experienced positive outcomes – overall the programs improved wellbeing, helped people better manage their mental health, enhanced aspects of consumers’ physical health and increased opportunities for social inclusion. • Consumer contact with community mental health services decreased by 10% in the first year in CLS-HASI and was 63.7% less if they remained in the programs for more than one year. • Hospital admissions due to mental health decreased by 74% following program entry, and the average length of stay decreased by 74.8% over two years. This improvement was sustained after consumers exited the programs. • Consumers with a new charge in the criminal justice system and with community corrections orders dropped to almost zero in the year after program entry

Social Participation of People with Chronic Mental Health Needs: Building Horizontal and Vertical Forms of Social Capital

Social participation is positively related to mental health recovery and wellbeing, yet people with mental health problems are often socially isolated. This article investigates how social participation was incorporated into an Australian-integrated program that aimed to improve the wellbeing of people with chronic mental health needs. The data are from a longitudinal evaluation of the integrated program, including data linkage (5533 participants) and interviews (111). The paper uses concepts from the network perspective of social capital (bonding, bridging, linking, horizontal, and vertical) as lenses to re-examine the evaluation's findings about the consumers' social participation in life areas (social, leisure, and productive) facilitated by the program. This social capital perspective offers a lens to examine the breadth and intensity of participation experienced by the consumers taking part in the support program. The article adds to the literature about how service providers can improve social participation and therefore consumers' opportunities for recovery and wellbeing. The analyses found that the support increased people's social interaction and their capacity in the community. Their social interaction was mostly with other people in the service. Often their interactions in the community were only transactional. Few consumers participated in activities in productive life areas, and few of the activities promoted vertical social capital in social networks outside the service. The implications are that service providers need greater attention on facilitating a variety of social participation activities that can extend mental health consumers' horizontal and vertical social capital and so further contribute to their current and future recovery and wellbeing

Evaluation of Outcomes for People Nominated to the Integrated Services Program (ISP) Supplementary Report – Health care service usage and cost analysis

The Integrated Services Project (ISP) for Clients with Challenging Behaviour provides an interagency service response that delivers cost effective assessment, intervention and support to people 18 years and older who exhibit challenging behaviours. This evaluation assessed the cost and operational effectiveness of the Project in terms of the impact on clients and others, service system capacity and effective governance

Evaluation of ACT Extended Throughcare Pilot Program

Extended Throughcare is a voluntary program that provides support to detainees returning to the community at the end of their custodial sentence at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC; the ACT’s only adult correctional facility). ACT Corrective Services clients can be characterised as experiencing multiple disadvantages, including mental health issues, substance abuse issues, low levels of literacy and numeracy, interrupted education and sporadic employment history, as well as high level ofhomelessness. The findings of this report highlight clients’ experiences with the Program, the impact of the Program in key areas, the strengths of the Program, and areas for improvement. It also details the perspectives of stakeholders with regard to the aims and impact of the Program and the effectiveness of the Program’s governance

Early Review of the Specialist Homelessness Services Program

This is the final report of the Early Review of the reform to the NSW Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) Program. The reform, known as Going Home Staying Home (GHSH), was implemented from July 2014. The Early Review was conducted by researchers from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW Sydney (the University of New South Wales). The Early Review is the first assessment of the reform transition and focuses on the early implementation of these key strategies. It is intended to assess the new SHS system and data content obtained, identify gaps and data quality aspects, and inform preparations for the planned outcomes and economic evaluation

Evaluation of SA Home Detention: research report 1 (baseline analysis)

In December 2016, the South Australian Department for Correctional Services (DCS) commissioned a team of researchers from the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) and the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) at UNSW Sydney (the University of New South Wales) to undertake an evaluation of Home Detention (HD) in South Australia (SA). The evaluation aims to examine the impact that recent legislative and program changes have had on:• Offender return to custody rates;• Forecast prisoner and offender growth;• Government expenditure on correctional services;• Victim and community safety and wellbeing;• Those involved in supervising and implementing HISSP/IHISSP; and• Offenders affected by the changes including those subject to HD and their families.This report outlines the progress made to date in the evaluation and presents the findings from a baseline analysis of DCS administrative data; as well as interviews conducted with key stakeholders

Positioning Paper: DIY Home Modifications: Point-of-Sale Support for People with Disability and their Carers

Despite a vast amount of research into home modifications in Australia and their benefits for government and individuals, there exists a significant knowledge gap about home modifications that are undertaken outside of government-subsidised schemes. This project investigates a previously overlooked area of home modifications research, to examine do-it-yourself (DIY) home modifications and expand upon current research that examines the cost-benefit of home modifications for consumers and governments. - See more at: http://www.homemods.info/publications-by-hminfo/summary/diy-home-modifications-point-of-sale-support-for-people-with-disability-and-their-carers-positioning-paper#sthash.xoHnOf5s.dpu

Evaluation of the Integrated Domestic and Family Violence Service Program

This is the final report from the evaluation of the Integrated Domestic and Family Violence Service program, which was commissioned by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services. Researchers from the Gendered Violence Research Network and the Social Policy Research Centre, both at UNSW Sydney, conducted the evaluation