About the evaluation
We commissioned an independent evaluation of our mental health community support services delivered by non-government organisations including the:
- Individual recovery support program
- Group based peer recovery support program
- Individual recovery support -transition from correctional facilities program
- Individual at risk of homelessness program.
The evaluation focused on:
- understanding how effective the programs are and how they are managed
- feedback from people who took part in the program
- mental health recovery and treatment outcomes.
The evaluation was conducted by the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR). QCMHR interviewed a range of stakeholders for the evaluation including:
- 47 staff members from non-government organisation service providers
- 70 people who took part in the programs
- 18 Hospital and Health Service staff.
The report was published on 19 April 2022.
Benefits
The evaluation found the programs had a range of benefits for people who took part including:
- reducing mental health issues
- improving relationships
- increased confidence
- increased quality of life
- in some cases, help returning to work.
Some Hospital and Health Services also reported the programs have reduced re-presentation at hospital emergency departments.
Main findings
The evaluation found that:
- the 4 evaluated programs are essential to support the recovery of people with severe mental illness in the community, who would otherwise not be supported
- without the programs, community mental health treatment teams would be further stretched, spending valuable time and resources on aspects of care for people with severe mental illness, more suited to a workforce skilled in the delivery of psychosocial supports
- many people who take part in the programs told the evaluation team that they had not received any psychosocial support prior to involvement in these programs and credited the programs to being the reason they were 'still here', be that living in the community or indeed alive
- non-government organisations are delivering the programs flexibly and with agility to best support consumers, using local knowledge and community links.
It was also found that programs aren't being delivered consistently for consumers across the state. A number of recommendations were made to improve various aspects of the program and their integration with the Hospital and Health Services.
Queensland Health is continuing to work with non-government organisation service providers and Hospital and Health Services to improve and strengthen these programs in response to the evaluation report findings.