Co-review
As part of its Community Services Procurement schedule, the Mental Health Commission (MHC) is reviewing some of the services under the community support stream, for which contracts expire in June 2020. The MHC’s process will inform its decision making about next steps in community support commissioning.
WAAMH is consulting with service providers to understand their views, compile the results into an independent report, provided to the MHC. The perspectives you share will also be included in WAAMH’s ongoing advocacy on community supports, which is WAAMH’s major advocacy priority.
Service streams included in this process are only those that expire in June 2020:
- Family and carer support
- Group Support activities
- Individual advocacy
- Mutual Support and Self Help
- Personalised Support linked to housing (excluding Supported Landlord Services).
A key part of the MHC’s review is a Co-Review process with consumers, family members and carers, advocacy organisations and peak bodies. More information about this process can be found here.
Queries about MHC procurement can be directed to Ray Peters on Raymond.Peters@mhc.wa.gov.au or 08 6553 0334
Queries about WAAMH’s process to Chelsea McKinney on cmckinney@waamh.org.au or 08 6246 3000
Ray Peters on Raymond.Peters@mhc.wa.gov.au or 6246 3000
Background - provided by the Mental Health Commission
The Community Services Procurement Schedule (the Schedule) details the alignment of service program areas to the Western Australian Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Plan 2015-2025 under the streams of Community Treatment, Community Bed Based, Community Support and Community Prevention. The Schedule is broken down to the service program areas relative to the four streams.
The Mental Health Commission (MHC) is committed to working with NGOs and the community services sector to deliver quality, sustainable mental health and AOD services that keeps people well and prevents or reduces mental health, alcohol and other drug problems.
Contracts for these services are due to expire on 30 June 2020. The MHC review includes a Co-Review with consumers, family members, advocacy organisations and peaks.
The Review is seeking feedback about the following programs:
- Family and carer support:
Family and carer support includes services that provide families and carers of people living with a mental illness support, information, education and skill development opportunities to fulfil their caring role, while maintaining their own health and wellbeing. These services may be provided in the context of early intervention or ongoing support.
- Group Support activities:
Group support activities includes services that aim to improve the quality of life and psychosocial functioning of mental health consumers, through the provision of group-based social, recreational or pre-vocational activities. In contrast to services in the Mutual support and self-help service type, Group support activities are led by a member of the NGO.
- Individual advocacy:
Individual advocacy includes services that seek to represent the rights and interests of people with a mental illness, on a one-to-one basis, by addressing instances of discrimination, abuse and neglect. Individual advocates work with people with mental illness on either a short-term or issue-specific basis.
- Mutual Support and Self Help:
Mutual support and self-help includes services that provide information and peer support to people with a lived experience of mental illness. People meet to discuss shared experiences, coping strategies and to provide information and referrals (Metropolitan Health and Aged Care Services Division 2003). Self-help groups are usually formed by peers who have come together for mutual support and to accomplish a specific purpose.
- Personalised Support linked to housing (excluding Supported Landlord Services):
Personalised support services are flexible services tailored to a mental health consumer’s individual and changing needs. They include a range of one-on-one activities provided by a support worker directly to mental health consumers in their homes or local communities.
Supported Landlord Services are not included in this process, as they are subject to another review process (please contact Jasmina for more information).
Services excluded from this review and survey:
- Supported Landlord Services / Independent Living Program - this program is subject to another review process - contact WAAMH project officer Jasmina at jbrankovich@waamh.org.au for more information.
• Personalised support – other - these contracts are current until 30 June 2021 and will be reviewed by the MHC at a later time.
• Education, employment and training – the MHC conducted a review of this service stream in 2017.