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Enhancing trauma-informed practice in Mental Health and Wellbeing Services 

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About this project

This project aimed to strengthen trauma-informed practice in mental health and wellbeing services through the development of practical implementation supports and resources. Phoenix Australia – Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health collaborated with two Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals and the Women's Recovery Network to adapt best practice and implementation activities to the day-to-day service delivery realities in mental health.

 

Service system solutions and implementation support tools were designed together with service providers and the communities they serve. The services involved in the pilot programs have innovative models and support people that experience structural disadvantage and find it difficult to engage in more traditional mental health services. For example, the Women's Recovery Network provides a Hospital in the Home (HiTH) program. HiTH models of care provide acute mental health support within a consumer’s home, often reducing the length of stay in hospital or replacing the need for a hospital admission. Mental Health and wellbeing Locals offer accessible community-based mental health support and promote peer-led engagement in service provision. The experience of collaborating services in creating programs that meet clients’ needs within their own community and context informed the tools and learnings from this project. 
 

Project resources

 

Below you’ll find the full suite of resources developed through the trauma-informed practice implementation pilot, created in partnership with Phoenix Australia -Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, the Women’s Recovery Network, The Brimbank and Greater Geelong and Queenscliffe Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals.  These documents bring together insights from service users, families, carers, supporters and kin, practitioners, and leaders — offering practical tools, evidence, and learnings to support trauma-informed care in Hospital in the Home programs and beyond.

 

Trauma-informed Toolkit

A set of practical tools to support the implementation of trauma-informed care in day-to-day practice. Tools address organisational, team-based and individual practice and can be dowloded as required

Click here to access the tools

 

Policy brief: Embedding trauma-informed practice
A concise overview of key challenges, system-level insights and recommendations for strengthening trauma-informed care.

Read here

 

Research brief: Insights from co-designing and implementing trauma-informed practice
A summary of the participatory research approach, co-design process, and early lessons from implementation across pilot sites.

Read here

 

Evaluation report (public version)
A high-level evaluation of the pilot, including findings relevant to consumers, families, carers, supporters and kin, practitioners, and service leaders.

Read here

How will this project help me?

 

Toggle audience types below to explore.

  • Through supporting the services which I receive to be more trauma informed, and violence informed.
  • By seeing the services that support me equipped to respond to the structural trauma I am impacted by, through a trauma-and violence-informed model
  • By having access to tools that support open conversations about my care needs, including when I feel at risk

Translational research questions

  • What are the barriers and enablers to implementing trauma-informed tools within a HiTH program?
  • How are consumers, families, carers, supporters and kin best engaged in the implementation process?
  • What implementation strategies and practice tools are most effective for promoting trauma-informed practice and culture in mental health services?
  • What factors influence the use of practice tools and implementation strategies?