Enhancing Community Mental Health Services Through Formal Partnerships With Supported Employment Providers

Abstract

To argue that public-funded mental health services can provide better value for the community by becoming more recovery and social inclusion oriented. One way to achieve this is to implement evidence-based practices in supported employment by integrating employment services with community-based treatment and care. One of the necessary changes that this approach involves is close integration between continuing mental health treatment and care and supported employment services. The implementation of 12 formal partnerships was observed qualitatively over a 3-year period. Research and service delivery staff at all 12 sites contributed information about the supporting factors and challenges encountered in establishing formal partnerships between existing supported employment services and local community mental health teams. A range of supporting factors and implementation challenges were identified during the establishment of 12 such formal partnerships. These results suggest that formal partnerships could be established more rapidly and more sustainably if these potential issues are anticipated and addressed. Formal partnerships between community mental health service teams and supported employment providers can be successfully established in Australia. Although they may be more challenging to implement than the alternative direct employment method, successful formal partnerships promise to improve the value to the wider community of public-funded mental health services.

Keywords:

• Evidence-based practices
• Mental health
• Recovery
• Supported employment

Acknowledgments

The first Queensland trial of integrated services at West Moreton was supported by a Rotary Health Evaluation Grant in 2006 and 2007. In 2008–2009 the ESI-12 project was supported by the Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs Directorate (MHAODD) of Queensland Health and the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR). This support is continuing through 2010 and 2011. We thank Aaron Groves, Elizabeth Powell, Renee Ryan, and Renate Woodward of MHAODD; Geoff Lau of the Princess Alexandra Hospital Mental Health Service; Nikki de Jonge and Liza Scriven of Steps Employment; Cathy O'Toole of Advance Employment; David O'Halloran of CRS Australia at Bellerive; Francis Gilfedder of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research; and Meredith Harris of the University of Queensland.