Web resource:	http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/family-violence/partnerships0706.pdf
Type:	Report
Title:	Building partnerships between mental health, family violence and sexual assault services : project report
Authors:	Fernbacher, Sabin
Keywords:	Policy;Counselling;Interagency work;Sexual assault;Mental health
Categories:	People with mental health and/or drug and alcohol issues
Year:	2006
Publisher:	Victorian Department of Human Services
Notes:	General overview: This report outlines the results of a forum and consultation with family violence, sexual assault and mental health workers in Victoria. It argues that services to clients and conditions for workers would be improved if service providers collaborated more closely. Objective: The Partnerships Project was established to improve outcomes for women with a mental illness who have experienced sexual assault or family violence. It aimed to improve relationships between services, improve service access and referral pathways between services, and to improve service delivery outcomes for female consumers of mental health services. Methods: A statewide forum for workers from the family violence, sexual assault and mental health service sectors was held, followed by a review of literature and a consultation process. A second forum was then held to provide feedback on the results of the project. Results: The report outlines the policy context of the project and describes the mental health, domestic violence and sexual assault services in Victoria. It notes the high prevalence of both family violence and sexual assault, and that depression is the most important women’s health problem overall. Violence and abuse can lead to mental and physical health problems, while women with mental illness are vulnerable to abuse and violence. Therefore, there is considerable overlap between the clients of mental health, domestic violence and sexual assault services. Participants in the consultation agreed on the value of collaboration between the sectors, noting the advantages of improved outcomes for clients, skill development for staff and increased staff satisfaction / reduced burnout. Successful collaboration requires support from management, time and resource commitment, communication and respect, formal mechanisms for communication and information sharing, shared understanding of professional roles and responsibility and government policy promoting collaboration. Some participants reported good relationships between services, while others said they were appalling. Most collaboration is informal and relies on individual workers. Challenges included the belief among sexual assault and family violence workers that mental health workers take an over medicalised approach and ignore social context. There were also concerns that mental health workers do not see workers from other organisations as professionals. Aboriginal workers reported a lack of culturally appropriate services for Aboriginal women. Services that are under funded and overworked tend to become crisis driven and are unwilling to commit resources to collaboration, despite the long term benefits. The project gave awards to a number of successful partnerships. Practices included training and staff development programs, protocols, staff exchange, visits and social activities. Secondary consultation, where a professional provides advice to another service provider, helps to share knowledge while shared care leads to better outcomes for clients. The report recommends that services should: create opportunities for collaboration; provide advice to other services; designate a liaison person responsible for sharing information; provide training regarding mental health, family violence and sexual assault; and develop cross-sector protocols regarding responsibilities, referrals, eligibility, and collaboration. Mental health services should consider the impact of abuse on their patients’ health, create an environment that engenders trust and feelings of security, refer women needing legal advice to appropriate organisations and have processes for responding to complaints about threats or abuse occurring in the mental health system.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/19230
Physical description:	33 p.
Appears in Collections:	Reports

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