Neami National has established four pilot Head to Health Services and the Urgent Mental Health Care Centre as walk-in, fee-free, adult mental health services.
The model of care is innovative in Australia using a peer-first/peer-last approach with care delivered by an integrated team of peer staff, clinical staff, and and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing workers. The five services are:
- Darwin Head to Health
- Geelong Head to Health
- Penrith Head to Health
- Townsville Head to Health
- The Urgent Mental Health Care Centre in Adelaide.
What is the project about?
Neami has partnered with the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation to understand the implementation journey of the establishment and operation of these services.
From this we will developed an understanding of what has gone well and how the implementation can be strengthened using a mix of existing information about the services and information from surveys and interviews.
The implementation co-evaluation is taking an innovative approach to match the model of care through the development of an integrated team including Aboriginal staff, staff with lived experience and staff with academic and clinical backgrounds with each bringing different strengths and perspectives to the project. The project will present a range of perspectives as core outcomes of the co-evaluation
When is this happening?
Data collection has started at some sites and will be completed for the project by the end of February 2024.
Data collection is currently underway at Townsville Head to Health and Geelong Head to Health.
Data collection will commence in mid-late November 2023 at Darwin Head to Health and Penrith Head to Health, and the Urgent Mental Health Care Centre.
Who will be involved and what will be done?
All data collection and interviews will be managed by the team at the ALIVE National Centre. No information that identifies participants will be shared with Neami staff or Head to Health staff.
The following groups will be invited to participate in the project with the option to be involved in the parts of the project they would like to.
| Stakeholder Group | Ways to be involved |
| Service users (guests) | Survey and/or Interview |
| Family/kin/supports of service user | Survey and/or Interview |
| Service staff (clinical/peer and lived experience/ wellbeing) | Survey and Interview |
| Service managers | Survey and Interview |
| Neami National Head Office and managers | Survey and Interview |
| Member of service governance | Survey and Interview |
| People/organisations referring into Head to Health Service | Survey and Interview |
| People/organisations receiving referrals from Head to Health Service | Survey and Interview |
| Identified partner organisations of the Head to Health Service | Survey and Interview |
| Funders of the Head to Health Services | Interview |
| Other mental health services in the community | Survey and Interview |
How will people be informed about the project?
Posters inviting feedback are up at each service and postcards and flyers are available for people seeking support and their families and supporters.
Staff are being emailed links to the study information and ways to contribute are being included on the staff intranet.
People external to the services but who interact with the services will be invited to participate via email.
What approvals does this project have?
Approvals have been granted at the following committees:
- University of Melbourne Human Ethics Subcommittee
(Geelong Service, Townsville Service, Neami Head Office – Reference Number 26525) - AH&MRC HREC
(Penrith Service – Reference Number: 2133/23) - Menzies/NT HREC
(Darwin Service – Reference Number 2023-4624) - AHREC
(UMHCC – Protocol #: 04-22-1066) - Neami R&E Committee
(all Services)
How do I get information about the project?
Contact us at the ALIVE National Centre
- email: coeval-team@unimelb.edu.au
- phone: 1800 721 513
University of Melbourne Ethics Approval Number: 26525
