Partners In Recovery is an Australian Government initiative which aims to better support people with severe and persistent mental illness with complex needs and their carers and families. It works to achieve this by bringing together the many sectors, services and supports they may come into contact with (and could benefit from) to work in a more collaborative, coordinated, and integrated way.
Through systemic collaboration, Partner In Recovery promotes collective ownership and encourages innovative solutions to ensure effective and timely access to the services and supports required by people with severe and persistent mental illness with complex needs to sustain optimal health and wellbeing.
Around one in three Australians experience mental illness at some stage in their life. Mental illness accounts for 13% of the total burden of disease in Australia, and is the largest single cause of disability. Around 600,000 Australians experience severe mental illness and some 60,000 have enduring and disabling symptoms with complex, multi-agency support needs.
“The last of human freedoms – the ability to chose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”
~ Viktor E. Frankl, (1905 – 1997) Psychiatrist & Author, Man’s Search for Meaning
Establishing the New England Program
Partners in Recovery | New England is an innovative collaboration led by RichmondPRA and involving more than a dozen mental health specialist service providers. Final negotiations are currently under way with the Australian Government with a view to commence the program by 30 June 2013.
Starfish’s Role
Starfish designed the governance and program model for Partners in Recovery | New England. This involved facilitation of a participatory decision-making process involving all of the collaboration members. Starfish also coordinated a regional service mapping and analysis to identify mental health needs as well as service priorities, opportunities and gaps.
Find Out More
Partners in Recovery | Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing
RichmondPRA
