Research report: Expanding post discharge support initiative

The Expanding Post Discharge Support Initiative (the Initiative) is a new approach to providing post discharge support for consumers in Victorian mental health services. Under the Initiative, additional support for consumers is provided by a new peer workforce following discharge from a specialist mental health service.

The Initiative aims to promote recovery and resilience, assist consumers with their transition to the community, and reduce the risk of re-admission.

In 2018, the Centre for Evaluation and Research at the Department of Health and Human Services (the department) was asked to undertake research by the Mental Health, and the Health and Human Services Workforce branches of the department.

The research sought to answer the following questions:

• What are the benefits of the peer support workforce to consumers, carers, staff, mental health services and multi-disciplinary teams?
• What are the barriers, challenges and enablers of integrating peer support workforces within clinical mental health services?
• In what ways can the integration of peer workforce models be improved and supported?

This report contains the findings from the research.