Co-design of an Integrated Mental Health Hub service model: Central and Eastern Sydney PHN
Status: Completed December 2022
Client: Central and Eastern Sydney PHN
Background
Central and Eastern Sydney PHN (CESPHN) is a non-profit organisation that works to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in the Central and Eastern Sydney region of Australia. CESPHN works to identify and address local health needs, making it easier for consumers to navigate their health care systems.
CESPHN plans and commissions mental health services that support community members to access the support they need to improve their mental health and wellbeing. CESPHN has identified that people seeking mental health support in the community can often face challenges in finding the right service.
An Integrated Mental Health Hub offers an opportunity to provide an integrated, holistic service that can address a broad range of social, physical, and emotional needs of an individual. In late 2022, CESPHN engaged Beacon Strategies to lead a co-design process for an Integrated Mental Health Hub and develop a service model and guidance document.
What we did — our approach
Our approach aimed to capture a broad range of perspectives including people with lived experience of mental health challenges, their carers and service providers (including GPs, allied health, mental health services etc.).
Through a range of co-design workshops, we explored:
people's previous experiences with mental health services
the overall aim of an ‘Integrated Mental Health Hub’ and who might benefit from accessing it
how someone might find out about or be connected, and what happens when someone arrives for the first time
what kind of services and supports are offered to meet someone’s needs
what kind of ‘place’ would be most suitable and what’s needed to make it accessible and welcoming for all
what kind of roles might work within the Hub and the skills, capabilities and attributes required
the values, principles and capabilities of the lead organisation to deliver a service that is effective, safe and meeting people’s needs.
These co-design findings were combined with a situational analysis of key strategic documents, the evidence base and comparable models.
Finally, our team developed a report with recommendations and service model guidelines that builds on the national guidance for Head to Health Adult Mental Health Centres.
Vision alignment
This project links to our vision of 'A more impactful social purpose sector' by designing a mental health service model that better responds to the needs and preferences of the local community through listening to and valuing lived experience.
What we achieved — our impact
Key findings emerging from the co-design process highlighted what was needed to develop an Integrated Mental Health Hub model that met the needs of the local community.
The model of care offers a community-based resource of information, support services and connections for people across a spectrum of mental health needs and situations. It aims to foster wellbeing through connection, capacity, hope and empowerment and brings together the mix of supports someone might need in an integrated way to overcome the barriers and challenges people often experience when accessing the mental health system currently.
We provided advice around how they PHN could leverage existing services and enhance the national Head to Health service model through the commissioning of an innovative Integrated Mental Health Hub, alongside consistent guidelines that covered key principles, service components, service delivery enablers and implementation considerations.
You can read more about some of the insights we captured through this project in our blog post ‘Like a library, but for mental health’ — Designing an integrated mental health hub service model.
As a mission-based health and social services consultancy, Beacon Strategies is committed to partnering with Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to better plan, design, implement and evaluate their work in delivering on their mission and purpose. Read more about the support we offer PHNs here.