Connecting the Disconnected through The Partnering Journey Structuring Successful Community-Based Partnerships for Mental Health and Substance Use Issues (original) (raw)
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Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 2015
To evaluate the first three years of a national program to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of Indigenous youth in remote and regional Australia. Combination of open inquiry and audit review involving investigation of process and outcomes, with a broad national overview supplemented by five in-depth case studies in diverse settings. Community development principles were applied at all 14 sites. There were many examples of collaborative, community-driven health promotion initiatives, with most progress observed where there were strong local partnerships. Within the range of activities, education sessions on alcohol and other drugs, mental health and violence were facilitated by program staff. There was a tension between community development and specific program delivery, with the balance reflecting the needs and capacity of individual sites, program staff expertise and contractual requirements. The main lessons concern program design and resourcing and ways of working. Pro...
First Nations Mental Wellness: Mobilizing Change through Partnership and Collaboration
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 2015
A key priority of the mental health strategy for Canada is to establish a coordinated continuum of mental wellness (mental health and substance use) services for and by First Nations, which include traditional, cultural, and mainstream approaches. This paper describes developments critical to informing the strategy and helping to create foundations for systems change at all levels with positive impacts being created in First Nations communities across Canada. Key lessons include the need to create mutually cooperative and respectful working relationships that will foster collaborative partnerships with First Nations in order to effect change in communities, and the use of culture as a foundation to create lasting and meaningful change.
Health & Justice, 2017
Background: Given the well-established evidence of disproportionately high rates of substance-related morbidity and mortality after release from incarceration for Indigenous Australians, access to comprehensive, effective and culturally safe residential rehabilitation treatment will likely assist in reducing recidivism to both prison and substance dependence for this population. In the absence of methodologically rigorous evidence, the delivery of Indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation services vary widely, and divergent views exist regarding the appropriateness and efficacy of different potential treatment components. One way to increase the methodological quality of evaluations of Indigenous residential rehabilitation services is to develop partnerships with researchers to better align models of care with the client's, and the community's, needs. An emerging research paradigm to guide the development of high quality evidence through a number of sequential steps that equitably involves services, stakeholders and researchers is community-based participatory research (CBPR). The purpose of this study is to articulate an Indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation service model of care, developed in collaboration between clients, service providers and researchers using a CBPR approach. Methods/Design: This research adopted a mixed methods CBPR approach to triangulate collected data to inform the development of a model of care for a remote Indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation service. Results: Four iterative CBPR steps of research activity were recorded during the 3-year research partnership. As a direct outcome of the CBPR framework, the service and researchers co-designed a Healing Model of Care that comprises six core treatment components, three core organisational components and is articulated in two program logics. The program logics were designed to specifically align each component and outcome with the mechanism of change for the client or organisation to improve data collection and program evaluation. Conclusion: The description of the CBPR process and the Healing Model of Care provides one possible solution about how to provide better care for the large and growing population of Indigenous people with substance.
2019
Background: Compass North is a student-led health outreach initiative in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. A current unmet need in Thunder Bay identified in a previously published community needs assessment is mental health services. Women, youth, senior, Indigenous, and LGBT2-SQ populations were disproportionately affected. In response to these perceived gaps in services, a subcommittee of Compass North developed, delivered, and evaluated mental health workshops.Methods: Affiliations with Shelter House Thunder Bay (SH) and Anishnawbe Mushkiki Thunder Bay Aboriginal Health Access Centre (AM) were established. Six interactive workshops were developed and delivered over eight months. Likert scale-based evaluation surveys gauging workshop participant and presenter satisfaction with content were used. Attendance and return attendance were additional markers of success. Results: A total of 36 participant surveys were completed between both sites. Response rates were 74% and 84% at SH and AM...
Research Involvement and Engagement, 2020
Background Mental health, substance use/addiction and violence (MSV) are important issues affecting the well-being of Indigenous People in Canada. This paper outlines the protocol for a research-to-action program called the Mental Wellness Program (MWP). The MWP aims to increase community capacity, promote relationship-building among communities, and close gaps in services through processes that place value on and supports Indigenous communities’ rights to self-determination and control. The MWP involves collecting and using local data to develop and implement community-specific mental wellness strategies in five First Nations in Ontario. Methods The MWP has four key phases. Phase 1 (data collection) includes a community-wide survey to understand MSV issues, service needs and community strengths; in-depth interviews with individuals with lived experiences with MSV issues to understand, health system strengths, service gaps and challenges, as well as individual and community resilien...
Objective: Recently, there has been a consistent call for Indigenous health research to be community-driven. However, for a variety of reasons, many projects, such as the one featured here, start as ‘top-down’. Using ten accepted principles for Aboriginal health research, the present article illustrates how a top-down project can be transformed into a ‘bottom-up’ community-driven project. Method: A table of examples is provided to show how the ten principles were translated into practice to create a bottom-up process. Results: We suggest that key elements for creating a bottom-up process are iterative conversations and community involvement that goes beyond notional engagement. A feature of community involvement is generating and sustaining ongoing conversations with multiple levels of community (organisations, health professionals, Elders, community members, project-specific groups) in a variety of different forums across the entire duration of a project. Local research teams, a commitment to building capacity in the local Indigenous workforce, and adequate timelines and funding are other factors that we hypothesise may contribute to successful outcomes. Conclusion: The article contributes to a much-needed evidence base demonstrating how appropriate structures and strategies may create bottom-up processes leading to successful outcomes.
Mental health in family medicine, 2009
Our rural BC community engaged in an innovative action research project to improve access to mental health and addiction (MHA) services for citizens and increase connections and communication between primary care, community-based providers, and the formal mental health service system. Developed by a community-based steering committee, our Navigator model is aimed at anyone with mental health and addictions issues seeking help in our region. The model includes the following services: timely needs assessment, collaborative assistance with need-based care planning, appropriate information, referral, and linkage facilitation. Key features of the Navigator model are discussed, including community engagement, guiding principles, and a description of the service is provided. In our rural and remote community, a community-supported Navigator model was effective in increasing access to comprehensive, strengths-based assessment, planning and referral facilitation.
Walking alongside:" collaborative practices in mental health and substance use care
International journal of mental health systems, 2014
Although the importance of collaboration is well established as a principle in research and in theory, what it actually means for practitioners to collaborate in practice, to be partners in a collaborative relationship, has thus far been given less attention. The aim of this study was to identify key characteristics of the ways in which mental health practitioners collaborate with service users and their families in practice. This was a qualitative action research study, with a cooperative inquiry approach that used multi-staged focus group discussions with ten mental health care and social work practitioners in community mental health and substance use care. Thematic analysis was applied to identify common characteristics. We identified three major themes related to practitioners' experiences of collaborative practices: (1) walking alongside through negotiated dialogues, (2) maintaining human relationships, and (3) maneuvering relationships and services. It appears that even wi...