Here at CHS we offer a comprehensive range of inpatient and outpatient support for Canberrans living with a mental illness. One of our lesser known but highly successful programs are our Step Up Step Down services.

Two of these services are:

• Southside Community Step Up Step Down (SC-SUSD) which offers two weeks of residential support and four weeks of outreach support run by Stride; and
• Adult Step Up Step Down (ASUSD) which offers up to three months of residential support and six weeks of outreach support run by Wellways.

Both programs are completely voluntary and free for eligible Canberrans.

The programs aim to support those whose mental health may be destabilising and would benefit with support for daily living. The hope is to prevent a hospital admission where possible, and also provide an environment for people to continue their recovery post hospital admission. Essentially acting as a step up from home, and a step down from hospital.

Ash, the Clinical Nurse Consultant at SC-SUSD, says the program is often seen as a circuit breaker for participants.

‘In conjunction with community services, we provide a space away for people to recover and work on their mental health in a safe and secure environment with support’.

The added benefits of the programs are the additional support through the program’s support workers, as Ebony, the ASUSD Clinical Nurse Consultant explains:

‘When patients leave the residential facility, the additional outreach support continues. This support might be simple things like do people know how to get to places in the community, do they know what bus to take.’

‘It’s about making sure people have the tools to achieve their goals back home. You can make plans but things don’t always go to plan so the outreach support helps people to modify them so they continue to be achievable.’

For Ash, the program’s impact cannot be understated.

‘Whether it’s two weeks or six, it’s rewarding seeing the improvement in people’s lives and the feedback we receive about the service is great.’

Ash also encourages community health organisations and mental health practitioners to come and see the service for themselves and use it as a tool to refer patients too.

‘The more people who know about this service, the more people it can help.’

You can find more information on the service here: Adult Step Up Step Down Program.

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