Care, Community Capacity: Rethinking Mental Health Services in Remote Indigenous Settings

Abstract

In 2002 a project was initiated to evaluate and restructure the Child and Youth Mental Health (CYMH) services in three health Service Districts: Cape York, the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area and remote Cairns. The objective was to develop, establish and evaluate models of best practice for remote area CYMH services for Indigenous families living in far north Queensland. For the purposes of the project, an action research framework was adopted to guide the project design, methodology, implementation and evaluation. The first phase involved mapping of needs, the second phase focused on service restructure and outcomes were measured in the third phase. The planning/implementation/planning cycle was an ongoing part of the project and raised five significant themes: service equity, service quality, service sufficiency, Indigenous workforce, and service structure/ infrastructure. The principal project outcome was the establishment of a defined model of service delivery that incorporates the identified themes and sits within a community development framework. Other significant outcomes include the implementation of regular supervision and professional development activities and improvements in service data collection. This paper is a descriptive account of the process of service restructure and discusses the key project outcomes.