Community Integration Service
He tari whai whakamaramatanga - Solutions Finding Service
The task of this service is to find positive, creative solutions for people who are perceived by others, or view themselves to be ‘stuck’ in hospital or residential services, when clinically they do not require that level of care.
By understanding the factors that may hold people back, the team sets about working with individuals, their families and clinical teams to find new pathways forward and to regain hope.
The team offers “fresh eyes” to a situation. Many people will have put considerable effort in to the support and care of a person in this situation and the team’s role is to recognize this and build on that work. There are often multiple agencies involved in people’s lives and one of the important things they offer is taking a lead on coordination of service input and getting all parties working together with one agreed plan.
The Community Integration Team is committed to making sure that the right supports are developed and in place for the individual, and that they are tried and tested and are sustainable beyond the involvement of the team.
Access is by referral.
Factors that hold people back:
- Loss of will, from either the person themselves or caregivers
- Preference from caregivers for the person to remain in a “safe” environment preferably residential care
- Loss of hope, and loss of expectation to have the things that others in society see as theirs by right
- Previous “failures” at living independently
- Thinking that appropriate level of supports aren’t available for the person in Canterbury
- Alcohol and/or drug use
- Fear of taking the risk to try again, or of the unknown
- Lack of commitment to medication / follow-up by the person
- Lack of flexibility of medication regimes to suit the person’s lifestyle
- Lack of coordination of the efforts of caregivers and support systems
Access
The service is for people who experience a major mental illness and are between the ages of 18 – 65.
The service is available to people currently residing in hospital or residential services.
The person themselves, their clinical or other mental health support workers or family/whanau feel there is potential to move to greater independence but factors other than clinical care needs are holding them back. Some discretion is available for the service to work with people with multiple admissions to acute hospital beds where planned community supports appear to be repeatedly breaking down.
Access is via completion of a referral form (PDF)