“Why do people who use mental health services become ‘stuck’ and makes the most significant change for people who are stuck?”
Our research and evaluation team has asked this question of more than 25 mental health and wellness service users, six lived experience peer workers and 18 staff members.
Their responses led to the development of Stronger Ground – which brings together all of Ruah’s mental health psychosocial support services for people experiencing severe and persistent mental health challenges under one umbrella.
Crawford Olney, Stronger Ground – Fremantle, Team Lead said “Stronger Ground recognises that people’s recovery journeys are individual and do not run in a straight line.”
“The hope is that despite the challenges people experience, that people will be able to say that they now feel like they are in a better place,” Crawford explained.
“We hope that overall, they can honestly say that they feel like their experience with Ruah makes them feel like they are now on ‘stronger ground’.”
Support provided by our Stronger Ground team is trauma-informed and person-centred, and Ruah workers use a strengths-based approach to find out what the person they are supporting can do and what resources they have available to them when working out a recovery plan.
Workers then help the people who use the program define their goals and work out a plan to achieve them; and provide emotional support to help build the person’s self-efficacy and confidence to empower them to keep working towards those goals.