A residential mental health service in Canberra's south has successfully helped the majority of its patients avoid presenting to a hospital emergency department, an assessment has found.
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The Garran Step Up Step Down service provides a middle level of mental health care for people who need more support than is available in the community but not acute hospital treatment.
Mental Health Minister Emma Davidson said the 12-month assessment of the program had shown it had helped people avoid cycling in and out of hospital.
"What this is telling us is that this kind of mental health service makes a real difference to people's ability to get the support they need sooner, rather than becoming so unwell that they end up in hospital," Ms Davidson said.
"Or that they're able to leave hospital, step down and transition home again in a shorter amount of time than they might have otherwise - and that also helps them to stay in a recovery state."
The assessment of the service, which is run by Stride, found 78 per cent of the "step up" participants would have presented to an emergency department without the Garran service.
Only 10.6 per cent of participants sought readmission to hospital within two weeks of exiting the Garran facility, where patients had an average stay of 11.95 days.
"It's often at those transition points that people have difficulty, so giving them some more support can make a big difference," Ms Davidson said.
Almost 70 per cent of participants in the year were "step down" clients, most of whom spent the previous two weeks in hospital. Sixty-one per cent had recently attempted suicide.
Participants reported at the end of their stay significant improvements in scores measuring anxiety and depression symptoms, along with improvements in a self-rated index of recovery.
The performance report showed the average daily bed occupancy rate for the six-bed facility was 91 per cent.
Ms Davidson said the government would need to further explore whether there was greater demand for Step Up Step Down facilities in Canberra.
"I think the main thing is making sure we understand what's actually helping people to get the support they need at the earliest possible stage and be able to move into a recovery state and stay there," she said.
Ms Davidson said it was important to consider which groups of people were accessing mental health services so the government could target the services it provided to the areas of the community with a particular need, such as LGBTIQ people.
The Mental Health Minister said she was interested in considering whether more targeted services could be provided for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Nine per cent of participants in the Garran Step Up Step Down service identified as First Nations people.
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The performance report said depression was the primary diagnosis for participants, followed by borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia.
"These are not conditions that you really want to be sitting in emergency departments for a long period of time. To have other services that people can access without having to go through all of that distress is really important in supporting people's mental health," Ms Davidson said.
There were 142 people supported, and the average age was 37.
Most Step Up Step Down participants at Garran were female, while most were single people living alone.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
