MyCare: An Evaluation of a Community Based Mental Health Program for Individuals with a Mental Illness.

MyCare Intervention. Participants in the intervention group will receive the MyCare program, which is a step-down, community-based mental health programs that provide assertive outreach support to individuals aged 18-64 years-old with serious mental illness (SMI) who are also actively case managed by Mental Health Services (MHS) Tasmania (part of Department of Health in Tasmania). The intervention focuses on improving mental health issues and psychosocial adjustment (i.e., emotional, social, physical and spiritual dimensions of health) during administration of a 12 month program, with subsequent follow-up sessions up to 18 months post-enrolment. At the point of referral, a MyCare Senior Practitioner assesses the eligibility of the individual (i.e., aged 18-64, are motivated to change, and engaged with MHS). If eligible, MyCare clients are allocated a case worker (i.e., MyCare Care Coordinators) who provide home visitations on a weekly or fortnightly basis (depending on the client’s needs) for 1-2 hours (again, depending on the client's needs). The home visits aim to assist the client in setting and achieving their own personalised psychosocial goals to improve quality of life (i.e., safe and stable housing, physical health, community engagement, and independent living skills etc). The activities that are conducted during home visits will be varied, depending on the clients' needs. For example, Care Coordinators may accompany clients while grocery shopping to assist in improving eating habits, provide transport to mental health appointments, accompany the client on a walk in the park to facilitate behavioural activation, provide verbal psycho-education, or assist the client in completing forms, such as Centrelink applications. MyCare also incorporates a brokerage component, which is an enabler that can be used to assist in funding activities to reach clients’ psychosocial goals (i.e., gym membership) or to provide the client with basic living necessities (i.e., washing machine). Clients will not be provided with any physical or informational educational materials. To monitor adherence to the intervention, Care Coordinators will keep a record of when home visits are conducted with each client and a brief overview of what was achieved during each home visit, which will be kept in the client's file. Participants will also receive the control treatment as described below in addition to the MyCare program. Participants will attend a one-hour face-to-face session with the MHS psychiatrist every month for 12 months at the outpatient clinic at either the Royal Hobart Hospital or Launceston General Hospital, depending on the participants' location.