BCHS Quality of care 2024 digital - Flipbook - Page 33
COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH
Meeting the mental
health needs of our
community
Culturally Sensitive Counselling
Funded by Foundation House, this program
provides torture and trauma counselling to
refugees and saw a huge increase in funding.
This allowed for increases in staffing for both
counsellor advocates and bi-cultural workers.
Over the last year the team has supported
73 individuals in one-to-one counselling, as
well as overseeing a number of programs and
initiatives including:
During the last financial year our team of 15 provided
more than 6000 hours of general counselling, with the
Primary Health Network (PHN) Psychological Treatment
Services providing further support to 505 clients on
mental health treatment plans.
•
Walking group
•
Men’s yoga
•
884 referrals for adults
•
Emotional regulation support group
•
58 referrals for children (up to age 12)
•
•
100% of respondents to an anonymous feedback
form ‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly Agreed’ that our service
met their needs and that they felt understood and
supported by their clinician.
Advisory groups with Karen and Afghan
communities
•
Unity program
•
Meditation and mindfulness videos
in language
•
UCan2 program.
“Simone is amazing. I would
not be as well as I am today without
her help. She has given me all the tools,
advice, encouragement and strength to
manage my anxiety on a daily basis.”
Head to Health
This program, brought in as a response to COVID-19,
has ended due to a cessation of funding. The
community and referrers have expressed an outpouring
of disappointment at this. The program sat within
BCHS and operated with the advantageous position
of being able to easily connect to the array of other
services offered by BCHS, including medical practice,
family services, AOD services and allied health
programs. Approximately 30% of referrals received for
the program were for community members aged under
25, and over the life of the program clinicians delivered
14,024 services to 1750 clients.
“Anika is a very caring person who
I immediately felt comfortable with –
she is very approachable and I feel she
is there for me if I need help.”
“My only suggestion would be to
employ more staff in order
to reach more people.”
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