The Goulburn Region of Victoria is facing urgent challenges in youth mental health, with high rates of disengagement from school, employment and community life on top of service gaps, fragmented experiences and limited access to timely, culturally safe care. The Goulburn Region Open Dialogue Connect (GRODC) is a collaborative platform building a whole-of-community response to ...
Open Dialogue Centre
Goulburn Region Open Dialogue Centre
GOAL
$250,000
Australia > National / Multi-state > Metro and Regional
Field of Interest
- Health/wellbeing and medical research
Target Population
- Young people (6-25)
- People experiencing socio-economic disadvantage or vulnerability
Open Dialogue Centre
Open Dialogue Centre enables the widespread adoption of the Open Dialogue approach in Australia. Our goal is to enable community-based and evidence-informed adoption Open Dialogue, adapted to meet the needs of different communities, in partnership with schools, mental health, youth and social services.
Developed in Finland in the 1980s, Open Dialogue is a globally recognised approach that transforms how mental healthcare and wellbeing is delivered by services so they can work in a more integrated and collaborative way.
It is also a way of supporting people experiencing mental health difficulties by elevating their voices and choices, creating dialogue and connection and creating compassion and continuity through a social network of support. This includes friends, family, people in the person’s community who they trust and know, and local services.
The Open Dialogue Approach ensures people are connected to a network of support in their community.
It creates the conditions for people to thrive through:
• Agency and voice – supporting recovery pathways.
• Facilitating connections with family, friends and services.
• Compassion and continuity in care that leverages community supports.
Project Summary
The Goulburn Region of Victoria is facing urgent challenges in youth mental health, with high rates of disengagement from school, employment and community life on top of service gaps, fragmented experiences and limited access to timely, culturally safe care.
The Goulburn Region Open Dialogue Connect (GRODC) is a collaborative platform building a whole-of-community response to youth mental health and wellbeing in a way that fundamentally changes how the system interacts with people, family and services.
Service providers chose Open Dialogue as the approach that could help them shift from crisis-driven care (often only available in a hospital) to an environment where a young person shapes their wellbeing and recovery journey supported by professionals, family and community, creating an alternative to hospitalisation.
Over the next 4 years, the project aims to:
- Transform the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service clinical practice.
- Build broader community capability to implement Open Dialogue.
- Establish a strong local collaborative network to enable systems change.
- Build the evidence base for community-based Open Dialogue in Australia.
Project Outcomes
This initiative enables young people in the community to feel empowered through a social network of family, friends and services so they can recover, and re-engage with learning, community and work.
The youth mental health system in the Goulburn Region will be transformed by the shift from a focus on crisis-driven care to a youth-centred approach where the young person shapes their wellbeing and recovery journey with the support of family, friends and community services.
Clear Horizon is developing the outcomes measurement framework for a consistent approach to demonstrating Open Dialogue outcomes, underpinned by learning cycles with community partners, allowing reflection and adaptation in real time to insights and evidence.
The voices of young people and community are embedded in the co-design process.
Outcomes we can expect to for young people:
· Feeling heard and respected, empowered through agency and choice, physically and emotionally safe, confident navigating a networked system and:
· Enhanced relationships with family and services.
· Re-engagement with learning and employment.
· Symptom relief and reduced distress.
· Improved wellbeing and quality of life.
Outcomes for service staff and peer workers: Supporters and workforce are confident as facilitators of Open Dialogue Approach
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $3,000,000
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Grant Family Philanthropy | $100,000 |
| Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project | $60,000 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Child and Youth Area Mental Health Service Transition (resources & time) | $1,632,000 |
| Berry Street Youth Foyer Transition (resources & time) | $240,000 |
| Open Dialogue Training delivery | $176,000 |
| GRODC Network - support to adoption by other local service providers including secondary school, project management, governance | $418,000 |
| Learning & Evaluation - per Outcomes Framework | $256,000 |
| Open Dialogue Centre Support - advice, support to systems change, advocacy, fundraising | $274,000 |
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