The ALIVE National Centre presented the fourth instalment of Ready, Set, Translate: The ALIVE Mental Health Research Virtual Café Translation Conversations, on Thursday 23rd June, 5-6pm AEST

The conversation was hosted by the ALIVE Stream B work in priority populations program, and featured Lisa Brophy, Catherine Brasier, Carol Harvey, and Bridget Hamilton speaking on the topic Community-based social interventions for people with severe mental illness: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of recent evidence.

This presentation explored the role of lived-experience perspectives and research evidence in the development of new and improved models of care for people experiencing severe and persistent mental illness and complex needs. The need for innovation and reform will be highlighted in the context of human rights and social determinants. They presented the work undertaken by a multidisciplinary team of academics with extensive experience derived from working in and evaluating clinical and community-managed sectors in Victoria, along with lived-experience perspectives. This work was undertaken for the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (RCVMHS) and it has led to further opportunities to explore what outcomes are being achieved by psychosocial interventions and models of care, particularly in relation to social inclusion and recovery. The importance of contextual factors and the need to make local adaptations has been apparent in our research, along with recognition that these are the most complex interventions to implement and thus require multi stakeholder commitment and investment.

Lisa Brophy is a Professor and Discipline Lead in Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University. She is also an honorary principal research fellow in the Centre for Mental Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Lisa has a professional background in Social Work and a career long commitment to the mental health field of practice dating back to 1985. Her research activities have fostered strong interdisciplinary partnerships, working in collaborative research teams with academics from a range of disciplines, including people with lived experience expertise.

Catherine Brasier is a Live Experience academic and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University. Her work connects Lived Experience, research and service delivery/development. Catherine’s focus is on supporting better connections between Lived Experience, research and practice. She draws on her experience of mental distress and personal recovery, plus her experience as a mental health worker.

Carol Harvey is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Consultant Psychiatrist in the North West Area Mental Health Service in Melbourne. Carol is involved in research, service development and clinical work concerning psychosocial approaches to prevention, treatment and recovery from mental illness and has over 150 peer-reviewed publications. She is also active in professional and postgraduate education and training. She is a Board Member of the Australian Branch of the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation and on the bi-national committee of the RANZCP Section of Social, Cultural and Rehabilitation Psychiatry.

Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton is Director of the Centre for Psychiatric Nursing. She leads a team of clinical nurse academics and consumer academics to build up the skills and contribution of mental health nurses in Victoria, for the benefit of people receiving mental healthcare. She is a clinical academic and registered nurse with 30 year career as a mental health specialist clinician, manager, educator and researcher in public sector services. Her program of translational research in acute, emergency and community mental health settings aims to implement and sustain evidence based interventions, including Safewards and sensory modulation. She contributes scholarship to maximising effective engagement and supported decision making with consumers, while building leadership and research capacity among mental health nurses and the lived experience workforces.

If you missed it, watch the presentation here.

Link to the paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8751572/

Link to a summary of the paper: https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/06/social-interventions-serious-mental-illness-show-promise-systemic-barriers-remain/