Lead Investigator: Dr Nicola Reavley
Authors: Sanne Oostermeijer1, Amy Morgan1, Natalie Cheesmond2, Rachel Green2, Nicola Reavley1
Affiliations:
1Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
2 Independent Community Living Australia
There has been a growing trend towards involving peer-support workers in mental health services. Peer support is based on respect, shared responsibility, and mutual agreement of what is helpful, and it involves understanding another’s situation empathically through shared experiences. Although little is known about peer-support services for people at risk of suicide, early findings indicate that peer-support groups, either online or community-led, may facilitate improvements in suicidality and an increased sense of community. Residential peer-support services can offer alternative pathways to inpatient hospital services and emergency departments.
Independent Community Living Australia (ICLA) developed the first residential peer-support Suicide Prevention and Recovery Centre (SPARC) in Australia, funded by the NSW Government. The SPARC was designed as a short-term residential service to support people with suicidal ideation, who are not in immediate crisis. It was launched in 2020 and ran for 6 months, with the trial period curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed staffing model was utilized with Mental Health Support Workers and Peer Workers on-site. The aim was to reduce people’s feelings of distress, improve their physical and emotional well-being, and increase their sense of agency and resilience.
The aim of this research was to explore the impacts of the service on guests’ well-being, as well as their views on SPARC’s positive and negative aspects.
All guests who attended the service were eligible for inclusion. On entry and after initial assessment, guests were offered information about the study. If they agreed to participate, they completed the pre-intervention questionnaire online. Upon leaving, guests were asked to complete the online post-intervention questionnaire. They were also asked if they were willing to participate in an interview and provide their contact details for the follow-up questionnaire, 3 months post-intervention.
Psychological distress was measured pre- and post-intervention, and after 3-months. These were analyzed using paired t-tests. Interviews were held post-intervention and were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Participants reported significantly decreased psychological distress, improved subjective well-being, psychological symptoms and problems, life-functioning difficulties, and risk to self and to others. Comparing scores with the clinical cut-offs shows that participants scored above the cut-off prior to the intervention, which decreased below the cut-off post-intervention. This suggests that residential peer support services might be able to generate clinically meaningful changes in psychological distress for people at risk of suicide. Interviews (n=10) indicated that participants experienced improvements in mental well-being and feelings of connectedness, respite and confidence to engage with other services. The peer-support workers were key. However, some participants felt that the location was too remote, that too little information was given and a longer stay would have been preferable.
These findings indicate that residential peer-support services potentially offer a valuable alternative to conventional inpatient treatment for people at risk of suicide.
