Living Skills Centres for People with Serious Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract

Many people with a serious psychiatric disorder live in our community. Some experience numerous admissions to psychiatric hospitals which disrupt their lives and cause suffering to their families, whilst others live precariously in the community without adequate support. Some, through their association with the Living Skills Centre established in the Lower North Shore area of Sydney in 1977, are attempting to avoid this lifestyle of constant disruption. This community‐based rehabilitation service was an innovative service delivery system established by the New South Wales Department of Health in 1977 and consequently had no model on which to base its activities. However, overseas and local studies now confirm that this type of service can effectively maintain these people in their local environment and assist them to lead more satisfying lives. In this paper, the authors describe this Living Skills Centre and discuss the reasons for its success.

Riding the tides: Directions in mental health rehabilitation in NSW

“…These centres sought to improve living skills, self-esteem, and social networks in a therapeutically optimistic and homely community environment, recognising the ineffectiveness of skills generalisation from hospital settings. 5 The LSCs were quarantined from case management, embraced lived experience engagement, were innovative, and driven by articulate, rights based allied-health leaders. An early, explicit intention of LSCs was employment through pre-vocational and work programs which later evolved into models aligned with Individual Placement and Support.…”

Personalised support delivered by support workers for people with severe and persistent mental illness: a systematic review of patient outcomes

“…Based on published literature from the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Scandinavia, personalised support can be broken down into four discrete service types: living skills, community access, emotional support and advocacy. Living skills aim to improve the day to day functioning of patients through side by side instruction, role-modelling, corrective feedback and positive reinforcement, and include services such as personal hygiene, budgeting and shopping (Godley et al 1988; Weir & Rosen, 1989; Kleiner & Drews, 1992; Mak & Gow, 1996; Kemp, 1997; Bradshaw & Haddock, 1998; Warner et al 1998; Clarkson et al 1999; Tauber et al 2000; Huxley et al 2009; Dixon et al 2010; Meehan et al 2011). Community access includes support in the activities of recreation and leisure, such as engaging in community events, peer-based activities, recreation, music, art and physical activities (Kleiner & Drews, 1992; Mak & Gow, 1996; Kemp, 1997; Bradshaw & Haddock, 1998; Warner et al 1998; Harris et al 1999; Meehan et al 2011).…”