Aftercare provides a full range of services designed to support people who have been experiencing mental illness or have intellectual disabilities so that they can go on to lead fulfilling, independent lives. The care we provide ranges from assistance with developing the skills to manage day-to-day tasks through to fully-supported accommodation for those with complex needs.
Ashfield Biala
Ashfield Biala is a transitional accommodation program, providing housing and psychosocial support to participants with a mental health issue. Support Workers from Ashfield Biala support participants in the community to develop skills to live independently such as; maintaining successful tenancies, improving their quality of life and most importantly assisting in their recovery from mental health issues. As a transitional accommodation program, participants are expected to relocate to other permanent housing, following the completion of 24 months in the Ashfield Biala program.
Boarding House – Housing Accommodation Support Initiative (BH-HASI)
BH – HASI has been developed in accordance with key National and State mental health policy documents and the NSW Disability Service Standards for the provision of non-clinical in-reach support services to NSW boarding house residents who have mental health issues.
The aim of the Program is to assess and determine care options that can improve mental health and wellbeing, increase functioning and social inclusion; and assist in an individual’s recovery from a mental health issue. The program works within four boarding houses.
Housing Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI)
The program provides low to very high-level accommodation support for those living in, or eligible for, public housing and a diagnosed mental health issue. HASI focuses on supporting clients’ personal goal achievements, assisting them to learn or re-learn skills to maintain their tenancy and become more active in their local communities. The initiative has been set up in partnership with the NSW Departments of Human Services (Housing Division) and Health.
The Mental Illness Fellowship of Queensland (MIFQ) is leading the Personalised Support Service (PSS) program in partnership with Aftercare. PPS supports people whose tenure in social housing is at risk due to their mental illness and related problems. This program assists people on their recovery journey to better manage their daily activities as well as accessing a range of supports and services they need.
Kurinda
Kurinda specialises in providing assistance to young people between the ages of 14 and 24 years who have a diagnosed mental health issue. Our facility is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Three levels of accommodation are available, ranging from high support through to independent living, and residents are able to stay for short, medium and long terms, depending on individual needs. We provide a safe and stable environment with staff who are very experienced in dealing with young people and the issues they face.
Due to limited numbers of rooms available at Kurinda, it is difficult to predict when an opening may arise. Therefore, it is best to ensure your client or loved one is on our list of interested clients so that they can be considered as soon as an opening arises. Please register your interest by completing the Initial Referral Form which you can email back to us on info.kurinda@aftercare.com.au.
Residential Group Homes
At our Group Homes we provide 24 hour supported accommodation for adults with a diagnosis of a mental health and/or intellectual disability issue such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Our clients might be homeless, living in boarding houses that cannot meet their needs, have limited literacy and numeracy skills or have a physical disability. Our aim is to give them a lifestyle that is as close as possible to that of community living.
Transitional Recovery Service (TRS)
Aftercare, Life Without Barriers (LWB) and the Mental Illness Fellowship of North Queensland (MIFNQ) have formed a consortia to deliver the Transitional Recovery Service (TRS) in Mackay.
TRS provides eight short to medium-term residential recovery places to enable people with severe and persistent mental illness and complex care needs to transition from inpatient hospital care to independent living in the community.
The service aims to reduce the likelihood of re-admission to hospital; and assists people to reconnect to community, family, friends, employment and education. TRS does not provide long-term accommodation, though participants are supported to identify and work towards long-term accommodation options.
Youth Residential Rehabilitation Units (YRRU)
Youth Residential Rehabilitation Units are 24 hour residential rehabilitation services which offer support to young people aged 16 to 21 years who have a diagnosed mental health issue, or are experiencing significant mental health difficulties. YRRUs are located in Brisbane and Cairns, and offer a short to medium term residential program which includes assistance with living skills, social skills, money management, transportation and travel training, social opportunities, regular exercise programs, liaison with clinical mental health and medical family practice support, and enrolment in various educational or vocational programs.
Our aim is to enable young adults to enhance their personal skills so that they can build and maintain their independence and emotional wellbeing, their connections with their family and friends and their relationships within the community.
Clean Care Cairns
Clean Care Cairns is a not-for-profit cleaning business which was formed by a Joint Venture of four separate not-for-profit organisations, with support from Social Ventures Australia. These organisations are Aftercare, Worklink, Centacare Cairns, and Direct Employment Services. Working under a social enterprise model, Clean Care Cairns has a strong commitment to create jobs and transitional employment pathways for people with a mental health issue and/or other disabilities in the Cairns region.
Personal Helpers and Mentors (PHaMs) Employment
Personal Helpers and Mentors (PHaMs) Employment Service provides direct, personalised outreach support to assist people whose ability to find and keep a job is impacted by mental illness.
The service aims to increase opportunities to engage in employment by working closely with participants to access government employment service providers and other community services to ensure they have all the support they need.
PHaMs Employment Services will work with people with mental illness who receive a Disability Support Pension and other payments to help them become ready to enter the workforce.
Family and Carer Education Support (FACES)
Aftercare’s commitment to our mission includes the families and carers of people living with a mental illness.
Our 100+ years’ experience working with people experiencing mental health issues has given us a deep understanding of the impact of mental health issues on families and carers, as well as a profound respect for the vital part they play in the care and recovery of their loved ones.
Aftercare’s Family And Carer Education Support (FACES) service includes a variety of individual and group programs tailored to meet the family and carer’s particular needs.
Aftercare’s ‘Mental Health Respite: Carer Support’ (MHR: CS) program provides a range of flexible support options for carers of people with mental illness.
Floresco Centre
The Floresco Centre provides a safe environment for people between the ages of 18 and 64 years, who experience mental illness, and their families and carers. Floresco helps people learn how to deal with life challenges through group support, mutual support and self-help, personalised support and family and carer support.
The Floresco Centre works with individuals, families and carers, at home and in the community, to provide tailored and holistic support to allow them to lead functional and fulfilling lives.
Floresco encourages individuals to participate in structured group activities that will provide social connections and recreational opportunities. Interaction with peers through groups provides mutual support through the sharing of experiences and coping strategies. Floresco also provides support, information and education to families and carers around local services as well as skills development opportunities to enhance the resilience of everyone in the family impacted by mental illness.
Floresco is a multi-agency service providing a ‘one stop shop’ for people with mental illness and their carers and family members where people can access a range of community mental health support services; clinical mental health services, employment and housing services, and drug and alcohol services.
headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program (hYEPP)
The headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program (hYEPP) is an integrated and holisitic service for young people experiencing early psychosis or at risk of developing psychosis, and their families, it is an opportunity for headspace to make a real difference in the lives of young people and their families across Australia affected by psychosis. [Building on the early psychosis prevention and intervention centre (EPPIC) model.]
Parents Opportunity to Participate in Play with their Young (POPPY Playgroup)
POPPY is a supported playgroup for mothers with mental health issues and their children from 0 to 5 years (not at school). The mental health issues may be diagnosed or undiagnosed and may be associated with domestic violence.
POPPY Playgroup provides a safe place for exploration of parenting concerns and enhances confidence in parenting. POPPY supports mothers to actively engage with their children and other families, and supports families to connect with services.
Take 2
Take 2 was established by Aftercare to provide an early intervention service focused specifically on the needs of children and young people within a family context. It is a no-cost Family Mental Health Support Service funded by the Department of Social Services and delivered by Aftercare.
Take 2 works in partnership with families and carers to provide a flexible support service for kids and teens living in Cairns South who are at risk of or experiencing mental illness.
Take 2 offers long-term early intervention (6-12 months) for participants requiring intensive support. This could be goal setting, mentoring and practical support to help build strengths. It also offers short-term assistance, information and referral as well as community outreach, home visits and group-based activities.
Eastern Suburbs Aftercare (ESA)
This program is a consumer-driven community-based rehabilitation and recovery service that provides a wide range of social leisure and therapeutic programs for people with mental health issues. A range of activities and living skills programs is delivered on-site and in the community using our own qualified Support Workers and contracted specialists.
Parents Opportunity to Participate in Play with their Young (POPPY Playgroup)
POPPY is a supported playgroup for mothers with mental health issues and their children from 0 to 5 years (not at school). The mental health issues may be diagnosed or undiagnosed and may be associated with domestic violence.
POPPY Playgroup provides a safe place for exploration of parenting concerns and enhances confidence in parenting. POPPY supports mothers to actively engage with their children and other families, and supports families to connect with services.
2 Wheels Program (2WP)
2 Wheels Program (2WP) is a program aiming to engage with clients from our PHaMs services to enable them to learn new skills and interact socially with other clients.
Participants work towards an achievable and tangible end result. At the conclusion of the program, not only have participants restored a bike, they are able to sit back, look at the final product and think ‘I have done this’. These bikes are given to children and families in need, giving participants a feeling of self-worth as a result of being able to help others. Allowing participants to feel a sense of pride in what they have achieved will help to shape their identity and promote a sense of self satisfaction. The restoration process is not too dissimilar to the restoration of peoples’ lives and gives participants a sense of hope and meaning.
During the program, participants have to organise (whilst supported by staff) the use of resources and tools. They are required to collaborate with other participants ensuring team work as they will have to work together when assembling and painting. Aftercare sources old and pre-loved bikes for both males and females and for differing age groups. Each bike is allocated to a participant to work on and restore over a six to eight week period. Participants are responsible and accountable for ensuring that their bike is ready by the end of the program.
Floresco Centre
The Floresco Centre provides a safe environment for people between the ages of 18 and 64 years, who experience mental illness, and their families and carers. Floresco helps people learn how to deal with life challenges through group support, mutual support and self-help, personalised support and family and carer support.
The Floresco Centre works with individuals, families and carers, at home and in the community, to provide tailored and holistic support to allow them to lead functional and fulfilling lives.
Floresco encourages individuals to participate in structured group activities that will provide social connections and recreational opportunities.
Interaction with peers through groups provides mutual support through the sharing of experiences and coping strategies. Floresco also provides support, information and education to families and carers around local services as well as skills development opportunities to enhance the resilience of everyone in the family impacted by mental illness.
Floresco is a multi-agency service providing a ‘one stop shop’ for people with mental illness and their carers and family members where people can access a range of community mental health support services; clinical mental health services, employment and housing services, and drug and alcohol services.
headspace
headspace is Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation. headspace works to reduce the impact of mental health issues and drug and alcohol use on young people. headspace is about making a difference to the lives of young people, offering support for social and emotional wellbeing, to help people get support quickly.
The centres are governed by a number of organisations who all work in partnership to deliver a variety of services. Aftercare is the lead agency for four centres in Ipswich, Meadowbrook, Nundah and Woolloongabba.
All centres offer a ‘one stop shop’ for young people aged between 12 and 25 years who may have concerns about their physical health, mental health, or about using alcohol or other drugs. All services are free and confidential and are intended to provide a place where young people can go to talk to someone about any of these issues.
Active Linking Initiative (ALI)
ALI is an outreach program that provides tailored recreational, leisure and educational support to clients who live in Assisted Boarding Houses (ABH).
The program aims to encourage and support our clients to live happily and integrate with their community through our community-focused service model which relies on strong links with a range of other services. The program works within six boarding houses.
Ashfield Biala
Ashfield Biala is a transitional accommodation program, providing housing and psychosocial support to participants with a mental health issue. Support Workers from Ashfield Biala support participants in the community to develop skills to live independently such as; maintaining successful tenancies, improving their quality of life and most importantly assisting in their recovery from mental health issues. As a transitional accommodation program, participants are expected to relocate to other permanent housing, following the completion of 24 months in the Ashfield Biala program.
Community Managed Mental Health (CMMH)
Aftercare and Life Without Barriers have partnered with a range of local mental health, primary healthcare, and other community services to provide access to mental health support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Cape York, Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula.
Our aim is to keep people out of hospital and improve their outcomes through holistic integrated support addressing their whole-of-life needs.
Individualised Community Living Strategy (ICLS)
Individualised Community Living Strategy is an outreach (community-based) program that provides support to people living in Department of Housing properties. The ICLS program provides support that is tailored to the individual circumstances of each person, with the ultimate aim of assisting them to live independently in their own home.
Aftercare works in partnership the Mental Illness Fellowship of Western Australia (MIFWA) to deliver this service to the greater Perth metropolitan region.
Participants of ICLS are either long stay hospital patients or living in the community. The program assists individuals to access accommodation if required, and to live independently in the community.
Mental Health Community Support Service (MHCSS)
Care Connect has formed a consortium with Aftercare and Life Without Barriers, to provide Individual Client Support Packages (ICSP) for the Mental Health Community Support Service within the Southern Loddon region of Victoria. MHCSS ICSPs aim to minimise long term disability and improve quality of life outcomes for people living with a mental health issue.
My Way
Aftercare have partnered with Life Without Barriers to provide support in the Lower South West of Western Australia. My Way works with participants to identify their needs and set realistic and achievable goals based on their strengths and values.
My Way offers individualised one-to-one tailored support, skills and knowledge development opportunities, homemaking and maintenance services, support to two people in shared living, education, information and support for participants, their families and/or carers, recreational and community support, coordination of participant support with other agencies and sharing the management of support with other agencies.
Aftercare offers My Way coordinators to guide participants through their recovery journey to help with accessing information, exploring opportunities in the local community and linking in with local supports and services.
Partners In Recovery (PIR)
People experiencing severe and persistent mental health issues who also have complex needs require a comprehensive and coordinated response from a range of sectors – including health, housing, income support, disability, education and employment. PIR is designed to provide a new level of inter-agency collaboration to find new and better coordinated pathways to recovery that meet the full range of an individual’s needs.
Through building stronger partnerships between sectors, services and supports, PIR will promote collective responsibility and encourage innovative solutions to ensure individuals are able to access the services and supports needed to sustain and support their optimal health, wellbeing, and recovery.
In addition to being the lead agency in the Ipswich/West Moreton region, Aftercare have 11 teams in ten sites across Queensland and New South Wales. Aftercare is one of only a small number of mental health organisations leading PIR throughout Australia.
Paterson Whitlam
Aftercare’s Paterson Whitlam Support Service is an outreach service working with people with a primary diagnosis of intellectual disability to help them to lead independent lives. Through this service, we provide different levels of support according to the individual’s need to give each person the ability to improve their independence and their emotional and social wellbeing.
Personal Helpers and Mentors service (PHaMs)
PHaMs is an Australian government-funded program that operates throughout the nation in partnership with non-government organisations. It works very closely with people who experience mental health issues. PHaMs creates opportunities by walking alongside clients in their journey to recovery.
Strategies to assist in the recovery journey are personalized and centre on setting realistic, achievable and measurable goals based on clients’ strengths and values. Aftercare is the largest partner in the PHaMs network and has been widely acknowledged for its successful delivery of this service.
Personalised Support Service (PSS)
Aftercare is working in partnership with the Mental Illness Fellowship Queensland (MIFQ), to deliver this service. The Personalised Support Service (PSS) aims to stabilise peoples tenancies in social housing and minimise the risk of their mental illness escalating to the extent that they become frequent users of emergency departments and/or inpatient mental health facilities, or experience loss of tenancy and subsequent homelessness.
PSS comprises people whose tenure in social housing is at risk due to their mental illness and related issues. This service provides an average level of individual support of up to ten hours per week. The number of people that may be supported at any one time may vary, depending on individual needs and available community resources.
South West Community Managed Mental Health (CMMH)
The South West Community Managed Mental Health program (CMMH) is an initiative funded by QLD Health, delivering mental health support for communities in remote areas of western Queensland.
Aftercare and Lifeline have partnered in South West Queensland to deliver CMMH services in Roma, Charleville and St George. The CCMH programs build on the existing Personal Helpers and Mentors Service that Aftercare operates in the nearby township of Cunnamulla. The CMMH programs aim to support people aged 18 to 64 years experiencing a mental illness through personalised, one-on-one support. In addition to this, CMMH staff offer mutual self-help services, and group support services for people with mental illness.
The service also makes provision for people in the community who have taken on the responsibility of caring for family members and loved ones.
headspace
headspace is Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation. headspace works to reduce the impact of mental health issues and drug and alcohol use on young people. headspace is about making a difference to the lives of young people, offering support for social and emotional wellbeing, to help people get support quickly.
The centres are governed by a number of organisations who all work in partnership to deliver a variety of services. Aftercare is the lead agency for four centres in Ipswich, Meadowbrook, Nundah and Woolloongabba.
All centres offer a ‘one stop shop’ for young people aged between 12 and 25 years who may have concerns about their physical health, mental health, or about using alcohol or other drugs. All services are free and confidential and are intended to provide a place where young people can go to talk to someone about any of these issues.
headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program (hYEPP)
The headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program (hYEPP) is an integrated and holisitic service for young people experiencing early psychosis or at risk of developing psychosis, and their families, it is an opportunity for headspace to make a real difference in the lives of young people and their families across Australia affected by psychosis. [Building on the early psychosis prevention and intervention centre (EPPIC) model.]
Kurinda
Kurinda specialises in providing assistance to young people between the ages of 14 and 24 years who have a diagnosed mental health issue. Our facility is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Three levels of accommodation are available, ranging from high support through to independent living, and residents are able to stay for short, medium and long terms, depending on individual needs. We provide a safe and stable environment with staff who are very experienced in dealing with young people and the issues they face.
Due to limited numbers of rooms available at Kurinda, it is difficult to predict when an opening may arise. Therefore, it is best to ensure your client or loved one is on our list of interested clients so that they can be considered as soon as an opening arises. Please register your interest by completing the Initial Referral Form which you can email back to us on info.kurinda@aftercare.com.au.
Take 2
Take 2 was established by Aftercare to provide an early intervention service focused specifically on the needs of children and young people within a family context. It is a no-cost Family Mental Health Support Service funded by the Department of Social Services and delivered by Aftercare.
Take 2 works in partnership with families and carers to provide a flexible support service for kids and teens living in Cairns South who are at risk of or experiencing mental illness.
Take 2 offers long-term early intervention (6-12 months) for participants requiring intensive support. This could be goal setting, mentoring and practical support to help build strengths. It also offers short-term assistance, information and referral as well as community outreach, home visits and group-based activities.
Youth Residential Rehabilitation Units (YRRU)
Youth Residential Rehabilitation Unit – Cairns (YRRU-C) is a friendly, welcoming and safe place for young people who are experiencing the early signs of feeling unwell mentally – they might be feeling worried about what’s going on inside their head or be feeling anxious, confused, unable to cope or very sad. YRRU is a short term residential unit that is staffed 24 / 7.
Youth Residential Rehabilitation Unit – Greenslopes (YRRU-G) is a 24 hour residential service which offers support to young people aged 16 to 21 years who have a diagnosed mental health issue, or are experiencing significant mental health difficulties. YRRU offers accommodation, as well as assistance with living skills, social skills, money management, transportation travel training, social opportunities, regular exercise programs, liaison with clinical mental health and medical family practice support, and enrolment in various educational or vocational programs.
Our aim is to enable young adults to enhance their personal skills so that they can build and maintain their independence and emotional wellbeing, their connections with their family and friends and their relationships within the community.
