HOUSING MATTERS FOR MENTAL HEALTH INNOVATIVE PROJECT SHOWS CLEAR RESULTS
At the ‘My Home Project’ launch were (left to right): Valerie Quinn, Galway Simon; Patricia Cassidy, Roscommon County Council; Angela Thomson, HSE Mental Health Services; Ciaran Lynch HSE Mental Health Services; Gerry Bosquette, Service User; Charlie Meehan, Head of Mental Health Services, Community Healthcare West; Lorraine Kelly, HSE Mental Health Services; Olga Kenny, Galway Simon; Mary Logue, Service User; Andrea Fitzgerald, Galway Simon Service Manager
“It is wonderful to be part of a project that transforms people’s lives in this way – to witness the joy and pride people have in having their own home.”
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aren Feeney, Head of Client Services, Galway Simon Community, was speaking at the launch of the Evaluation Report of the ‘My Home Project’ - a Sláintecare Integration Funded partnership project between Mental Health Services, HSE Community Healthcare West and Galway Simon Community, working closely with Galway and Roscommon County Councils. The ‘My Home Project’ is a housing-focused service that works in close partnership with Galway Simon and County Councils. The ‘My Home Project’ works with individuals that are expressing a desire to move on to independent living. “The results of the evaluation of the ‘My Home Project’ indicate that the provision of on-going mental health support, social care support and appropriate housing enables persons with mental health conditions to live independent lives in their communities in line with National Policy guidelines and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities,” explained Ann O’Kelly, researcher and report author.
WHAT IS THE ‘MY HOME PROJECT’? The project uses an integrated approach between services, with the housing and support needs and preferences of each individual person at its centre. The ‘My Home Project’ is a HSE Mental Health Service-led, housing-focused service that works in close partnership with Galway Simon and County Councils. It works with individuals that are expressing a desire to move on to independent living. Referrals are taken directly from Mental Health Teams, who continue to provide ongoing support to the individuals in the community in their new tenancies. The project provides the person with a Mental Health Housing Support Worker to provide pre and post ‘move in’ support when they have been allocated a tenancy. It commenced in East County Galway and County Roscommon in January 2020, working closely with the county councils. The project lead is a Senior Mental Health Social Worker, employed as a Housing Coordinator for Mental Health, who works in partnership with a Galway Simon Service Manager. The project has supported 30 individuals, aged from 28 to 74 years, and the direct transition of 17 service users who had lived from four to 40 years in mental health residences to their own tenancies with the council or an AHB. Six mental health service users transitioned to secure tenancies from either living with their parents or from insecure to secure tenancies; and one service user living transitioned from a nursing home to a secure tenancy. One service user returned to their own home from hostel, three service users were supported in existing tenancies that were at risk, and one was supported to transition from hospital to council housing.
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