Above: Flourish Australia Peer Worker Tim Morandi (2nd from the right) with his Flourish colleagues. 

Nine months in, Resolve Program participants are being supported, empowered, and importantly, spending more time in the community rather than in hospital.

Resolve Program participants say it’s making a significant impact on their lives, according to a Resolve Peer Worker who delivers the program.

Flourish Australia Peer Worker Tim Morandini says the feedback from the Resolve Program has been overwhelmingly positive.

The program provides participants with recovery-orientated community support, a residential service for periodic crisis care integrated with psychosocial, medical and mental health support; and a warm line for after-hours support from peers.

“We’ve heard from not only the clinicians of the people we support, but participants themselves, saying what a difference it has a made in their lives,” he says.

“I’ve heard from several participants, that if it weren’t for the Resolve Program, they would have been in hospital for the last six months or so.”

Morandini says the person-led approach, which aims to support individuals to make their own decisions about their care, is what sets the program apart from other mental health interventions.

“You’re not being overly prescriptive in the type of support you’re providing,” he says.

“You’re very much trying to empower people to take control, and to establish some autonomy in their lives.

“These are people that have experienced significant trauma, and many have spent up to a year in hospital.”

Around 530 people are expected to be supported by the Resolve Program over its seven-year duration. As of June this year, 158 people had been enrolled, and each participant will be supported for up to two years.

“Generally, we’re doing outreach visits, visiting people in their home. Sometimes people want support with a medical appointment, or to go shopping,” Morandini says.

“Other times, you’ll be picking up people that will be staying at a Resolve Centre. Once you build a rapport with people, bringing someone in for the third or fourth time, you can see they’re quite relieved to be here rather than in hospital.”