Live in services

Australia’s number one mental health issue is accommodation. That’s why MI Fellowship is passionate about creating quality places to live for people with a mental illness. Stable, supportive homes allow people with a mental illness to connect to services, the community or employment. It allows people to stay on treatments and out of hospitals.

MI Fellowship has the following residential options available.

Opening Doors (formerly Rossdale)

Opening Doors, located in Alma Road, East St Kilda, provides medium to long-term rehabilitation for adults, who are generally 25 years old and over and linked to the southern metropolitan region.

Opening Doors is a group of seven flats with a communal kitchen, laundry facilities, dining room and lounge attached. Each resident has their own bedroom and flats have cooking facilities. Accommodation is provided for a maximum of twenty residents. Staff are available twenty four hours, seven days per week.

The purpose of residential rehabilitation is to provide a safe environment for people with severe, on-going disabilities to gain the skills they need to participate more fully in the community. Residents move on to live more independently.

Opening Doors helps participants with development of skills in personal care, recreation and socialisation. We achieve this by providing skills training on an individual level and by linking participants into nearby agencies.

The program has links to local area community mental health clinics, which provide psychiatric care and case management for program participants. Additionally, participants are allocated a key worker who supports them in planning rehabilitation goals and ways to reach them.

Opening Doors has recently had a facelift with a brand new commercial kitchen and communal area that will encourage focussed rehabilitation, encourage greater independence and group activity.

To find out more about Opening Doors please call (03) 8520 5800.

Specialist Residential Rehabilitation Program (SRRP)

SRRP in Shepparton is unique, as it brings together the Goulburn Valley Area Mental Health Service and the Mental Illness Fellowship which work in partnership.

Through this partnership commencing in 2001, MI Fellowship has been able to provide residential and rehabilitation support and GVAMHS provides treatment and clinical rehabilitation.

It focuses on people who have higher needs that have not been able to be fully met in the absence of a 24-hour longer term unit.

The Residential Rehabilitation Program enables people with a mental illness to learn or relearn living skills in a supportive and safe ‘live in’ environment. It assists people who require more support than can be provided by visiting workers. Residents build social and living skills through shared learning with others, while accepting responsibility for themselves within a supportive environment. The program also fosters vocational and educational connectedness in the community.

The Program helps individuals achieve their maximum potential in gaining skills with daily living through meal preparation, budgeting, personal care, sharing a house and domestic care. Wherever possible the program involves all stake holders in the development of the rehabilitation plan.

Referrals and information are provided to carers and participants. This includes other Mental Illness Fellowship programs such as mutual support and self help, day program, respite services, as well as the wider community agencies and support services that individuals could be linked into.

For more information about SRRP please call (03) 5823 8900.

PARC on Maude (Shepparton)

PARC (Prevention and Recovery Care) on Maude provides clinical and psychosocial rehabilitation services together to prevent relapse and speeding recovery, all within an established mental health system. Officially opened by the Victorian Minister for Health in March 2004, it is jointly operated by MI Fellowship and Goulburn Valley Area Mental Health Service (GVAMHS). MI Fellowship manages PARC, providing general supervision and care of clients 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Goulburn Valley Area Mental Health (GVAMH) provides intensive assessment, treatment planning and specialist mental health care and MI Fellowship provides general supervision, psychosocial rehabilitation and therapeutic group activities.

PARC (Prevention and Recovery Care) is the first of three pilot programs intended to divert hospitalisation and promote recovery following an in-patient admission.

Entry to PARC is co-ordinated by the CATT (Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team) which assesses clinical needs. PARC staff are involved at this stage where possible to ascertain the use of a PARC placement for the client.

The Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team (CATT) clinicians visit PARC twice a day, seven days per week. The program also accommodates daily visits from psychiatrists, psychiatric registrars, medical officers, case managers and other clinical staff as needed. The psychosocial component, delivered by MI Fellowship, encourages participants to explore four key life areas: living, learning, socialising and working and establish goals to address their areas of need.

Participants’ goals are achieved through the opportunity to take part in workshops and activities that address life skills, mental health education, exercise, relaxation, creativity and well-being. Staff also work individually with participants to enable their transition into employment, housing, education and community life. Linkages with community organisations and services are also fostered and utilised within the program.

The facility is located in community-based units in Maude Street, Shepparton and therefore offers a non-institutional feel. It can accommodate eight resident participants and an additional two within the day-program component. Entry to the service is through referral and assessment by the GVAMHS CATT. CATT may be contacted during office hours on 5832 22111 or after hours via Triage on 1300 369 005.

  • Offering a Step Up: ‘Step up’ occurs when a person is becoming unwell. The client will enter PARC and receive early intervention treatment, to avoid a hospital stay. ‘Step down’ provides short-term transitional support after discharge from an acute admission, providing supported discharge, to minimise the problem of premature discharge. PARC bridges the gap between clinical treatment and the all-important psycho-social rehabilitation. Contact Lisa Pearson to learn more about PARC on Maude: (03) 5821 8850

Collins Place (Barwon Region)

Collins Place is a residential recovery program for anyone eligible for the NDIS who has been diagnosed with a mental illness or other disability that affects how you think, feel and act.

At Collins Place, you will get support to develop independent living skills and establish healthy and fulfilling roles within your family and community.

Collins Place is like being at home with the option of 24-hour support available if you need it. You can stay for up to 12 months or longer, according to your NDIS plan. How long people stay varies and depends on what they need and want, as indicated in their plan. You can also have access to support for up to 12 months after leaving Collins Place, or as an alternative to a stay, depending on your NDIS plan.

The Collins Place program provides support in the areas of your life most important to you. For example, it can assist you to develop skills for:

  • living successfully at home
  • preparing for employment and education
  • reconnecting with friends, family and community
  • drug and alcohol support.

Read more about the Collins Place residential recovery program.