Project and Design Manager (Recovery Services) for The Salvation Army...

Computer donation to Salvos to aid people with mental health problems

The School of Computer Science and Software Engineering (SCSSE) at the University of Wollongong today (25 January) donated 12 computers to The Salvation Army as part of its community engagement activities.

Some of the students from the School currently participate in voluntary work that benefits charitable organisations within the community.

The computers will directly assist people with substance abuse problems and other mental health issues.

The computers will be used in The Salvation Army residential services, where people are undergoing treatment for various substance abuse and mental health disorders.

Dr Peter Kelly, a clinical psychologist affiliated with the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health and School of Psychology at UOW, has been leading a Rotary Health funded project to examine the effectiveness of using computer delivered psychological interventions to enhance treatment outcomes at Salvation Army sites.

The donation of these computers will provide an opportunity to extend this research program to The Salvation Army Brisbane sites.

The Salvation Army is Australia's largest provider of residential treatment services for individuals with substance misuse problems. They provide more than 500 beds in NSW, ACT and Queensland alone.

Researchers at UOW have been evaluating substance abuse treatment services provided by The Salvation Army. The success of this partnership was formally acknowledged when the research team was the recipients of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Achievement in Research Partnership in 2010.

“It is expected that the use of the computers will greatly enhance treatment outcomes, particularly for those people who have co-occurring mental health problems in addition to substance abuse,” Dr Kelly said.