Salvos expand partnership with the University of Wollongong
14 Mar 2008 | Bernie Goldie
The Salvation Army announced today an expansion of its partnership with the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health (iiMH) at the University of Wollongong (UOW).
The partnership between the two organisations initially developed when UOW received a two-year funding grant from the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund (ARHRF) to evaluate The Salvation Army's residential drug treatment program at Morisset. The Salvation Army has been so impressed with the University’s work on this evaluation that today they have announced they will be self-funding an extension to include all of their residential drug and alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation services located throughout Eastern Australia.
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 the University of Wollongong will be evaluating rehabilitation and detoxification services located in Townsville, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Canberra.
Gerard Byrne of The Salvation Army Recovery Services programs said that the partnership with UOW would help The Salvation Army maintain its high standards and quality of service.
"To ensure The Salvation Army provides the highest quality of care in our treatment services it is important that we review and evaluate our practices. It is an important part of continuous quality improvement," Mr Byrne said.
"We are very happy with the partnership developed with the University of Wollongong and we will now be rolling out this research and evaluation model across all of our residential centres throughout NSW, Queensland and the ACT," Mr Byrne said.
The evaluation project for The Salvation Army is being co-ordinated by Dr Peter Kelly at the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, UOW. It is also supported by Professor Frank Deane, Dr Trevor Crowe and several honours and doctoral students from the School of Psychology.
Dr Kelly said that preliminary analysis indicates people attending the Morisset site demonstrate considerable change in just the first weeks of the 10-month program. This includes improvements in their mental health and their confidence to manage their substance misuse.
"To date, 120 clients have participated in the study. The early results indicate that in just a short period of time they are experiencing considerable benefit from attending The Salvation Army Lake Macquarie Recovery Service Centre.
“With over 60 per cent of clients attending the program experiencing both mental health and substance abuse problems we have been very encouraged by these findings.
“Follow-up is currently being conducted with clients months after they have left the Morisset site. We are assessing whether these initial changes are maintained once people leave the service," Dr Kelly said.
The initial evaluation of the Morisset site is due to conclude in December this year.
It is expected that the roll-out across the other sites will begin in July 2008 and will end in December 2010. During this time it is estimated that more than 1,000 individuals with substance misuse problems will participate in the study.
For further information contact Mr Pat Daley (Media Liaison, The Salvation Army) on 0419 245 908; Mr Gerard Byrne at The Salvation Army on 0414 780 038; or Dr Peter Kelly at UOW on 0403 756 987.
Photo/filming opportunity for Wollongong media: Dr Peter Kelly will be available for an interview and for a photo/filming opportunity at The Salvation Army headquarters at 16 Burelli Street Wollongong at 11am on Monday 17 March. Jayne Wilson from Wollongong’s Salvation Army headquarters will also be in attendance.
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