SC SUSD is located in a community setting and offers two weeks of residential and four weeks of outreach mental health support to people who are becoming acutely unwell, or who are in the early stages of recovery from an acute mental illness. For participants of the program, SC SUSD provides additional support to strengthen gains made in acute care and in their transition back to community living. The program seeks to provide an alternative to acute admission where possible.  

How can SC SUSC help?

Designed to be integrated with Canberra Health Services’ clinical care, the Stride–WCS’s partnership model of service applies mental health prevention and recovery approaches within a safe and structured residential environment, followed by a supported outreach phase, to enable the person to develop the confidence, skills, resources and social capital that will sustain their health and prevent admission or readmission to hospital. 

WCS provides the Outreach Phase of the program with four weeks of community-based outreach. WCS has two Outreach Recovery Workers who use a brief-intervention approach and have a strong recovery focus. The aim is to build on participants’ strengths and resilience, enhance opportunities for social inclusion and work collaboratively with them and their families, carers and significant others to recover their health, wellbeing and ongoing contribution to and participation in community life. 

Who can access the program?

All SC SUSD referrals come through the Canberra Health Service’s community or acute mental health teams. Each person participating in the program will have clinical support through their existing Clinical Manager, if they have one, or will receive temporary clinical management through Access Mental Health. 

Want to know more?

If you feel you need this service right now, call Access Mental Health on 1800 629 354. 

SC SUSD has online satisfaction surveys and we encourage your feedback at any time of your participation in the program so we can ensure that we are providing the highest level of support. 

This program is an ACT Government funded initiative. 

WCS Service Commitments

Our approach to service delivery

WCS’s purpose is to build connected communities and enrich people’s lives. We are guided by our values of inclusion, compassion, hope, social justice, integrity and responsiveness. For more information about our approach to service delivery, see Our Commitment to Service.  

We are committed to the safety, care and wellbeing of all those who access our services. We will respond immediately when any issues arise and meet all reporting requirements.

Your feedback is important to us
We welcome any feedback and complaints you have, to help us improve our services. For more information, see Providing Feedback and Making Complaints.

How we protect your information
WCS is committed to ensuring that the personal information you provide to us remains secure, is only used for the purposes for which it is collected and that you are aware of what information is held and your rights. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

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