Personal Helpers and Mentors
WHERE:
PHAMS covers from Macksville to Grafton
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About PHAMS
The Personal Helpers and Mentors Program is a program which takes a strengths-based, recovery approach to supporting people with a severe functional limitation resulting from a severe mental illness. A strengths-based approach focuses on a person’s strengths rather than deficits. A recovery approach recognises that a person can live a satisfying and contributing life within the limitations caused by their illness. Recovery does not mean cure. The program is voluntary for program participants.
The Personal Helpers and Mentors Program engenders wellness and focuses on providing assistance to people who have a severe functional limitation as a result of a mental illness, at various stages in their recovery, with the support of Personal Helpers and Mentors.
Personal Helpers and Mentors assist people on their recovery journey, which may encompass better managing their daily activities and access to the range of supports and services they need. They follow a participant-focused, holistic approach and aim to foster each individual’s sense of hope and dignity and capacity for resilience through all stages of recovery, through different stages of life and experiences.
Aim of the Program
The Personal Helpers and Mentors Program:
• is strengths based and recovery focussed
• voluntary for program participants
• provides increased opportunities for recovery for people who have a severe functional limitation as a result of a severe mental illness.
Program participants work together with service providers to overcome social isolation and increase their connections within the community.
Outcomes
The program aim, increased opportunities for recovery for people who have a severe functional limitation as a result of a severe mental illness, is underpinned by three secondary outcomes:
• increased access to appropriate support services at the right time
• increased personal capacity and self-reliance
• increased community participation.
Principles of the Program
The Personal Helpers and Mentors Program operates within a set of principles for both program participants and Personal Helpers and Mentors:
• mutual respect and compassion between program participants, Personal Helpers and Mentors, families and carers where relevant
• empowerment of program participants
• strong relationships and trust between program participants and
Personal Helpers and Mentors, which extends to families and carers where relevant
• commitment to achieving positive outcomes for program participants
• flexibility in providing support to program participants
• collaboration between key partners, including program participants themselves, families, and
carers and other service providers, to provide holistic support to program participants
• involvement of program participants, families and carers (where relevant), in service planning
and evaluation.
A key element of the Personal Helpers and Mentors Program is its emphasis on community support and social connection as an integral component of recovery.
As highlighted in the Mental Health Council of Australia’s A Time for Service (2006) report, people with a mental illness need access to community-based support services as well as clinical services. These community services can include counselling, accommodation, employment assistance, education and social activities, among others.
While program participants are encouraged to access clinical support, it is this community-based support that will help them develop, or re-develop, the skills they need to live independently in the community and live satisfying and contributing lives.
