How Haven Foundation is providing hope to Aussies with psychosocial disabilities
The Haven model has proved not only life-changing for residents with complex mental health conditions, it also results in efficiencies for the NDIS and the health system as a whole.
Life has never been better for 42-year-old Sheree Barton. The Melbourne woman experienced years of insecure housing before moving into a private apartment within a supported living home in the western suburb of Laverton built by the Haven Foundation, a charity that is a subsidiary of mental health service provider Mind Australia.
The residence contains about 16 private apartments, each of which has its own kitchen, living room, bathroom, laundry facilities and outdoor area, built around beautiful gardens and a shared living area with a large communal kitchen that opens out onto a large backyard.
Having her own permanent residence with 24-hour support from health and social workers has transformed Ms Barton’s life.
“I walked in here for the first time and I just thought: ‘this is my home’,” Ms Barton says. “My health has improved. My mental health is fantastic now. I was getting sick all the time before, but now my health is just really stable.
“I take my medication, go to appointments, I work with the staff here on my goals, and communicate a lot with them. If I’m hearing voices, I speak up. I’m pretty aware now. I’ve got a lot of insight. I know when I’m getting unwell. I’ve got my tool kit – I listen to music, go for a walk, do some cooking. And the staff are available all the time.”
Ms Barton takes enormous pride in her apartment. She has decorated it beautifully, her shelves stacked with plants, vases and candles, and the couch draped in a favourite pink blanket.
The Haven Foundation was formed in 2006 by a group of families, friends and carers of people with mental ill-health. It now has 10 long-term housing residences for people with psychosocial disability in Melbourne and regional Victoria, and has 17 more under way. Three of the homes under construction are in NSW, and one is being built in Adelaide.
Secure housing is recognised as a key pillar for recovery from mental ill-health, and having health and social care provided in-house is crucial for people such as Sheree, who live with trauma from past experiences, not least in the mental health system.
“It was hard before I moved here, I was struggling to cope,” Ms Barton says.
“I had to rebuild my life again. I’ve had good times and bad times. The experience of being a patient is pretty scary. People are violent, they’re yelling and screaming. It was traumatising.”
The Haven model operates like a co-operative, where residents contribute a portion of their NDIS core funding to the Mind Foundation, which then delivers 24/7 shared support to residents. The support can be one-on-one, based on need. Support provided to residents includes help with the activities of daily living, personal care, medication management, budgeting, community access and peer support.
“If I’m hearing voices, I speak up. I’m pretty aware now. I’ve got a lot of insight. I know when I’m getting unwell. I’ve got my tool kit – I listen to music, go for a walk, do some cooking. And the staff are available all the time.”
Residents pay 30 per cent of their disability support pension plus their Commonwealth rent assistance towards their own rent. It’s a far cry from the private supported boarding house market, which emerged after the closure of long-term mental hospitals. Many residents in those boarding houses, some of which operate well, while others are places of squalor, pay between 75 and 95 per cent of their pension to landlords, and receive minimal support other than medication management and daily cleaning of bedrooms. Such a market has flourished because there is simply nowhere else for many with chronic severe mental health conditions to go.
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The Haven model has proved not only life-changing for residents, it also results in efficiencies for the NDIS and the health system as a whole. A Haven home for an NDIS participant is less than half the cost per year of the national average cost of housing for an NDIS participant in supported independent living. The average healthcare costs for a resident in the Haven model is a little over $200 a day per person, compared to a cost to taxpayers of $1300 a day for a public mental health hospital inpatient.
Now that her health is on a positive trajectory, Ms Barton has been able to focus on gaining greater independence. She has been volunteering at Vinnies, and has just started a paid position there two days a week. It gives her some precious spending money to indulge one of her hobbies – purchasing fashion items.
“One of my goals is working on budgeting,” she says. “I’m getting some money, getting new skills, meeting new people. I’m a lot happier now.”