Housing and Support Program (HASP): Final Evaluation Report

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Section 9 Recommendations
8. The study found that many clients rely on support
agencies/staff to provide them with transport.
While this is a very worthwhile service, there is
variation in the way in which clients are charged
for this service. Support agencies need to clarify
how this service can be provided so as to enable
greater transparency in the way that clients
reimburse agencies for the service.
9. There is little consistency in the provision
of ongoing training for support workers. Moreover,
there is wide variation in the provision of clinical/
practice supervision for support workers. It is
recommended that a sub-group be established
at the state level to provide direction for the
future training and supervision needs of support
workers.
10. There are 52 different support agencies providing
services to HASP clients and these tend to differ in
respect to philosophy, models of service delivery
and outcome expectations. To overcome this,
the current model of service delivery needs to be
more closely aligned to the principles of recovery.
Indeed, almost half of the support workers who
participated in the evaluation expressed a desire
to know more about recovery and how this could
be applied in practice.
11. It was noted that clients can have a number
of different care plans. It is recommended
that service providers examine options for the
development of a single care plan for each client.
This care plan should be used by all stakeholders
to guide client interventions and be reviewed and
updated on a regular basis – at least every three
months. All stakeholders, including the client,
should have input into the development and
review of the plan.
Final Evaluation Report
12. A number of clients stated that they would like to
stop smoking. Implementing strategies to reduce
cigarette-smoking should be considered. Reducing
or ceasing cigarette-smoking would result in better
health for clients and more spending money for
other activities.
13. While only 10% of clients were employed, over
40% of clients indicated that they would like to
have paid employment as their main activity. Thus,
there is some scope to engage with these clients
and link them into training or other activities such
as volunteer work to improve their chances of
securing paid employment in the future.
14. A system of ongoing evaluation of the services
provided and the outcome for clients needs
to be established. Such a system should include
a mechanism for obtaining feedback directly
from the clients in the program. This could take
the form of interviews with a sub-sample of clients
or a satisfaction survey completed by clients on
an annual basis.
15. It is clear from this evaluation that HASP provides
an effi cient and effective model for enabling those
with severe psychiatric disability to maintain
tenancies and establish a life in the community.
It is also clear that demand for HASP places far
exceeds the number of packages available. It is
recommended that the program be continued and
expanded to better meet the growing demand for
HASP places.