New Mind Australia outcomes measuring data shows the Bidi Wungen Kaat Centre in St James (Western Australia) is helping people with mental health challenges significantly reduce their psychological distress.
Bidi Wungen Kaat, also known as the St James Transitional Care Unit (TCU), is a residential mental health service that provides a balance of complementary supports, from Mind’s peer practitioners and specialised mental health clinicians from East Metropolitan Health Service.
The service provides two types of supportive care to suit the needs of service users:
- The Step Up Step Down stream provides targeted moderate to intensive support in short-term residential stays
- The Community Care Unit provides less intensive support over a longer residential stay.
Using validated research and outcomes measurement tools, Mind collected data from more than 150 service users across both of Bidi Wungen Kaat’s service streams since it opened in 2022.
Service users who accessed the Step Up Step Down program reported a significant reduction in psychological distress between service entry and service exit.
Upon entering the Step Up Step Down program, service users average a score of 22.0 (out of a possible 30) using the Kessler 6 scale of psychological distress. The average score for the same service users when leaving the Step Up Step Down program decreased to 18.6.
“The K6 categorises scores between 6 – 18 as having ‘no serious risk of mental health concerns’, and scores between 19 – 30 as having ‘serious risk of mental health concerns,” Mind Research and Evaluation Manager Dr Laura Hayes said.
“At entry, more than 81% of people who we surveyed were considered to be at a serious risk, and upon completing the Step Up Step Down program this reduced by more than a third to 52.4% of service users.”
Data collected from the Community Care Unit’s service users also showed considerable improvement in their mental health. This data used the seven question Short Warwick-Edinburg Mental Wellbeing Scale, which asks people to respond with a rating from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) to questions about their mental health and wellbeing at both service entry and exit. The answers from these seven questions are then tallied for a total score out of 35.
On average, Community Care Unit service users significantly improved their mental health throughout their time at the program, entering the service with an average score of 22.9 (out of 35) and exiting with an average score of 25.7
Breaking down this data further indicates the particular areas of life where service users reported the most improvement. These include:
- general health – 2.8/5 (at entry) to 3.2/5 (at exit)
- overall wellbeing – 2.8 to 3.4
- accomplishing their goals – 3.1 to 3.6
- developing life skills – 3.5 to 4.1
- understanding their mental health – 3.4 to 3.9
- being able to deal with problems – 3.2 to 3.6, and
- managing their mental health – 3.2 to 3.6.
Alex, 19, left Bidi Wungen Kaat earlier this year and has since transitioned into supported accommodation in Perth. Inspired by his time at the service and the supportive team of mental health peer practitioners, Alex aspires to join the lived experience workforce and provide the same support that he benefitted so dearly from at Bidi Wungen Kaat.
“I have better understanding of my mental health now and what helps me. I have explored ways I can keep myself well, such as producing music and playing basketball,” he said.
“My time at Bidi Wungen Kaat has guided me into a healthy state of mind and showed me how to think for myself and express my own rights, needs and interests.”
If you would like more information about Mind services near you, contact us via Mind Connect or phone: 1300 286 463.