July 2004

Help for hard-to-deal-with Victorians

A six-member panel of experts has been appointed to ensure services are co-ordinated to stabilise and treat Victoria’s most problematic and hard-to-deal-with health and welfare clients.

Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said the Multiple and Complex Needs Panel would be chaired by drug and alcohol expert Professor Margaret Hamilton.

It would also develop, implement and review care plans for the clients and put together an intensive program tailored to trying to get their lives back on track.

Ms Pike said the panel would review and co-ordinate services for up to 50 people each year who display troublesome behaviour that puts themselves and others at risk and which requires intensive treatment and support.

In the past, these clients were in danger of ‘falling through the cracks’ in the service and welfare system.

The other panel members are Latrobe University social work lecturer and former Public Advocate David Green, Monash University Professor of Psychiatric Medicine Graeme Smith, Salvation Army Adult Services general manager Jane Barnes, former Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health chief social worker Ross Izzard and Uniting Care Moreland Hall executive director Janet Farrow.

Ms Pike said the panel would support the Government’s multiple and complex needs initiative, to work intensively with the small group of people whose extreme behaviours meant that existing services working alone struggled to maintain adequate support.

She said the clients often had several ‘presenting characteristics’ including mental health problems, drug and alcohol abuse, intellectual impairment, self-harming and aggressive behaviour, homelessness and a criminal record.

They tended to be relatively young—aged between 18 and 35—and were regularly in contact with police and in the courts.

‘This new project will reach the community’s most vulnerable people with challenging behaviours and ensure they receive intensive support services to re-establish their lives,’ Ms Pike said.