Page 4451 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 30 October 2018
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The recovery college is focused on the idea of co-design and co-production. This means that the teachers and students create and deliver the courses collaboratively. The peer-teacher model is also central, that is, the people running courses are peers who have shared experience with mental illness. The south-west London college I visited was the first of its kind to be developed in the UK. As well as the obvious health benefits, it has proved to be a cost-effective model for treating people with mental illness, meaning a reduction in bed days and community contacts; that is, the use of other funded services. As members will recall, the ACT government has funded a recovery college project here in the territory. Visiting the London college enabled us to garner valuable insights into the operation of a college as well as to make connections to allow future collaboration.
While in Birmingham, I also met with the managers of the Oleaster psychiatric hospital and toured the facility. There are several impressive features of this hospital. Of most interest to me was the fact that it employs a model called the PACER model.
PACER stands for police, ambulance and clinical early response. Under this model, there is a joint crisis response from police, ambulance and mental health clinicians to people experiencing a behavioural disturbance in the community. The key to the model is that these three services are combined into one response unit.
I saw this PACER model in action, including by accompanying a PACER group to an incident and talking to the people on the ground about how it operates. It appears to be a smart and efficient response in terms of resource management, as well as ensuring that there is a patient focus when it comes to incidents involving people with mental health issues. Responding with the PACER approach helps to see these incidents through the prism of mental illness rather than as a law enforcement response.
The Oleaster hospital also has a facility called a place of safety. The place of safety is used when a police officer detains someone in a public place under the Mental Health Act because they believe that he or she is mentally disordered and may be a danger to themselves or others. The place of safety is a safe and appropriate environment. Patients are met by nursing staff who will provide support and reassurance and make a decision as to whether or not a full Mental Health Act assessment is appropriate. This is another patient-focused approach, which works in harmony with the PACER response.
Following my trip to the UK, I attended the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, which was held from 12 to 14 September. This event was attended by more than 4,500 people and brought together leaders from 73 national, state and local governments, as well as businesses, scientists and citizens. The summit showcased climate action taking place around the world and allowed participants to discuss and commit to actions to overcome the remaining challenges we face to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
The three-day summit was co-chaired by the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, with attendees including the former US Secretary of State John Kerry and former US Vice-President Al Gore. I participated in a panel session on future clean energy systems and moving towards 100 per cent renewable electricity. I was able to talk to a
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