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Organisational issues facing a voluntary sector mental health service for homeless young people
- Authors:
- TAYLOR Helen, STUTTAFORD Maria, VOSTANIS Panos
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Integrated Care, 15(1), February 2007, pp.37-47.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The voluntary sector has an important role to play in the provision of services for people with mental health needs of lessor severity, thus complementing statutory services, as suggested by recent national policy. This article describes such a service for young homeless people, and discusses the perceptions of key stakeholders of the benefits and challenges of such a service. The service largely met the mental health needs of young people who would not have easily accessed statutory mental health services, and who fulfilled the criteria (low/moderate need) of the service. Challenges for the future include the different organisational cultures, the professional isolation of the mental health practitioners and the lack of operational and commissioning links with statutory mental health services.
A UK survey on how homeless shelters respond to the mental health needs of homeless young people
- Authors:
- TAYLOR Helen, STUTTAFORD Maria, VOSTANIS Panos
- Journal article citation:
- Housing Care and Support, 9(2), October 2006, pp.13-18.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Research and national policies have highlighted that accommodation providers need to offer holistic interventions to encourage young homeless people with mental health needs to break the cycle of homelessness. In this study a postal questionnaire was sent to 132 managers of the Foyer Federations homeless shelters in the UK, achieving a response rate of 64.4%. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were calculated, and written data was analysed using content analysis. Mental health problems were prevalent, and homeless shelters responded in a variety of ways (use of GP services, internal services, referring to external services, in-house outreach services, no service provision, etc). Only 27% of managers of homeless shelters reported that their services were sufficient to meet their young people's needs. These findings reflect the need for inclusion of mental health in homeless shelters' strategic objectives, and development of commissioning of local partnerships with health agencies.
A family support service for homeless children and parents: user and staff perspectives
- Authors:
- ANDERSON Lisa, STUTTAFORD Maria, VOSTANIS Panos
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Social Work, 11(2), May 2006, pp.119-127.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Children and their parents who become homeless constitute a group of families with a complex range of social care and health needs, including mental health difficulties. In response to this, a local authority housing department established a family support team (FST) that provides assessment and detection of a range of problems, support to parents and children, parenting interventions for child behavioural problems, liaison with other agencies, and referral to specialist services when appropriate. The aim of this study was to establish the perceptions of parents and staff on their experience of the service, and ways of improving it in the future. The study adopted a developmental evaluation approach and used multiple methods, including in-depth interviews with families; diaries; reflective activities; participatory learning and action; and observation of the FST. The study mapped the innovative service and captured the range of skills in the team and the complexity of agencies the team interacted with. It also identified areas for further development in terms of the mental health needs of children and parents who have become homeless.