ERMHA support service, Linx, senior manager Alf Francett at the launch of Springvale’s new mental health service.
By Sarah Schwager
SPRINGVALE has welcomed a new mental health service, which aims to ease the transition from hospital to home.
The Springvale Prevention and Recovery Care Service (PARC) was opened on Friday by Parliamentary Secretary for Health Daniel Andrews.
The $1.2 million centre in Royal Avenue will provide 10 beds and 24-hour care to help mental health patients’ recovery outside a hospital.
It aims to bring the relationship between clinical and psychiatric disability services closer together.
PARC also brings together local health services Southern Health, the Eastern Regional Mental Health Association and Peninsula Health, as well as the City of Greater Dandenong.
Southern Health director of public affairs Kim Minett said the centre was part of the Government’s commitment to expanding services for people with a mental illness.
“One of the key themes is the development of innovative approaches based on relapse prevention and early intervention,” Mr Minett said. “PARC services aim to provide a ‘step up’ and ‘step down’ function between community care and in-patient treatment.”
Mr Andrews said adults having a significant mental health illness or crisis relapse and needing residential support and clinical treatment could stay at the centre for two to four weeks.
“The Springvale PARC service – one of only three in Victoria – will provide clinical treatment and residential support for people in a fragile mental state, to keep them out of hospital,” he said.
“As they recover, residents will get guidance and support to prepare themselves to return home.”
