Attachment Six

PCP Integrated Health Promotion Case Study –

Festival for Healthy Living – Phase One Case Study

PCP contact

Name of PCP /

Wellington Primary Care Partnership

Contact Person / Rachael Dooley
Position/Title / Health Promotion Coordinator
Phone No. / (03) 51433868

Email Address

/

Identified Partners

Partner Organisation / Roles and responsibilities with regard to the project / Contact person details
(name, position)
Yarram & District Health Service / Lead Agency for the project.
- Project coordination / Jenny Feist, Health Promotion Officer
Royal Children’s Hospital / Supported by professional learning from the FHL State wide Coordination Team / Ms Bobbie Hodge
Ms Amina Schutz
WPCP / Jo Cockwill, EO
School Focused Youth Service / Funding Provider
Member of Steering Committee / Clare Heath
Primary and Secondary Schools
Secondary:
Primary:
St Mary’s Primary School
Devon North PS
Yarram PS
Woodside PS
Alberton PS / Member of Steering Committee
Managing students participating in program
Scheduling of program
Coordination of transport
Member of Steering Committee
Member of Steering Committee
Member of Steering Committee
Member of Steering Committee
Member of Steering Committee / Mr Wayne Chester (Principal Yarram Secondary College)
Russell Mitchell Assistant Principal
Di Austin Principal
Helen Dwyer Principal
Penny Earle Principal
Anne Morris Principal
Bill Mullan Principal
Regional Arts Victoria / Professional Advice / Deb Milligan
Community & Parent representatives / Representation on Steering Committee
Construction Props
Costume construction / Mrs Kaye Neilson
Artists / Conduct Art Therapy Sessions
Design Festival Program / Bobbie Hodge (RCH Artist Coordinator)
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development / Member of Steering Committee
Presenter in schools of health sessions
Coordinator Parents & Community
Member of the Evaluation subcommittee / Moira Rossiter
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
(School Nurse) / Member of Steering committee
Presenter in schools of health sessions
Member of the Evaluation subcommittee / Narice Johnson
Catholic Education Office / Member of Steering Committee / Justin Henderson CEO Sale Wellbeing
South Coast Division of General Practice / Funding Provider
Professional Support / Judy Tisiani
Foundation of Rural and Regional Renewal / Funding Provider / Jo Mason
Wellington Shire Council / Small Events Grant Funder

Case Study Title

/

Festival for Healthy Living Phase 1: Engagement

Summary/Abstract

Background
Yarram & District Health Service instigated the Festival for Healthy Living (FHL) program in Yarram in 2009 and led the project in partnership with Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), schools, health providers, local artists and local government.
Aim
Tobuild the capacity of schools and communities in Yarram to promote mental health and wellbeing through the performing and visual arts.
Method
There are three major phases involved in initiating and implementing a Festival for Healthy Living program, engagement, implementation & consolidation. The engagement phase involved the establishment of a regional steering committee and local infrastructure to support the project. The Steering Committee was established with representatives from community health, education and the arts and specific working groups were then established; Evaluation/Sustainability, Finance, Arts & Professional Development. A key component of the engagement phase was to organise the schools’ cluster by fostering consensus and implementing communication strategies between schools to work collaboratively towards developing a FHL. The Professional Learning Program involved introductory sessions which were coordinated by the RCH state team in consultation with the steering committee representatives.
Results
-  Demonstrated collaboration between the health and education sectors
-  Inter-professional learning opportunities experienced by partners
-  Increased understanding of mental health issues (students, teachers, artists and school community)
-  Increased capacity of partners to evaluate project in partnership with Monash University
Conclusion
Using drama and performing arts as a tool, the FHL provided an opportunity for a variety of sectors to work collaboratively to promote a whole of school approach to mental health and wellbeing.

Background

Name of Project /

Yarram Festival for Healthy Living

There are three major phases involved in initiating and implementing a Festival for Healthy Living program, which usually takes place over a three year period:
·  Phase 1 - Engagement(focus for case study)
·  Phase 2 - Implementation
·  Phase 3 - Consolidation
Priority goal /

To build the capacity of schools and communities to promote mental health and wellbeing through the performing and visual arts.

Priority issue(s) / Mental health & wellbeing
Target group / Youth & families
DHS IHP expectations
2009-12 / ·  Demonstrate use of evidenced based interventions.
·  Focus the greatest effort on the chosen state wide health promotion priority (s).
·  Ensure integrated health promotion practice engages with hard to reach population groups and vulnerable communities.
Background / Yarram & District Health Service instigated the FHL program in Yarram in 2009 and led the project in partnership. The FHL Steering Committee was formed in August 2009 and meetings were initially held bi-monthly then monthly.

There were four Project Sub-Committee’s formed; Evaluation; Finance; Arts and Professional Development. Meetings for the sub-committees were scheduled as required.

Evidence used to inform the development of the FHL project included;

·  Gatehouse Project (2002)
·  Health Promoting Schools in Action - A guide for schools (2000)
·  National mental health publications
·  MindMatters: A Mental Health Resource Kit for Secondary Schools (2001)
·  National Framework for Rural and Remote Education (2001)
·  National Safe Schools Framework (2003)
·  Victorian Essential Learning Standards (2005)
·  Victorian Government's Blueprint for Government Schools (2004)
The Festival for Health Living program is an initiative of the RCH and it is a collaborative program developed topromote awareness of mental health and emotional wellbeing in primary and secondary schools and their communities.
The theme for the Yarram Festival for Healthy Living is resilience and mental health awareness supporting transition from primary to secondary school.
The program has involved five primary schools and a secondary school, artists and health professionals. The program is a creative opportunity for schools to review and develop their commitment to student wellbeing policies and programs, and enables students to explore issues associated with mental health and emotional wellbeing. This exploration is achieved through a range of performing and visual arts workshop techniques. Students develop solution-focused performance pieces, artwork, multimediaand written work facilitated by their teachers in partnership with professional performing artists and health professionals.
The FHL links and aligns with the Wellington Health Promotion Catchment Plan under the Mental Health & Wellbeing priority area;
Objective 1
To promote mental health and wellbeing amongst youth and families through the arts and community leadership.
Strategy 1
To build the capacity of schools and communities in Yarram and Maffra to promote mental health and wellbeing amongst youth through the arts.
Objectives / ·  To promote better understanding of the spectrum of mental health in schools and communities, including prevention and de-stigmatisation of mental illness, early intervention and help seeking.
·  To build individual skills for resilience and emotional wellbeing, including recognising strengths, making and maintaining healthy relationships, problem solving, help seeking and referral.
·  To advance understanding of the arts as a vehicle to promote mental health and wellbeing.
·  To build the skills and knowledge of arts, education, health and community workers for promoting mental health and wellbeing.
·  To support schools and communities to integrate the Festival for Healthy Living Program with ongoing whole of school/whole of community planning and action.
·  To evaluate and broadly disseminate best practice findings.

Project participants

Yarram and District FHL Mini-Cluster Model
Comprised of YarramSecondary College and nearby feeder primary schools including;
o  Alberton Primary School
o  Devon NorthPrimary School
o  St Mary's Primary School, Yarram
o  WoodsidePrimary School
o  Yarram Primary School
This model offered additional benefits to transition programs, and broader community connectedness.
No. of artists (Coordinator & Performing Artists, Production manager, support artists) - 7
No. of health professionals - 9
No. of teachers - 15

Methodology and approach

Key Project Activities - Phase 1: Engagement

Initial discussions were held with YDHS, FHL staff and schools to create interest in late 2008. Key stakeholders were invited to an ‘Orientation’ meeting to discuss the project model and solicit expressions of interest for the formation of a steering committee.

The Steering Committee was established in August 2009. Representatives on the steering committee included community health, education and the arts. The steering committee identified roles and responsibilities. The steering committee was responsible for securing funding, developing the time line, guiding the professional learning program and recruiting and training the artist team. The steering committee met monthly initially in the engagement phase and then working groups were established; Evaluation/Sustainability, Finance, Arts & Professional Development.

A key component of the engagement phase was to organise the schools’ cluster by fostering consensus and implementing communication strategies between schools to work collaboratively towards developing a FHL. The schools involved had a representative on steering committee and signed an MoU. The engagement phase also involved sourcing funding to be able to implement the project through joint submissions to various funding bodies.

The Professional Learning Program involved introductory sessions which were coordinated by the RCH state team in consultation with the steering committee representatives. There was one December 09 session held for Community, Youth, Arts & Health Professionals and also intensive training days for the artists team. The school leaders & staff participated in a whole staff day and then all of the partners participated in the Creative Partnerships Day. Health Professionals, artists and teachers attended fortnightly professional learning planning and reviewing sessions when possible. (See “FHL Guidelines for Professional Learning Tool” at www.rch.org.au/fhl.

Evaluation tools:

The Partnership Self-Assessment Tool was conducted in a survey format across the Wellington catchment during January 2010 to assist Primary Care Partnership members to determine how well current collaborative processes are working and identify corrective actions to help realise the full potential of collaboration. The survey was conducted again in May with nine participants contributing, three less than the January participants.
A successful collaborative process enables a group of people and organisations to combine their complementary knowledge, skills and resources so they can accomplish more together than they can on their own. This combining power is known as “partnership synergy”. Synergy is not just an exchange of resources between participants; together the partners create something new and valuable, come up with better solutions to problems, and take actions beyond what any participant could do alone. The level of synergy indicates the extent to which the partnership, as a whole, is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Partnership Self-Assessment Tool measures synergy and provides information to help partners take action to improve collaborative processes. It also identifies strengths and weaknesses in areas known to relate to synergy – effectiveness of leadership, efficiency, administration and management, and sufficiency of resources. The final questions measure views relating to decision-making, the benefits and drawbacks of participating, and overall satisfaction with the PCP. The findings from the partnership assessment will assist members to identify what we are doing well and what we need to improve on.

Planning tools:

·  Goal alignment at the Steering Committee in October - November 2009

- Agencies and schools were asked to align their organisations’ strategic plans and work plans with the Festival aim and objectives.

- Teachers and health professionals were asked to identify skills and understandings they wanted the Yarram young people to develop (December 2009)

·  Program Logic Model

- This was used at the Steering Committee after reflections and feed back had been collated and synthesised from artists, teachers, health professionals and the agency leadership.

Results

Impacts and outcomes / 12 participants responded to the January survey and 9 in July.
Jan
2010 / June 2010
Synergy / 3.57 / 3.85
Leadership / 3.61 / 3.60
Efficiency / 3.67 / 3.48
Administration and Management / 3.16 / 3.12
Non-financial resources / 3.9 / 3.82
Financial and Other Capital Resources / 4.0 / 3.87
Decision Making / 3.81 / 2.94
Benefits of Participation / 4.21 / 4.47
Drawbacks of Participation / 2.22 / 2.56
Comparing Benefits and Drawbacks / 4.17 / 4.0
Satisfaction with Participation / 3.75 / 3.73
1.0 – 2.9 /

Danger Zone: Needs much improvement

3.0 – 3.9 /

Work Zone: More effort needed to maximise potential

4.0 – 4.5 /

Headway Zone: Doing well, room to progress further

4.5 – 5.0 / Target Zone: Currently excels in this area
Key themes and issues from comparison of pre and post partnership surveys:
·  There was a clear increase in the number of participants who believe the partnership has resulted in increased creativity in problem solving, and resulted in improved understanding of community services and increased opportunities for community development.
·  Participants felt that not everyone was always on the same page in terms of shared goals, roles etc.
·  There was an increase in the number of participants who felt empowered by the partnership involvement and felt that respect, trust etc grew as the project evolved.
·  There seemed to be lack of clarity around how the budget was allocated.
·  Administration of the partnership was generally perceived as more efficient at the end of the project though there were some comments about how communication might improve.
·  Indicators of personal and school benefits of participation all showed an increase in knowledge, experience and understanding
·  Draw backs to participation included time and role conflicts though overall it was clear that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
‘We see the value of this project and completely support the idea. We would need some of the issues raised addressed before we would commit to participating again’.

‘It (FHL) worked well bringing the different partners together’

Status and sustainability / Phase One was the first of three components and Phase Two is currently being implemented. Monash University Rural and Indigenous Health have been engaged to assist with the evaluation design, tools and analysis.
Additional funding has been sourced for the implementation of the project and links with other community projects have been identified. Currently scoping a pilot program for VCAL students using the FHL program for transitioning to employment.
An abstract has been submitted for the Gippsland Mental Health Conference in November 2010.

Conclusions