Mid West ARIES Project

63 Pages·2017·1.5 MB·English

by  Taylor, Daniel

Mid West ARIES Project

A Report on the Development, Progress and Outcomes of a Pilot
Project to Provide a Recovery Education Service in the Mid West

Report by
Daniel Taylor, Aoife Boland and Niamh Wallace
Acknowledgements

The Mid West ARIES Project wishes to acknowledge the following individuals and groups
who supported the planning, development and implementation of the project:

 Firstly, the people of the Mid West (Clare, Limerick, and North Tipperary) who
volunteered, assisted, participated in and co-facilitated workshops, and without whom
the project would not have been possible.
 The GENIO Trust who provided funding for the project.
 The Mid West Mental Health Services Management Team who supported the project
from the outset.
 Mental Health Ireland who were host employer for the Peer Educator and Education and
Development Officer and who provided invaluable support to the project.
 Ennis and Limerick Mental Health Associations for their generous support and for use of
their facilities.
 The Samaritans Limerick and Tipperary for their generous support and for use of their
facilities.
 The staff of the Mid West Mental Health Services who participated in, facilitated
workshops and promoted the project.
 The Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick
 The Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick
 The staff at The Health Hub, Limerick
 Edward Benn for design services.

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Core Project Team

Project Lead (PL): Niamh Wallace
Peer Educator (PE): Aoife Boland
Education & Development Officer (EDO): Dan Taylor

Project Advisory Group

Helen McAteer: Family Member Representative, Mid West ARI Project Group
Gerry Garry: Assistant Director of Nursing, Limerick Mental Health Services
John McElhinney: Mid West Area Development Officer, Mental Health Ireland
Margo O’Donnell-Roche: Manager, Aras Follain Peer Support Centre, Nenagh
Dr. Marie Oppeboen: Senior Registrar in Psychiatry, Dromin House, Nenagh
Sam O’Grady: Service User Representative, West Clare

Academic Review Group

Helen McAteer
Dr. Marie Oppeboen
Dr. Jennifer McMahon: Lecturer in Psychology, University of Limerick
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About this document

This document is in two parts.

Part One outlines the background, activity and outcomes of the Mid West ARIES (Advancing
Recovery in Ireland Education Service) Pilot Project.

Part Two presents an overview of course material coproduced during the project,
comprising seven workshops on Recovery and Well-being. This part of the document, online
resources and the appendices, is designed as a resource for anyone wishing to use
education as a means to promote Recovery in their own community.

It is requested that anyone wishing to reproduce the material contained in this document
and the accompanying electronic resources requests permission by contacting
[email protected].

No monetary gain should be sought from the use of these resources.

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Executive Summary

The Mid West ARIES Project was a 12-month Recovery Education pilot project which
commenced in April 2016, funded by GENIO and delivered in partnership by the HSE and
Mental Health Ireland. The project was initiated following the completion in 2014 of
Recovery Education Needs Analysis Research conducted in the Mid West region in
partnership between The University of Limerick and Mid West ARI1.

Mid West ARIES offered a range of courses, information and educational materials on
Recovery and Well-being in Mental Health which were coproduced and co-delivered by
people with lived experience of mental health challenges, family members and supporters,
and staff working in the mental health services in the Mid West region of Ireland. The
project utilised Recovery College principles while delivering courses in communities
throughout the region, without a physical base as is typical of most Recovery Colleges.

Oversight of the project was provided by the Mid West ARI Project group and an ARIES
Project Group which included Service User and Family Member representatives from Mid
West ARI, the HSE, Mental Health Ireland and Aras Follain Peer Support Centre, Nenagh.
Project activity included: the promotion of the project and the involvement of volunteers,
contact database development; the facilitation of co-production sessions; the cosynthesis of
workshop material and creation of workshop session plans and slides; the facilitation of
workshops, and the training and support of volunteer facilitators. Three-hundred and
eleven individual stakeholders were contacted directly during the initial project promotion
and capacity-building phase.

Seven coproduction workshops were held during the lifetime of the project, each focussing
on a different theme related to Recovery in mental health. A total of seventy-three
individuals from a range of backgrounds participated in the coproduction workshops. The
themes of the workshops developed were:

1 For more information on ARI visit:
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/Mental_Health_Services/advancingrecoveryireland/
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1. What is Recovery?
2. Understanding Mental Health Services
3. Advocacy and Empowerment
4. Diagnosis and Beyond
5. CHIME
6. After Recovery What Next?
7. Recovery Principles for Students

Feedback from participants in the coproduction workshops was positive, with a mean 96%
approval rating of their experience, based on responses collected in a broad feedback
instrument which incorporated a recovery process item checklist adapted from the CHIME
framework. The involvement of volunteers was central to the design of the project and
twenty-five volunteer recovery education facilitators completed training and went on to co-
facilitate workshops.

A total of twenty six workshops were delivered throughout the lifetime of the project in
three distinct phases: workshops for students of health, social care and allied sciences;
workshops co-facilitated by the core ARIES project team of Education and Development
Officer and Peer Educator (Pilot Phase); and, workshops co-facilitated by Volunteer
Recovery Education Facilitators (Main Phase). The workshops were educational in style and
content and were designed to be deliverable either as stand-alone, one-off workshops, or as
a series delivered usually weekly over a period of time. Across the three phases of
workshop delivery, a total of three-hundred and forty-seven individuals attended. Feedback
was positive, indicating a mean approval rating of 95% across all workshops. Qualitative
feedback indicated a range of benefits experienced by participants, and a number of salient
themes emerged, including safety, the benefits of working together, and an enhanced ability
to manage recovery. A number of recommendations are made based on lessons learned
from this project, to inform future recovery education initiatives in the region. These
include:
 Continuation and development of wider curriculum content
 Partnership with Higher Education Institutions to embed recovery education
 Identification of income streams through partnerships
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 Use of coproduction model of working to inform future collaborative project work in
mental health services

Mid West ARIES Project Summary of Outcomes
 311 people involved during capacity-building
 7 Coproduction Workshops involving 73 participants
 7 Workshops developed
 96% approval of experience of Coproduction
 25 Volunteer Recovery Education Facilitators trained
 26 Workshops delivered
 347 individuals attended workshops
 95% approval of experience of workshops
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. 2
Core Project Team............................................................................................................................... 3
Project Advisory Group ....................................................................................................................... 3
Academic Review Group ..................................................................................................................... 3
About this document .......................................................................................................................... 4
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. 5
Section One: Background to the Project ............................................................................................... 11
Recovery............................................................................................................................................ 11
ARI ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Coproduction .................................................................................................................................... 13
Core Project Team............................................................................................................................. 14
Recovery Colleges ............................................................................................................................. 15
Key Features of the ARIES Project..................................................................................................... 17
Section Two: Planning and Development ............................................................................................. 19
Development of Work Plan: April-May 2016 .................................................................................... 19
Work plan Pillar 1: People ................................................................................................................. 20
Work plan Pillar 2: Content ............................................................................................................... 21
Work plan Pillar 3: Partnership ......................................................................................................... 21
Work plan Pillar 4: Quality ................................................................................................................ 22
Project Promotion and Capacity Building: May-November 2016 ..................................................... 23
Involvement of Volunteers: April 2016 onwards .............................................................................. 24
Coproduction of Course Content: June 2016-January 2017 ............................................................. 24
Selection of Coproduction Workshop volunteers ............................................................................. 25
Coproduction Workshops ................................................................................................................. 25
‘Cosynthesis’ of Material by Core Project Team ............................................................................... 27
Involvement of Volunteer Facilitators: October-December 2016 .................................................... 28
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Volunteer Facilitators Training: November-December 2016............................................................ 29
The Use of Personal Narrative .......................................................................................................... 31
Section Three: Project Delivery Phase .................................................................................................. 33
Delivery of Workshops for Students: September 2016-April 2017 .................................................. 33
Delivery of workshops by EDO and PE (Pilot Phase): November-December 2016 ........................... 35
Delivery of workshops by Volunteer Recovery Education Facilitators (Main Phase): January- April
2017 .................................................................................................................................................. 36
Section Four: Evaluation and Recommendations ................................................................................. 38
Evaluation using CHIME .................................................................................................................... 38
UL Engage student placement: March-April 2017 ............................................................................ 39
Brief Thematic Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 39
Recommendations ............................................................................................................................ 40
Potential Areas for Research ............................................................................................................ 42
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 43
References ........................................................................................................................................ 44
List of Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 45

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