STEPS care coordination

STEPS Care Coordinators do not provide direct care but instead assist to establish and monitor Care Teams that support clients with a severe mental illness and high and complex needs. Care Coordinators assist in the functioning of Care Teams by providing motivation, support and oversight to their members.

Many STEPS clients have a history of, or are currently experiencing

  • Poverty
  • Homelessness
  • Substance misuse
  • Poor physical health
  • Challenging behaviours
  • Abuse
  • Involvement with the justice system

Any combination of these factors together with a severe and enduring mental illness can create multiple barriers to recovery. Often having periods of containment and treatment in acute or secure psychiatric wards, clients frequently experience repeated breakdowns in housing arrangements and recurring unplanned hospital admissions. They have often had little or no stability in their lives and many have experienced prolonged periods of turmoil and anguish.

Nature of Support
The Care Coordinator

  • Leads the development and monitoring of the individual recovery plan Individual Support Plan (ISP) in collaboration with the care team, client and carer(s)
  • Actively engages local service providers in the development and delivery of relevant elements of the individual’s recovery plan
  • Facilitates case conferencing with relevant service providers
  • Supports and actively participates in service coordination across programs to resolve systemic issues and identifies more effective ways of meeting client needs
  • Advocates on behalf of the client if required
Clients are referred to these programs by Dandenong Area Mental Health Service clinicians or by staff of the organisations that make up the Southern Alliance Committee (Ermha, Impact, Mind, Lantern, Southern Health).

STEPS ihbos
Download the STEPS Care Coordination brochure as a pdf