Cambridge mental health services focus of masters thesis

University of Waikato graduate student Hannah Cleland is looking into the effectiveness of the mental health services in Cambridge as part of her masters thesis.

Cleland, who is studying clinical psychology at Waikato, is doing her thesis on the experiences of users of Cambridge’s mental health services and whether they believe the services available are facilitating recovery.

“Consumers are valuable, knowledgeable and need to be involved in planning and implementation of services,” says Cleland.

“I hope to improve the services available to consumers by listening to their experiences and knowledge and using this information to inform providers on areas in which they need to develop.”

Her findings so far have shown that people who had a mild mental illness believed that the counselling services available in Cambridge are sufficient in meeting recovery needs. Likewise for those with severe mental illness who access services from DHB funded services.

However, a number of participants who were identified as being in the moderately unwell range noticed that there were considerable gaps in the services available to them. Specifically access to services that are affordable as some did not meet the criteria for entry in DHB services.

Other gaps included having a suitable location for services, a lack of consumer-run support services and some services not being recovery focused.

Cleland says that she hopes her research will provide an avenue for consumers to have a voice on a topic which they are familiar with, but seldom have the opportunity to comment on.