The Staying Attached Program was successfully piloted during 2005-2008 and secured increased, ongoing funding to develop services across the metropolitan area. Staying Attached is an early intervention service for women engaged with Mental Health Services and focuses on early and secure attachment between mother and infants under 3 years of age.
Support workers, working within the family home, assist families to identify their own strengths and resources as a base for building new skills and self-esteem, emphasising small changes and achievements. Parents experiencing depression, post-natal depression and serious chronic mental illness can parent successfully if timely and effective support is provided to their family.
Workers adopt a coaching role, helping a family believe that change is possible and that they are capable of bringing about that change themselves. Participation in the program is voluntary and people feel less stigmatised in an environment where they feel they still have some control over their decision making.