This week I was lucky to spend time with a clever team of mental health nurses at North Coast Mental Health Rehab Unit (NCMHRU) in Coffs Harbour NSW. Having first done Recovery Star training 10 years ago, the team realised more recently that they were probably missing some of the potential benefits of using the Star.

They talked with us last year about ways to get their use of the Star back on track and we soon agreed on a plan including signing up one of their clinical leads, Matt Higgins, to complete our Licensed Trainer training. The next step, this week, was for Matt and I to co-facilitate a couple of days of training with key staff to refresh their ways of using the Recovery Star. This training included time back in the unit to immediately try out some of the ideas we developed, in conversations with current service users. As usual, we learned heaps from this.

One of the brilliant things was the inclusion of case managers from the local community-based mental health agency who will now start using the Recovery Star in preparing folks they support to step into stays in the rehab unit. Another bonus- for me- was finding the NCMHRU team now includes Toni Lawson, a member of one of my favourite 90s Bris-bands, ISIS who are currently working on a new album. If you remember ISIS, you’ll easily find Toni in the team photo.

How’s your team’s implementation of the Outcomes Star coming along? Are you achieving all of the potential benefits? We’d love to have a yarn about this and options for strengthening your team’s practice with the Star. Click here if you’d appreciate a call on this.