Impact and outcomes of a rural Personal Helpers and Mentors service

OBJECTIVE: To describe impacts and outcomes associated with the Personal Helpers and Mentor's (PHaMs) service in a rural Australian town. DESIGN: A descriptive analysis of longitudinal data, uncontrolled pre‐test and post‐test caseworker ratings, and retrospective pre‐test/post‐test self‐ratings and feedback comments were collected from convenience samples. SETTING: A community‐based mental health recovery service. PARTICIPANTS: n = 76 mental health consumers; mean age = 37.78 years; 45% male; 63% Aboriginal; primary diagnoses = 41% psychotic disorder and 61% mood disorder; co‐morbid diagnosis = 45% substance use disorder. INTERVENTIONS: Individual recovery plan (IRP), personal goal setting, caseworker mentoring and support. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Gains towards goals, the Role Functioning Scale (RFS), self‐ratings and feedback comments. RESULTS: The most frequently addressed goals were: attend mental health treatment services, acquire suitable accommodation and be more involved in the community. IRP completers (n = 19) showed a significant improvement in caseworker‐rated adaptive functioning which was adequate at case closure (t(18) = −4.38, P