VIDEO: SMART Recovery Australia National Program Coordinator Josette Freeman talks about SMART Recovery Australia’s recent partnership with the Palmerston Association. Video was created for a presentation at the SMART Recovery USA Conference, 2015.
SMART Recovery Australia has established an exciting partnership with Palmerston Association in Western Australia.
Palmerston was originally established as a research and rehabilitation service for illicit drug users, 30 years later it is one of the largest not-for-profit community services operating in the AOD sector. It has a proud record of innovation in service to people affected by alcohol and other drug use.
Palmerston offers a diverse range of services in the Perth metropolitan region and the Great Southern. Their client numbers grow each year and in 2009/10 they supported 3400 clients with over 24 000 occasions of service.
Following consultation with Palmerston CEO Sheila McHale, a multi-year relationship was forged with SMART Recovery Australia in July. This will see SMART Recovery staff provide on-going training courses for Palmerston staff, and position the SMART Recovery program as a core part of their service.
With the partnership only in its infancy, Palmerston has already established eleven SMART Recovery groups in the southern metropolitan and southwest regional region of Western Australia. They have also started a BeSMART (family and carers) program, and are interested in incorporating other alternative SMART Recovery Australia programs: Teen SMART and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SMART.
Palmerston has become a model provider in that they have embraced the ideology of identifying and nurturing peer facilitators alongside of professionals.
Palmerston has also expressed interest in future collaboration with SMART Recovery Australia’s Research Advisory Committee, in the form of a potential pilot study of the SMART program with their services.
In addition to the partnership, Palmerston Association Senior Counsellor Raylene Catterick has been appointed as a member of the newly formed SMART Recovery Australia Facilitator Advisory Committee, which has representatives from various states and organisations across the country.