Health Innovations
Partnerships Program

The Health Innovations Partnerships Program (HIPP) brings together a number of services including the following: 

• Mobile health Outreach Service (MhOS)
• Community Connections Program (CCP)
• Supported Residential Services
• Resourcing health and Education in the Sex Industry (RhED)
• Drug and alcohol services
• Mental health team
• Hustling to Health (H2H)
• Supported Accomodation Assistance Program (SAAP)
• CCI Arrest Referral Program
• The Health Bus

The program targets a number of client groups including sex workers, individuals experiencing serious mental illness, young people at risk, injecting drug users, people who are homeless or in insecure housing and those with complex needs.

Achievements

A selection of our accomplishments for 2006 is presented below:

• The Opening Doors residential rehabilitation partnership between Inner South Community Health Service (ISCHS), Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria and Alfred Psychiatry marked its first successful anniversary
  
  
• Mental health staff and clients spent three days in April in Queenscliff for the annual mental health holiday
  
  
• Informative consumer/carer forums were held throughout the year with the aim of enabling carers and consumers to participate, contribute to service delivery and provide feedback to our clinicians
  
  
• The RhED (Resourcing Health and Education in the sex industry) team participated in the Street Walking Blues research and report launch earlier this year with very positive results. The team also produced the ‘Work it Safe’ Booklet for younger sex workers
  
  
• The implementation of a 1800 number for the sex industry in Victoria and the development of an evaluation framework for the 1800 number was also undertaken
  
  
• A presentation to Community Cabinet regarding ongoing sustainability of Arrest Referral and Hustling to Health projects was undertaken
  
  
• Conference presentations included the International Harm Reduction conference in Vancouver and the Australasian Sexual Health conference in Hobart
  
  
• Consumer participation regarding services, product development and delivery continued to provide information to improve services
  
  
• Six Mobile Health Outreach Staff completed their Certificate IV in Drug and Alcohol
  
  
• The SRS team expanded services to include testing, optometry, weekly pampering groups and sustainable exercise groups
  
  
• The Community Connections team coordinated the 8th Annual Homeless Memorial Service, held on Wednesday the 21st of June, with 150–200 people attending.