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The Bridging Project

This project is being undertaken by Scope in collaboration with the Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria, Monash University.

Background
People with complex communication needs and people with mental illness or emotional disorders often feel hidden within the community and believe that others do not readily understand the difficulties that they experience or the problems that they have accessing necessary services. However, when people have both a complex communication and a mental health need, the problems are significantly compounded. This project attempts to build bridges between specialist and community providers of mental health services in relation to people with complex communication needs and to provide information to all relevant stakeholders.

Project Mission
The Bridging Project has as its mission to progress the knowledge and resource base to ensure that individuals with complex communication and mental health needs have access to quality services.
This project has two streams, Building Evidence and Building Capacity and is based on combined and complementary research strategies. Each stream will work with the other to support the overall mission statement and assist in informing the project development at all stages. The project is designed around the needs of people who are 18 years or older.

For more information please visit the Bridging Project website

Beyond Speech Alone: Guidelines for Practioners providing counselling services to clients with disabilities and complex communication needs, PDF Format (26 pages, 604KB)

Download Beyond Speech Alone order form, PDF Format (1 page, 38KB)