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Research

Banyan House is currently participating in two research projects:

Implementing best Practice in Evaluation in AOD rehabilitation agencies
(Dr Richard Chenhall, Menzies School of Health)


The research project is being conducted in rehabilitation agencies in New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory to look at how residential treatment programs and therapeutic communities are providing their services.  The researchers are particularly interested in investigating how agencies can make evaluations of programs more appropriate to the experiences of residents through treatment so that in response, they can provide better services.

 

Banyan House commenced participation in the research mid 2008.  For Banyan House, the project has involved implementation of a client assessment inventory, designed specifically for use in a therapeutic community, to provide a measure of clients’ progress through treatment.  Analysis of Inventory data will also provide feedback on the effectiveness of the various elements of Banyan’s rehabilitation program.

 

Clients complete an inventory on entry and then at approximately 8 week intervals to assess progress in developmental, socialisation, psychological and community member aspects of wellbeing and behaviour. Therapeutic communities involve multidimensional changes in terms of lifestyle and personal identity across these domains (see Therapeutic Community Model ).

 

Using digital learning communities to improve long-term recovery and employability skills for learners in AOD programs
(Stuart Anderson, Charles Darwin University and Canberra Institute of Technology).


This is a PhD project due to commence in 2010 which seeks to consider the following two key research questions:
1.    How does participation in digital learning communities affect the social and
       employability skills of residents in Therapeutic Communities
2.    How can stories arising from digital learning communities be used to customize and
       improve training for workers in therapeutic communities?


In the course of investigating these questions Stuart will seeking to document and describe the relationships between current substance use issues, social networks, educational and vocational history, motivation to change & participate in the TC program as well as each participant’s aspiration to reconnect with employment, education and training.

Publications

Forster Foundation Annual Report 2010- 2011 (pdf file 3.67MB)

Forster Foundation Annual Report 2008-09 (pdf file 1.44MB)

 

Forms