NOTE The Soteria project has currently been mothballed. The Australian federal government have made it quite clear to us that they are not interested in even discussing Soteria houses at this time. For a long time there has been no interest from any of our members in political reform activities but this may be starting to change. If it does, Soteria houses will be back again on our agenda.
For the time being our focus is on another somewhat related project. Community mental health support co-operatives owned and run by Lived Experience Workers LEW’s. Because this doesn’t require any specific government action it is, at this stage, showing a lot more promise.
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The Soteria group endeavoured to collaborate with the federal government to discuss the establishment of supervised Soteria style community houses throughout Australia, predominantly for young people with serious (usually psychotic) mental health problems .
It’s Time For Soteria : An Australian Perspective
Soteria community houses have been around for over 50 years and have proven themselves as a gentler, kinder and more effective solution to serious (psychotic) mental health problems than institutional psychiatric wards and hospitals. These days, Soteria type houses are mostly found in Europe but why not in Australia?
Our article “It’s Time For Soteria:An Australian perspective” was published on Mad In America- Click Here To Read It.