Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is different about the ACDC Project?

ACDC is an innovative project that offers a new and different Direct Connection or proactive outreach approach to linking people with services and assessing community needs. Rather than waiting for people to present themselves to services and ask forhelp, through the ACDC project each householder engaged with will be offered the opportunity to be informed about, or where possible linked with, appropriate services.

The 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing found the prevalence of severe mental illness in the Australian community was 4.1%. and moderate mental illness was 6.6%. That survey showed that 64.8% of people with severe mental disorders and 40.2% of those with moderate mental disorders used services in the previous
12 months. Research also shows that help-seeking behaviour is very low in some communities.

2. What is door knocking?

It is exactly what is sounds like. People Connectors work with their Line Manager to identify streets that will be visited on a weekly or fortnightly basis. They then do a letterbox to households in those streets to let people know they are coming.

They then walk household to household to ‘knock/buzz/ring’, with the aim of engagemeing the householder in a conversation about their mental, social and emotional wellbeing, identify any unmet needs and engage them in a survey.

The door knocking guidelines have been co-designed through a project working group, with representation of significant stakeholder groups including consumers and carers. A process of co-design and consultation with local stakeholders will precede the door knocking at each site.

People Connectors (see Glossary) are intended to operate in pairs with a diversity of gender and cultures if practicable. They will knock on every door unless there is a reason not to.

3. Can I really propose any site for my EOI?

Yes. So long as the site or sites your propose meet the Site Selection Criteria outlined in the EOI Info Pack you can suggest any area of Australia.

4. Can my organisation put in an EOI for more than one site?

Yes. Your organisation can put in EOIs for as many sites as you like. Please complete one EOI form for each site.

5. There are a lot of people who we know about who are not connected with services, for example people in and out of the court system, would you target them and knock on their doors?

Privacy and data management considerations mean that ACDC cannot expect, and will not ask, organisations to share names or addresses of people. ACDC is also designed to engage people who are not already known to services. For these reasons ACDC will not target individual people or households. Instead, all doors at a selected site will be knocked and targeting will be at the site level.

6. What precautions are in place to account for the COVID-19 Pandemic?

• Engaging People Connectors to go door to door to people’s homes carries an inherent risk of acquiring or transmitting infectious diseases, including COVID-19. CMHA mitigates this risk in the ACDC Project by:
• Seeking and adhering to the advice of police, state and territory health authorities.
• Not commissioning or undertaking ACDC Project activity in communities with significant established community transmission of COVID-19
• Preferring that People Connectors engaged by Delivery Partners are residents of the local area that they are door knocking within, and not travelling significant distances to undertake the ACDC Project.
• Asking the People Connector Team Leader to ensure the temperature of everyone in a People Connector team is measured at the beginning of each shift, and to ensure that any individual with a temperature over 37.2 degrees Celsius, fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath or runny nose does not undertake any door-to-door activities until they have recovered.
• Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19, even mild symptoms must leave the site and get tested at a COVID-19 clinic and self-isolate until a negative result is received, in accordance with state or territory health guidelines.
• Recommending that People Connectors have received the seasonal influenza vaccination and the COVID-19 vaccination when available.
• Asking delivery partners to ensure that People Connectors always observe appropriate social distancing during the door knocking activity.

7. Why the door knocking approach? What evidence is there to suggest it is a more effective way of directly engaging, given some people find it quite confronting?

There is a significant body of evidence worldwide that many people with mental health issues do not engage in any form of “support or help seeking behaviour”1. Door knocking means that people are directly reached, and that information and linking is offered to people without their needing to ‘present’ or to assertively seek help. In this way the ACDC project brings potential access to mental health, emotional and social wellbeing services directly to people who may not connect in any other way.

At the same time the project will be able to measure the unseen mental health support needs in communities through the survey and collection of stories. Other forms of engagement would rely on people having information about where to go to seek information and assistance and making the time and effort to do so. ACDC seeks to eliminate these barriers to service access.

8. Have you considered that people may not want to answer the door or engage?

Yes, there has been a significant amount of discussion in relation to this. Ultimately, if people are not wanting to speak with a People Connector then of course their decision is respected. ACDC has been designed with assumptions that some people will not wish to engage, or will not be engaged for other reasons, for example they may not be home. We can only offer.

Prior to door knocking at each site, the ACDC team, in partnership with the Local Reference Group, will co-design and implement a pre-engagement and marketing strategy. A community level mapping exercise will inform the pre-engagement strategy, through which opportunities to introduce ACDC to the community will be identified. Pre-engagement strategies may involve the use of communication platforms such as local newspaper, radio and/or a letterbox drop, or a physical presence at community events.

The timing of the door knocking will be significant. Door knocking is intended to take place in the mid-morning, afternoons, early evenings, and some Saturdays, and if engagement with a People Connector is not preferred at the time the door is knocked, a rescheduled engagement by appointment will be offered. Similarly, if a door does not get answered, a ‘sorry we missed you’ appointment card will be left under the door with contact details and opportunities to reschedule at a time that suits the person.

9. Is there an openness or flexibility to other forms of “connection” if stakeholders in a site have concerns or reservations around door knocking approach? Concerns include the nature of conversations, target group, the mechanism used to connect.

The Direct Connection approach of the ACDC project has been funded and contracted by the Department of Social Services (DSS) and the door knocking activity is how it will primarily be delivered.

In some sites it will be beneficial to hold information stalls, community BBQs and other such forms of engagement. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The local communities’ specific characteristics will be taken into account when making these decisions.

10. What services do you endeavour to provide information about in the resource you leave with the household? Will they be just mental health services or broader services? What are the parameters?

The information products distributed to individuals and households is a significant output of ACDC and investment will be made to ensure that these are relevant and accessible to the targeted audience. Information products may contain information about local and online mental health services, as well as other social and emotional wellbeing services and supports.

Information products will be printed for distribution – these include a fridge magnet detailing local services, an overview document and local service flyers. A co-design process has been undertaken at the project level for the conceptualisation and initial design of information products.

11. How are you going to make sure that you have appropriate referral options for people? How are you going to avoid identifying needs in people and then not having referral or support options?

A part of the site validation process will be determining the local service capacities for responding to needs of people identified through ACDC. This process will be a tailored each potential site, and potential sites which are identified as not having a minimum level of service capacity may possibly be excluded.

ACDC intends to build capacity amongst existing service providers to enable them to offer more effective connection with members of their community. Through the local community engagement at each site, organisations will be identified, and a relationship developed which will enable warm referral pathways.

When appropriate ACDC will provide households with information about how they can advocate for needed services that are lacking in their area. In addition, where local groups advocating for needed services or developing community self-help options already exist households will be provided with those contact details.

12. How are you going to decide what is an appropriate mix of metropolitan,
regional and remote areas?

The ACDC Project has a target of a minimum of 40% (10) sites being in regional or remote areas of Australia.

13. What resources do we receive from CMHA?

People Connector Teams are provided with the following:

• ACDC Project iPad with the web based ACDC Project Survey and secure data storage pre-installed ACDC to each team of People Connectors
• ACDC Project ID badge and safety lanyards
• ACDC Project branded t-shirts, cap and vest for wearing over warm clothes
• Information products, posters, magnets and ‘Let’s connect’ and ‘Sorry we missed you’ postcards.
• Social media posts, local media release and media relations.
• As much support as you need from the ACDC Project staff team to ensure your success.
• Regular Communities of Practice meetings with all other active teams via zoom.

14. What training do People Connectors receive?

Each People Connector is required to complete training and orientation provided by CMHA.

• Training, information or access to resources will be provided to People Connectors on a range of topics, including but not limited to personal safety, health and wellbeing, how to recognise and respond to danger, COVID-19 management, cultural awareness and identifying children and young people under 18 years who may be at risk of abuse or neglect.
• People Connectors will only operate in teams of two for safety, with a third person for back up if required.
• Ensure adherence to the COVID-19 risk management strategies, and work health and safety practices.
• Attend fortnightly Communities of Practice meetings via Zoom facilitated for People Connectors and line Managers by the ACDC Project team.
  Communities of Practice are online meetings with other People Connectors facilitated by the ACDC Project team that provide an opportunity to share experiences, discuss issues and strategies in a safe peer led environment, and to develop best practice in the door knocking approach.
• In addition to the Community of Practice, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Worker’s Circle will be regularly held online for all People Connectors and Line Managers who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. This will support cultural supervision while reducing cultural isolation.

15. How will you ensure the safety of people connectors?

The ACDC Project door knocking activity has several potential risks for People Connectors and for the people whose doors they knock on. CMHA understands that these risks exist, and that a careful and responsible approach is needed to mitigate or prevent any risks. Responsibility for WH&S lies with their employer, and you retain the rights to make final decisions regarding safety and wellbeing of your staff.

For the safety and wellbeing of People Connectors, ACDC will:

• Arrange that People Connectors operate in teams of two for safety.
• Train People Connectors to understand that they can pass any dwelling if they feel uncomfortable entering the yard or building or knocking on the door.
• Train People Connectors in active listening, de-escalation techniques, and strategies to immediately remove themselves from unsafe situations.
• Delivery Partner organisations are required to have adequate work health and safety policies and procedures in place.
• People Connectors are expected to be trained and orientated by the Delivery Partner organisation in work health and safety practices, including work related violence, mandatory reporting where relevant, incident reporting and emergency response.
• People Connector teams are not to work in extreme weather or hazardous environmental conditions, for example heatwave, flooded environments, bushfires, noise or exposure to extremely cold temperatures.
• Facilitate Communities of Practice which People Connectors will attend regularly.
• Require that People Connectors submit a report to the Line Manager at the end of each day with data metrics as well as information about and incidents or risks and stories from the field.
• Delivery Partner organisations are required to have systems in place for checking the whereabouts of People Connectors and ensuring their safety and are accounted for at the conclusion of each shift.
• Respond to any risks or incidents promptly through liaison with management at the People Connector organisation.

16. How does the ACDC Project respond to any incidents?

CMHA and the ACDC project intend that any incidents related to the door knocking activity be managed by the Delivery Partner Organisation through their own incident reporting and management policies, procedures and tools. The DPO will provide a report about all incidents to CMHA fortnightly. It is the Delivery Partner Organisation’s responsibility to train and orientate the People Connectors about incident management.

CMHA requires that the Delivery Partner organisation provide evidence of incident reporting and management policies, procedures, and tools.

Significant incidents are required to be reported to CMHA on the same day where possible to the Manager ACDC Project, along with information about how the incident was managed and whether it was resolved.

17. Will ACDC really make a difference for people?

The Proactive Outreach approach is largely untested in Australia. As such CMHA and our partners are very interested in measuring its efficacy, and a significant investment will be made in research and evaluation of the project.

Given the untested nature of the Direct Connection approach, and the diversity of communities within which the project with operate, the ACDC project will only be a success through strong partnerships and inclusive co-design processes with stakeholders at all levels. As such, CMHA has invested significant resources into building partnerships and into the co-design processes.

18. How will the outcomes, and the success of the project, be measured?

There are several intended outcomes of the ACDC Project, and some will be easier to
measure and report on than others. Objectives include:

• Number of People Connector engagements with householders.
• Number of each information product distributed.
• Number of successful referrals made.
• Number of surveys completed.
• Stories collected.

A significant investment is being made in the evaluation of the ACDC project, which will report on the efficacy and the return on investment of the ACDC project, as well as how well the project met its stated objectives. The Centre for Social Impact has been retained to undertake the Evaluation.

19. How will Delivery Partners report on the progress of the project?

Performance indicators and reporting mechanisms are agreed with the Delivery Partner Organisation through the agreement. Reporting includes – participation is fortnightly CoP, Fortnightly meeting with Project Manager to discuss any challenges, insights, a fortnightly report to be sent to Project Manager ahead of meeting, collection of stories from the field, the keeping of accurate accounts to be able to acquit the grant as per Federal Government (DSS) grant requirements, timely and accurate entry of data into the Qualtrics survey system in real time as doorknocking activities are taking place.

CMHA reviews weekly the metrics of the ACDC Project activity through the project software, with potentially unsatisfactory performance identified. Discussions in relation to underperformance or poor data collection will go through the contract review process with the executive management of the Delivery Partner Organisation. Cancellation of the contractual agreement may be a result of the review.

20. What happens at the end of the project?

The project is intended to conclude in November 2022. By this time People Connectors will have distributed information about local and national mental health services to up to 45,000 individuals and households, collected 10,000 surveys and will have made referrals to services for those who required and consented to this.

Significant research, data analysis and the project evaluation will have concluded by this time, and final reports will be being prepared. Significant findings will have been shared at conferences, and an analysis of the return on investment of the direct connection approach will have been made available publicly. All personal data will be de-identified and destroyed in line with the terms of the ACDC data collection consent form.

The ACDC kit will be completed and made available publicly for adaption and use by any organisation in future iterations of the ACDC project.