Mental Health Support Services: Collaborative Care with Families
What effective mental health support looks like is different for everyone. Care from family and loved ones is important, but so is maintaining autonomy and control over your daily routine.
Doing it all alone, however, is rarely the best option and there are mental health support services that offer a helpful middle ground between full independence and more intensive care.
If you like the idea of support that is led by you, collaborative care could be a good fit. You decide who is involved, what they know, and exactly what their role is in your support network.
What Are Collaborative Mental Health Support Services
Collaborative mental health support from Animo helps you build your daily capacity and wellbeing. We focus on your routines, community participation, relationships, and practical life tasks so that life feels more manageable and meaningful day to day.
This is different from clinical treatment like therapy, diagnosis, or medication decisions. Instead, we work alongside your other healthcare professionals and, with your consent, involve your family or key supports so everyone understands your goals and roles are clear.
You stay in control of what is shared and who is involved. Together, you, your family, and your support team agree on priorities, practise strategies, and review what is working, so your mental health support feels effective and collaborative.
Why Family Involvement Can Help
When you choose to include them, family and carers can greatly improve your outcomes. They often know what causes stress at home, what helps you reset, and what good support looks like for you.
Victorian guidance also recognises families and carers as partners in recovery. This happens within clear boundaries for your privacy, confidentiality, and control over information sharing.
Most importantly, this collaboration should support your recovery. It should never shift control away from you.
How Consent-Led Collaboration Works
Collaboration is always your choice. You decide who is involved (for example, family, close friends, support workers, or clinicians), what they help with, and what information is shared with each person.
At the start, your worker will talk with you about your goals and then ask what you are comfortable sharing and with whom. You can give permission for different people to know different things, and you can change your mind at any time as your needs, preferences, or relationships change.
Consent-led collaboration also recognises the needs of families and carers. Even if you choose not to share your personal information, families can still receive general support, such as guidance on how to communicate in a supportive way, how to respond in a crisis, or how to access their own carer supports and education.
If you do agree to collaborate, everyone’s role is made clear. Together, you, your family (if involved), and your support team agree on who does what, how you will share updates, and how often you will check in to see if the plan is working for you.
What Support Workers for Mental Health Can Help With
At Animo, we focus on your mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. Your support worker meets with you regularly to help you work towards your personal goals.
In Your Home
Depending on your NDIS plan and goals, our sessions can include:
Building Routines: Creating a weekly plan and breaking big tasks into smaller, easier steps.
Life Admin: Helping you organise paperwork, prepare for appointments, and write down questions for your doctor.
Staying Steady: Practising habits that help at home, like improving your sleep or building confidence to leave the house.
In the Community
We also provide support out in the world to help you feel less isolated and more confident. This includes:
Errands and Appointments: Helping you get to where you need to go. We do things with you, not for you, so you stay in the driver's seat.
Social Connection: Helping you slowly get comfortable visiting new places or joining local groups.
Safety, Boundaries, and Crisis Support
Clear boundaries protect both you and your support worker. They also help set realistic expectations.
Your Animo support worker cannot provide:
Personal care (like showering or dressing)
Cleaning services
Medication storage or management
They also typically won't run errands for you alone, preferring to do them with you instead.
If you're worried about urgent situations, we can create a backup support plan together. For immediate crisis support, you can contact:
Getting Started with Animo
If you are ready to start mental health support and want to include your family or carers, it helps to prepare a few things first. Write down:
Your Goals: Your top 1–3 goals right now, even if they feel small.
Your Privacy: Who you want involved and what information you want to keep private.
Your Vision: What a "good week" looks like for you at home and in your community.
To ask questions or discuss your options, contact Animo during business hours (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm).
Start here: Animo Mental Health Support Services