Community mental health Step Up / Step Down services

Community-based Step Up/Step Down Services provide support for people experiencing mental health issues, in a home-like setting close to their community, friends and family.

Step Up/Step Down services provide contemporary, therapeutic mental health care through short-term residential support and individualised care, for up to 28 days.

This includes a combination of psychosocial and clinical services, to help people manage their mental health, avoid hospitalisation and live well in the community.

Step Up services provide support for a person who has received hospital care and no longer requires that level of care, but could benefit from some additional support to help them re-establish themselves in their home and community.

Step Down services provide additional support for a person to manage a decline in their mental health, where an admission to hospital is not required.

• Joondalup, 22 beds, opened May 2013
• Rockingham, 10 beds, opened October 2016
• Albany, six beds, opened November 2018
• Bunbury, 10 beds, opened March 2020
• Geraldton, 10 beds, opened January 2021
• Kalgoorlie, 10 beds, opened January 2021

The Mental Health Commission is currently working to establish new Step Up/Step Down Services in:

• Karratha
• Broome
• South Hedland 
• Perth Metropolitan area – Youth Service 

For more information about the new services, please contact the Service Development Team at cssm.servicedevelopment@mhc.wa.gov.au or subscribe to the Stakeholder Connect E‑Newsletter.