Safe Space Hubs for North Brisbane and Moreton Bay residents

Brisbane North PHN has recently received funding provided through the Commonwealth Hospital and Health Program (CHHP), to establish four safe space hubs and a safe spaces network in the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay region.

The funding builds on work undertaken as part of the Partners in Recovery safe spaces project in 2016/17 where extensive consultation with health service providers and people with lived experience supported the need for a safe spaces strategy to be developed in the region. The strategy proposed a network model of safe spaces, based around community hubs in each hospital catchment. LINK grant funding from Metro North Health in 2017/18 saw two hubs trialed in Caboolture and Redcliffe. This new funding for the safe space hubs and network establishment will contribute to the fulfillment of shared objectives in the Brisbane North Regional Plan, Planning for Wellbeing, regarding the establishment of alternatives to ED for people in distress.

Over the coming months the PHN will partner with Roses in the Ocean to undertake a co-design of the four safe space hubs. The safe space hubs will provide a peer led alternative to hospital emergency departments for those who experience emotional distress and suicidal crisis. Essential elements such as safety and accessibility, access to clinical supports and a welcoming look and feel of the space, will be co-designed with the voices and perspectives of those who experience emotional distress and suicidal crisis, people who care for them, health professionals and other relevant community representatives.

The hubs will offer support outside of normal business hours, outreach and in-reach to and from emergency departments, individual safety planning, sensory modulation and other therapeutic activities. The hubs will connect to a wider network of informal safe space locations that will be identified and connected by a regional network coordinator who will build workforce capacity and develop staff resources.

The three hubs covering the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, The Prince Charles Hospital and Caboolture Hospital catchments are due to open in late November 2021. The Redcliffe hub will open in February 2022.

If you are interested to lend your voice to the safe space hubs co-design process, there are a range of ways in which health professionals and people with a lived experience of distress and/or suicide, can contribute. To find out more please visit the Roses in the Ocean website.