Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) wellness and reablement

For your Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) service to remain eligible for government funding, you need to embed wellness and reablement services into your organisation.

About wellness and reablement in the CHSP

As a CHSP provider, you should embed a wellness and reablement approach in the way you deliver services to older people.

This means:

  • moving from ‘doing for’ a person to ‘doing with’ them, not completing over tasks they can reasonably do themselves
  • building on the tasks and activities a person can do, rather than focusing on what they can’t do 
  • helping people regain confidence and independence so they can live at home safely for as long as possible without the need for ongoing care or a reduced need for care. 

It is a requirement for all CHSP providers to report to us annually about how you are doing this. See previous reports.

For more information about embedding wellness and reablement in your service, see the CHSP manual, which includes case studies and other resources on how it works in practice.

Embedding wellness and reablement

We have developed practical information and tools to help CHSP registered providers, support workers and managers to embed wellness and reablement into their organisational practice and service delivery. 

Why it is important

We know that older people want to remain living in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. Research shows that pPeople who keep doing everyday tasks can live more fulfilling and longer lives. 

By focusing on capacity-building and restoring or maintaining function, wellness and reablement approaches directly contribute to the wellbeing outcomes described in the Act and the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards. These support older people to live safely, independently, and with a sustained sense of meaning and connection in their own homes and communities. 

Service providers that embrace wellness and reablement approaches and provide short-term care help people to remain independent for longer and have the ability to: 

  • support more clients
  • improve client outcomes
  • provide continuity of care to older people as their needs become more complex. 

Offering short-term care that focuses on individual client goals will help improve client independence – giving them more good days doing the things they love.

Resources

As we transition to the new Aged Care Act we are reviewing our existing CHSP wellness and reablement resources to make sure they are fit for purpose and aligned with the Support at Home program moving forward. 

This means we will be pausing our Community of Practice and online training modules while we review and refresh our approach. 

In the meantime, we encourage you to visit our resource collection for practical tips and information to help you embed wellness and reablement in your organisation. 

Resource collection

We have a collection of practical guides and tools for CHSP providers on how to embed wellness and reablement into their care planning and service delivery.

Wellness and reablement resources

Our collection of practical guides and tools for aged care providers will help you embed wellness and reablement approaches into your service delivery.

Contact

Wellness and reablement contact

Contact us if you have any questions about wellness and reablement in aged care.
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