1. LET THE DATA TELL THE STORY:
Using clinical evidence to secure the right to rehabilitation - the experience in Australia

2. LET THE DATA TELL THE STORY
What is FASSTT
The context of FASSTT
Building the evidence – the process and logistics
What is the evidence
What story can be told
Limitations
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

3. What is FASSTT?
A network of agencies that respond to the needs of survivors of torture and trauma who have come to Australia from overseas
8 agencies
One agency in each capital city
Established in 1992
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

4. Member Agencies Melaleuca QPASTT ASeTTS STTARS STARTTS Companion House
VFST
Phoenix

5. FASSTT works to Build and share expertise Provide input to policy
Collect, collate and analyse data
Strengthen and develop the fundraising, negotiation and project management capacity
Provide a coherent voice for international cooperative alignments
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

6. The work of FASSTT agencies
Psychosocial assessment and referral
Information provision
Counselling and advocacy
Complementary therapies
Training of other service providers
Service innovation
Community development
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

7. The Context Client Numbers in FASSTT
These are the number of torture and trauma clients in all FASSTT agencies.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

8. The state of the evidence 2004
No standardisation of
collection methodology
definition of client groups;
definition of client issues;
And
no capacity to determine trends;
no external benchmarks to evaluate service effectiveness;
no way of presenting a profile
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

9. Building the evidence – process and logistics
Working party established
Stage 1- demographic data covering 13 items
Stage 2 – clinical data covering 12 domains and 4 levels of severity.
NMDS active from 2009
Stage 3 – (under development) the traumatic experience of clients.
Designed to capture basic information. No limitation on collecting more detailed data.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

10. Quality Assurance
Ongoing monitoring locally and centrally by National Coordinator
accuracy and completeness of data
data definitions are consistently applied
Locally
provide training to staff on data issues
regular data reports
policy and procedures
technology
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

11. What is the evidence – Total FASSTT Clients 2013-2015.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

12. What is the evidence – Total FASSTT Clients 2013-2015.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

13. What is the evidence – FASSTT Clients 2013-2015: Top 20 COB.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

14. What is the evidence – Children <18.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

15. What is the evidence –Children <18.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

16. What is the evidence –Adults >18.
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

17. What story does it tell
FASSTT member agencies have built an innovative model of service delivery that is based on a profound appreciation of the social and clinical impacts of trauma; how this applies to the refugee experience; a capacity to work cross culturally…
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

18. What other stories are there
To advocate for specialist services
To argue for increased funds based on increased complexity
To argue for support for innovation based on data to show engagement in one modality over another
To influence policy based on clinical observations

19. The story : the limitations
There is nothing a Government hates more than to be well-informed; for it makes the process of arriving at decisions much more complicated and difficult.
Keynes : 1930
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

20. The story : the limitations
Even the best evidence is of little value if it's ignored or not available when it is needed. An evidence-based approach requires a policy-making process that is receptive to evidence; a process that begins with a question rather than an answer, and that has institutions to support such inquiry.
Gary Banks,
Public Service Commissioner : 2009
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

21. The questions remain
Is it sufficient to establish the right to rehabilitation through recourse to evidence?
Is there a place for evidence in an emotion-led polity?
Is acceptance of the “slow boring through hard wood” the touchstone?
IRCT Scientific Symposium : December 2016

22. More information