Te Whatu Ora Southern

Te Whatu Ora Southern’s community rehabilitation service, REACH, embeds psychosocial screening in their initial interdisciplinary assessment form. Rather than having specific questions to ask patients, they have areas for discussion with associated prompts. These include topics such as ‘social situation’ with prompts that staff should explore, such as family, neighbours, relationships, intimacy,

roles and pets. The form requires that they identify the person’s living situation, whether they feel socially supported or feel socially isolated or lonely, and a prompt to provide details about the person’s mood. Other areas explored include the person’s cultural and spiritual beliefs and values, their hobbies and interests, work and productivity, fatigue, support systems and transport. Whilst their initial screening is long, it can be broken over several sessions and is helpful in identifying psychosocial issues early.