Community-based Shared Mental Health Care: A Model of Collaboration?

Shared mental health care is being developed as a community-based model of service delivery that is described as a collaborative model with the intention to shift cultures of general practice from simple referral models to stronger models of collaboration. This article examines the degree to which community-based shared mental health care can be considered a collaborative model of care, and the implications for policy and practice and for consumers recovering from depression and related disorders. Victorian-based research informs the discussion, together with literature that discusses shared mental health care. Overall, the literature supports the view that there are positive outcomes of shared primary mental health care, including continuity of care for consumers and enhanced skills for general practitioners. However, features of collaborations such as inter-disciplinary trust, working together, shared planning or sharing of resources are weak in shared mental health care, suggesting that current practice models are working at a level of cooperation rather than true collaboration. The conceptualising of shared mental health care practices in terms of the theory of par partnerships and collaborations can only inform and strengthen the foundations of shared mental health care.