Specifically commissioned research.

Muru Marri was requested by the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute to conduct an evaluation of the “Returning Home, Back to Community from Custodial Care” program funded by the Department of Health and Ageing. The program is commencing at three Medicare Locals in Geraldton WA, Townsville QLD and Blacktown NSW.

The Program aims to implement effective and feasible models of care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who have served a custodial sentence and are returning back home. In order to be effective, the program will need to put in place sustainable processes to assist women to address the current health, social, housing, income, employment and practical challenges that they face, which make post-release a particularly vulnerable time. This program adopts a holistic model of care approach involving coordinated and integrated case management and structures to facilitate re-engagement with a range of service providers in the communities they return to. To be sustainable, the assistance provided also must strengthen the women’s own capacity, resilience and support networks to create the life circumstances that provide meaning, purpose and direction to their future.