Wellness – "It’s a different way of thinking about the capacities of frail older people and people with a disability – It’s about changing our perceptions."

The Wellness Approach is a philosophical change in the thinking behind and delivery of Home and Community Care (HACC) services in Western Australia (WA).

It supports a move within the WA HACC Program towards developing and implementing service delivery models that have the potential to build capacity by actively working with the client to:

- Prevent loss of independence by focusing on the retention of existing skills and where appropriate,

- Focus on regaining of skills and a subsequent increased level of independence and well being, as opposed to a continuing or increasing dependence on services being provided by others.

CommunityWest Inc and the WA HACC Program have been working in partnership to develop the approach and in March 2006 the WA HACC Program adopted the concept of a Wellness Approach as its policy position for future growth in service delivery for all HACC recipients.

From the 2008/09 HACC Growth Funding Round all HACC funded agencies applying for growth will need to reflect a Wellness Approach in the service delivery model being applied for. Agencies will also need to be working towards the implementation of a Wellness Approach in their current service delivery.