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Service: Assessing Impact

Our work with LINKS Trauma Healing Service

The NSW Government engaged us to lead a three-year evaluation of the LINKS Trauma Healing Service in partnership with the Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre of Australia and Deakin Health Economics at Deakin University.

Provided by the Department of Communities and Justice, LINKS seeks to decrease trauma symptoms, increase psychological wellbeing and improve behavioural and emotional functioning in children in out-of-home-care.

Unlock the results of your impact

About the project

A holistic approach to youth support

As part of the Their Futures Matter Reform, the NSW Government engaged our evaluation team to evaluate the LINKS Trauma Healing Service across two locations in NSW (Penrith and Newcastle).

LINKS combines four well-known and evidence-based parent/carer-focused programs and child-mediated programs targeted to the individual needs of children and youth living in out-of-home care. The service involves multidisciplinary teams including psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and Aboriginal mental health clinicians, working in partnership with children and their families.

The three-year evaluation sought to build knowledge around the value of evidence-based programs as a therapeutic solution for highly vulnerable young people living in out-of-home care.

What we found

An effective and valued program

We found LINKS had a highly significant effect on placement stability compared to a matched comparison sample of young people in care across NSW.

We also found that evidence-based support significantly increases the stability of care placements and leads to better psychological outcomes for children in care.

Other findings revealed moderate to large effect sizes for those who completed a LINKS program compared to those who discontinued early, with significant treatment effects for carer wellbeing, child and young person post-traumatic stress, school suspensions and contacts with juvenile justice.

Avoidance of costs associated with placement changes meant the LINKS service demonstrated benefits that outweighed costs.

Why it’s important

Grounds for future investment

Our rigorous evaluation provided the NSW Government with clear evidence of the effectiveness and value of LINKS, and was pivotal in informing decisions to scale up the service to two additional sites (Orange and Illawarra).

Our evaluation is helping to build knowledge about the value of evidence-based programs as a therapeutic solution for highly vulnerable young people living in out-of-home care, including for the large numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in care.

Furthermore, LINKS was highly valued by carers, and qualitative data about the effectiveness of LINKS aligns with quantitative evidence of its effectiveness.

Photo of Daniel Barakate
Photo of Daniel Barakate
Photo of Daniel Barakate

Feedback from Department of Communities and Justice

The independent evaluation of LINKS led by the Parenting Research Centre and their partners, the Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre and Deakin Health Economics, found strong evidence that the LINKS Trauma Healing Service improves placement stability and psychological wellbeing of children and young people in care who have experienced serious effects of trauma.

Daniel Barakate, Director, Commissioning and Planning, DCJ

The evaluation supported the current and future investment in the LINKS model and guided continuous program improvement as one of a growing suite of evidence based interventions for children and young people in out-of-home care.

Daniel Barakate, Director, Commissioning and Planning, DCJ

Because the independent evaluation found that the LINKS program is effective in improving life outcomes for this target group, the evaluation was an important way to contribute to the evidence base about trauma informed therapeutic care; share practice information and build sector capacity.

Daniel Barakate, Director, Commissioning and Planning, DCJ

Want to know more?

Interested in talking to us about building evidence, or assessing impact, or any of our services then we'd love to hear from you!

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