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Summative evaluation of the National Indigenous Critical Response Service: final report
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 Summative evaluation of the National Indigenous Critical Response Service: final report
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The National Indigenous Critical Response Service (NICRS) provided postvention support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities in response to 367 incidents (suicides or other traumatic events) in WA, NT, Queensland, SA, NSW and Victoria.
The objectives of the evaluation were to:
- demonstrate NICRS accountability in response to Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) funding
- assess program quality, value and effectiveness
- identify opportunities for program improvement and design
- generate evidence to inform decision-making in line with the IAS Evaluation Framework.
A mixed methods approach was used for the evaluation to provide a comprehensive overview of the NICRS in relation to the outputs and intermediate outcomes detailed in the program logic. The methods used were case studies, analysis of stories, analysis of administrative data and document review.
The summative evaluation of the first three years (2017-2020) of development and implementation of the NICRS has found the service is providing valuable postvention support to individuals and families (clients) who have recently experienced a suicide or other traumatic incident in their close family network.
Key Findings
- Postvention services were viewed as essential for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide support post suicide and trauma confirming the relevance of the NICRS.
- NICRS could be improved by including of stronger and more explicit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and social and emotional wellbeing improvement practices built in service delivery patterns to provide leadership and modelling for best practice in the mental health sector more broadly.
- Many service providers and community representatives were not supportive of the ‘fly in, fly out’ service model for a region and strongly believed there was a need for a stronger emphasis on a ‘place-based’ approach.
- Rollout of the NICRS was not achieved to all states and territories (nor coverage of all priority areas within jurisdictions) within the initial three years as anticipated. This appears to have been an overly ambitious target which did not account for the intensity of effort that is required to achieve effective engagement in many communities.
