Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age
ST VINCENT’S AGED PSYCHIATRY SERVICE
The Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age is an integral part of the comprehensive St Vincent’s Aged Psychiatry Service (SVAPS). Professor Nicola Lautenschlager is the Director of SVAPS, which is comprised of:
Inpatient Service
Normanby Unit
Community-Based Services
Aged Psychiatry Assessment and Treatment Team (APATT)
- Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Service (DBMAS)
- Residential Support Program (RSP)
Tertiary Consultancy Clinics
Memory and Related Disorders Clinic
- Speech and Communication Clinic
- Psychotherapy Clinic
- Huntington’s Disease Clinics
- Research Clinic
Residential Services(PGNHs)
Auburn House
- Riverside House
This service operates a model collaboration and partnership, supporting health professionals and community service providers in the management of elderly patients with mental disorders.
SVAPS services older residents (65+ years) in the municipalities of Boroondara, Yarra and part of the City of Darebin (Northcote, Alphington, Fairfield), providing a comprehensive service ranging from community care through to residential care. Of the overall catchment area of 450,000 individuals 10% of them are elderly (45,000).
The Academic Unit provides leadership, resources and ongoing support to SVAPS through close collaboration and partnership with staff. The two core components are inextricably bound together to service the older people of the catchment area and beyond.
The Academic Unit provides leadership and ongoing support for SVAPS clinical research in the form of training and education for SVAPS staff, regular SVAPS research meetings and reviews of current SVAPS projects in order to educate, encourage, facilitate and support SVAPS staff in their research activities.
Currently, the Academic Unit has 18 staff who hold honorary SVAPS fellowships.