The Luminos Project
The Luminos Project is a non-medical, short-stay residential service for young people aged 16-24 experiencing thoughts of suicide. Designed to have a home like environment, you will have an opportunity to engage in structured and unstructured therapeutic activities.
More About The Luminos Project
Across your stay you will be encouraged to connect with other guests and staff, which will include clinical support, peers, support coordinators, and volunteer support counsellors. The Luminos Project has been co-designed by leaders in youth suicide support, mental health services and research evaluation. Young people, parents, carers and stakeholders were also engaged in the co-design process, to ensure the service was fit for purpose.
Each day you will be involved in:
- 2-hour skills groups on either mindfulness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance
- 2-hour semi-structured relaxation activities to consolidate skills (e.g. mindful walking in nature)
- Engaging in 1-1 conversations with staff and volunteers
- (optional) meal preparation with staff and other guests
Eligibility Criteria
You will need to meet the following eligibility criteria to be considered for this service. Eligibility will be assessed through our intake process, which will involve multiple calls with you.
Inclusion criteria:
- You are 16 years to 24 years and 11 months old.
- You are currently (within the last month) experiencing suicidal thoughts.
- You are able to engage with The Luminos Project staff member during the intake process.
- Please note: intake calls will be organised over the phone, though we can discuss reasonable adjustments to this process.
- You can safely and meaningfully participate in the 4-night/5-day Youth Sanctuary residential program. This includes the ability to manage your own medical needs
- You are able to abstain from drugs and/or alcohol for the length of your stay (4 nights, 5 days).
Please note: intake calls will be organised over the phone, though we can discuss reasonable adjustments to this process.
Exclusion criteria:
- You are currently experiencing street homelessness.
- Your needs are better met by another service (e.g. medical or psychiatric service, inpatient hospital, step up/ step down service)
- Please note: you will not be excluded for having a mental health diagnosis – this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
- Please note: you will not be excluded for having a disability. Through our assessment process, we can discuss potential reasonable adjustments.
Referring into the service
Anyone can ‘refer’ into the service! This means it can be you, your parents, friends, health professionals. But in order to be accepted into the service we are ultimately going to need you to engage with us.
What do I need to do to enter the service?
Step 1:
You, your family member or third party (e.g. teacher) makes contact with us. This contact may be through our enquiry line or the pre-intake form.
Step 2:
An initial call is organised with you and a member of The Luminos Project staff within 2 weeks of initial enquiry. During this initial call you and the staff member will have a conversation about your experience and reasons for wanting to engage with Luminos. We know that the first contact can be a daunting experience and you may have lots of questions – this initial conversion allows you and us to make sure Luminos is an appropriate fit for what you need.
Step 3:
1-2 weeks after our first call, if we both agree that Luminos is an appropriate service we are going to arrange a follow up phone call. This second call may be used for us to learn more further information about you, let you know that you are eligible for the service or inform you that now is not the right time for you to access this service.
Step 4:
One week to your stay prior we are going to connect again to make sure you and us have all the information you need to make sure your stay at Luminos is a safe and welcoming experience.
What to expect from your stay
The Luminos Project will require active participation from guests entering the service. There will be opportunity for you to engage in relaxing and unstructured therapeutic activities, though the intention is for you to connect to our staff about your experience of suicide.
You are expected to have at least one 1-1 befriending conversation with one member of staff each day. There will also be daily skill groups to support you in developing emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness and interpersonal effectiveness skills. In the evening you will be expected to engage in quiet time in the evenings.
You will be expected to follow house rules while you are guests at The Luminos Project. These rules will be distributed with the information pack, prior to entering the service.
Leaving the service
To support a smooth transition out of the service, a meeting will be organised with you on the last day of your stay. This meeting can include your support person if you choose to have them present. This meeting will involve a reflection on your learnings across the stay, which will include challenges and successes identified across the stay. There will also be discussion around additional supports that may be required upon your exit from the service.
