TABLE 4.

Supportive quotations for each topic and theme.

Topic	Theme	Quotation
Daily activities	Flexibility vs. lack of structure	“I didn’t feel pressure to do things. Like there was obviously a bit of—not pressure, but encouragement. They want us to be there. They want us to—it’s a two-way street, you know, you participate as well. So it was gentle encouragement, but it never felt like I was forced to do things I didn’t want to” (I13; male; 40s; step-down).
		“I could have my car and I could go to my mum’s, because she was moving, so you have freedom as well; you’re not trapped. It’s not under lock and key” (I01; female; 50s; step-up).
		“There’s nothing structured. It was sort of like up to you to figure out what you’re going to do […] Most people I suppose, don’t like classwork, but it’s structured, and it’s a way that, it doesn’t force you to do the work, but it assists you to do the work. You know, like you can go and sit in your room, or you can go sit on the verandah, or you can go and sit in the TV room, or you go sit in the art room, on your own, with the information, with the pamphlets, but you have to be independent, and you have to have the strength, you have to have the motivation, you have to have the inclination” (I12; male; 40s; step-up).
		“Just coming from rehab, everything was structured and mandatory, which works in the way of being able to learn and help yourself. Whereas I went in there and I just basically did what I did at home” (I09; female; 20s; step-up).
	Group sessions	“I found myself again. I had a voice. And no-one would say ‘hey’. No-one would criticise you. No-one criticises anyone in here. That’s very important” (I02; male; 50s; step-up).
		“I don’t know if they could have someone with you, like an extra person with you, and sit with you in the class the whole time and go through it with you. Because I did have people sitting next to me to spell out things for me sometimes. That’s where I felt really embarrassed with other people in the room. It made me feel embarrassed. Sometimes I would sit there, and I would look at it, but I wouldn’t do some of it because I couldn’t understand it. Then I felt too embarrassed to actually ask” (I04; female; 50s; step-up).
	Safety and the physical environment	“They had to have someone to let people in the door. You had your own room, and you locked your room at night, so you knew you were safe. You knew there was someone there at night-time that you could call if you needed to, so you felt safe that there was someone there, on the premises” (P04; female; 50s; step-up).
		“I felt really safe. Like, if you don’t want to see anyone, they won’t let them in, and that was very important because I know I’m a man and that, but you do get frightened sometimes when you’re vulnerable” (I02; male; 50s; step-up).
Interactions with staff and peers	Support and care	“It was like the people that were here, the two times, it was like we’d known each other for years. It was like family. Whereas your own family didn’t really give a toss” (I01; female; 50s; step-up).
		“I did get on really well with the […] staff. They were very understanding, I felt, and very kind and caring. You felt like you could go and open up to them at any time” (I04; female; 50s; step-up).
		“The staff that were there, they were sort of, I don’t know, supervising, more of a role of supervisors, just maintaining—they weren’t really there to offer any guidance, other than just to listen” (I12; male; 40s; step-up).
		“It was helpful to go and talk, and some of the subjects that came up, and you talked about—you sort of opened up to the people that were in the room there as well, and you talked. And you found that you weren’t the only person going through it. That’s what I found helpful. At different stages it was hard at times to talk about things that had happened. But you felt better after actually saying it and getting it out” (I04; female; 50s; step-up).
	Group dynamics	“Some of them are the nicest people I’ve ever met. Some really fabulous women, really caring. Like I said, they spend hours with you. Like G Ward, they just hand you pills and ignore you all day. And the staff in there are really, really fantastic but it only takes one member that everyone’s terrified of. And there’s the other dynamic where—so there’s six of you, now she likes two of you. Two of you she treats nicely, and you’ve got to watch this. And you’ve got to watch you being one of the other four”(I06; female; 60s; step-up).
Discharge process	Readiness	“I said ‘look, I don’t feel ready. I know it in myself’. They said ‘look, you can’t stay any longer, you’ve got to go’. But they said ‘you can come back after so many days’. But I just battled on at home. I was getting worse and worse. So that’s why I ended up in the mental health ward” (I04; female; 50s; step-up).
		“I had the feeling that I knew I’d outgrown [the service] after 2 weeks—but that’s just me, that’s not everyone. I’d got what I needed from the program and I was starting to feel like running away. I was starting to feel like just packing my car and taking off in the middle of the night. So, things were getting to me there. The environment was too trapped, and that meant I was getting well” (P07; female; 50s; step-down).
		“Just given I guess everything that’s happened since then, looking back now at the time between when I was discharged and then when I was re-admitted to hospital back in August last year, I wasn’t right. And I thought I was, but I wasn’t really. So, I probably rushed it a bit too much” (I13; male; 40s; step-down).
	Community support	“After my second trip to (the service), they did organise some support for when I went home, which they did not do and they did not follow through with anything like that the first time around.”(I06; female; 60s; step-up).
Follow-up post-discharge	Follow-up phone calls	“It was a helpful reminder that there was this option, I guess. If things did get bad again, then I could always come back here” (I13; male; 40s; step-down).
		“They rang a couple of times to see if I was all right, and then I’d ring here. There was always that support […] I feel I could always come back here and chat with them if I really needed just someone to talk to” (I01; female; 50s; step-up).
		“They said they’d do a follow up phone call on three days, or something, after I left. Didn’t happen. Then they said they do another follow up phone call a week—that happened, but it was just token. It wasn’t really—not like you are genuinely asking questions. It was, So, everything’s fine there? So, yes, you’re going good, are you? Yes, yes. Oh, that’s good” (I07; female; 50s; step-down).
		“You could have said, ‘I’m going great’ or ‘I’m going terribly’. Nothing would have followed from it” (I06; female; 60s; step-up).
	Views on additional services	“One thing I would like is for [the service] to do a one-month or three-month on after you’ve left barbecue and invite all the people that were at [the service] at your time to a barbecue and just—[…] so you can see them all again and catch up with everyone” (I10; male; 30s; step-down).
		“It’s all very well to advertise to people a program that presents that when you leave, we will follow up with you. It is not what happens. And one of the staff members even said to me ‘Yep, we’ve got you in here and we build you up and pad you up and tell you you’re fantastic and you’ve got all these people around. And then we send you out the door and you’re on your own” (I06; female; 60s; step-up).
		“Even if it was a follow-up as, like what we learnt and the programs that we put in place, as like the follow-up of: ‘OK, how are you doing? What are you doing now? How’s it working out for you? Is there anything you want to work on? Is there anything that needs fine-tuning? Is there anything that we can do?’ So, I suppose for me it’s reconnecting back and linking in, instead of just being kicked out the door and that’s it.”
		“It’d be very easy for people to get so attached to the support that they fall apart as soon as they leave the facility, but for me I decided that no, I didn’t want to sort of attach myself to those people any more than necessary, so that I could manage when they’re not around” (I14; male; 60s; step-up).
Life after discharge	Recovery goals	“I managed to go and get my own place, move to Perth, get a job, my old job back. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I hadn’t come here” (P01; female; 50s; step-up).
		“I decided that I wanted to not worry about getting a job pronto. Do some volunteer stuff maybe and work on rebuilding the relationship with my kids, get to know my grandchildren” (I06; female; 60s; step-up).
	Support networks	“I have Chorus, and DSN, which is the Depression Support Network. I have a coffee group. Then one Thursday you go on picnic, the following Thursday you go out on a luncheon and you go for a trip. It just depends on where they’re taking you at the time” (I04; female; 50s; step-up).
		“I’ve got a three-grand grant with it to fill up the house with furniture. Basically my routine is apply to any job that I can because I’m allowed to work a couple of days a week. I’m on the disability pension, so I’m allowed to work a couple days a week. I haven’t been able to find any work yet, but I’m always on the lookout. Because otherwise the weeks are so long, and you can fall into bad habits when you live based off—you know, I still had a cigarette, smoke or drink and—I don’t want to sit down and just drink or smoke all day. I want to win, you know? I want to win. So it’s been good. I go to the gym every morning” (I10; male; 30s; step-down).