Miss Jaime Jenkinson1, Ms Jacinta Chavulak1, Ms Amanda Anderson1
1Eastern Health, Australia
Biography:
Jacinta is a Senior Social Work educator and university teaching associate. She is also currently undertaking her PhD. Her direct practice experience includes senior clinician positions in areas such as Emergency Psychiatry, suicide prevention, clinical case management, support work and community work.
Abstract:
Introduction/Background:
Recommendation 57 from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System was “Workforce strategy, planning and structural reform” which led to a system wide push to support early career mental health workforce starting their careers in the sector. A key part of this recommendation and subsequent reform was to expand Learning & Teaching programs across the state, and formalizing support. These reforms aim to maintain and expand the mental health workforce, amongst issues facing staffing retention. The aim of this study was to evaluate a Learning and Teaching Allied Health Mental Health training program through participant perspectives, to ensure adherence to this recommendation.
Methods:
Across 3 years focus group feedback was collected from participants regarding the support they received and the learning they undertook. A thematic analysis of the group content was analysed, and team members were involved in a reflective group about the feedback and subsequent analysis.
Results:
Participants found the on-the-ground support to be highly useful in learning about working in mental health, whereby educators had the resources to join them in their clinical practice. Additional training sessions, reflective practice sessions and group supervision were also very useful. Limitations to the program included staff changes and burden of workload for the early career mental health staff. Educators’ reflections highlighted the passion to develop and retain the future mental health workforce.
Discussion:
The data suggests that to ensure that Recommendation 57 is met, services need to adequately fund and support learning for early career mental health clinicians.