S054: Peer Workforce - challenges & capabilities
Tracks
Track 6
| Thursday, August 27, 2015 |
| 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM |
| Ballroom |
Speaker
Irene Gallagher
Consumer Partnerships Coordinator
BEING Mental Health & Wellbeing Consumer Advisory Group
Developing a Consumer workforce and creating career pathways for consumer workers; the benefits, strengths, and challenges of the project.
Abstract
The South Eastern Sydney Local Health District has been undergoing a robust restructure of the Consumer workforce which has seen a move from eight consumer worker’s in the previous year to an increased total of twenty six consumer dedicated, paid positions across the District by the end of recruitment in 2015.
The presentation will provide an overview of the processes involved in restructuring a consumer and peer workforce within a Local Health Service outlining the planning, implementation and evaluation stages of the project.
Some of the key highlights for discussion include the benefits of having a consumer workforce; defining titles and delineating the hybridised role; developing and implementing a model of training and professional development specifically for the workforce; education for non-consumer staff around the role of the Consumer Worker; and the introduction of Consumer workers as Line Managers.
A focus will be on the benefits and strengths of the program as well as discussion of the challenges, including navigating social and cultural change for both Consumer/Peer and non-Consumer/Peer workforce, timing of emerging positions in a climate that has few trained workers, and supporting a new workforce through Peer mentoring, supervision and training. Evaluation strategies will also be discussed.
The presentation will provide an overview of the processes involved in restructuring a consumer and peer workforce within a Local Health Service outlining the planning, implementation and evaluation stages of the project.
Some of the key highlights for discussion include the benefits of having a consumer workforce; defining titles and delineating the hybridised role; developing and implementing a model of training and professional development specifically for the workforce; education for non-consumer staff around the role of the Consumer Worker; and the introduction of Consumer workers as Line Managers.
A focus will be on the benefits and strengths of the program as well as discussion of the challenges, including navigating social and cultural change for both Consumer/Peer and non-Consumer/Peer workforce, timing of emerging positions in a climate that has few trained workers, and supporting a new workforce through Peer mentoring, supervision and training. Evaluation strategies will also be discussed.
Biography
Irene Gallagher has been pro-active in the consumer movement for some 28 years and is passionate about developing and delivering recovery oriented education to consumers, carers and mental health workers.
Irene currently works as a Consumer Partnerships Coordinator for South Eastern Sydney Local Health District and formerly as Education Coordinator with the South Eastern Sydney Recovery College.
Jo Sommer is the Rehabilitation Coordinator for the South Eastern Sydney Mental Health Service and was instrumental in establishing the Recovery College. Jo has a background in Occupational Therapy and health leadership and management and has driven a number of recovery promoting initiatives in the Local Health District.
Neil Turton-Lane
Senior Consumer Consultant
Cohealth
Building the capabilities of an emerging Consumer workforce through the development of a Consumer Mental Health Worker Internship Program
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe the planning and implementation of an innovative Consumer Mental Health Worker Internship Program. Our organisation, cohealth conducted a pilot program in 2014, to learn how we could supply practical work experience opportunities to people interested in a career pathway within the Consumer Workforce.
Drawing inspiration from other sectors where Internships provide an important bridging step from education into the workplace, we designed a 12-week program that provided carefully monitored workplace learning and training to a group of 12 individuals.
Each Intern received a valuable grounding into the principles and perspectives of Peer and Consumer Consultant work and an orientation into the values and practices of working within a community mental health program in Victoria.
The internship program improved participants’ knowledge of the Mental Health field and the Peer Support / Consumer workforce, their confidence, their work readiness and employability. At the end of the internship, some participants secured employment in the sector.
Our presentation discusses recruitment, ethical considerations, supervision & peer mentoring, learning contexts and outcomes, and includes insights from participating Interns. The program provides an important model for other organisations interested in investing in consumer workforce development.
Drawing inspiration from other sectors where Internships provide an important bridging step from education into the workplace, we designed a 12-week program that provided carefully monitored workplace learning and training to a group of 12 individuals.
Each Intern received a valuable grounding into the principles and perspectives of Peer and Consumer Consultant work and an orientation into the values and practices of working within a community mental health program in Victoria.
The internship program improved participants’ knowledge of the Mental Health field and the Peer Support / Consumer workforce, their confidence, their work readiness and employability. At the end of the internship, some participants secured employment in the sector.
Our presentation discusses recruitment, ethical considerations, supervision & peer mentoring, learning contexts and outcomes, and includes insights from participating Interns. The program provides an important model for other organisations interested in investing in consumer workforce development.
Biography
Neil Turton-Lane is a Senior Consumer Consultant at cohealth which is one of the largest community health organisations in Australia, servicing a broad area of high-growth communities across Melbourne's northern, western and inner suburbs. Neil has presented to past TheMHS conferences on topics relating to human rights, service reform and the development of the consumer workforce
Jean-Louis Nguyen is currently the Program Manager of cohealth Community Mental Health Southwest. His passion has always been exploring options to allow the voice of the unheard an opportunity to be heard. Jean-Louis’s main areas of interest include social justice, human rights, equity and equality, ethical aspects of human interactions, sexual/gender diversity, cultural differences, and mindfulness which are often reflected in his philosophical stand, and work presentations.
Snezana Ginovski began working with cohealth in 2014 as an Intern and has used the skills developed through the internship and her personal life journey to gain employment as a Peer Support Worker within the organisation. Her strong belief that recovery and goal attainment are possible, and coaching consumers to support and achieve this is rewarding and something she feels passionate about. Snezana believes that reducing social and self-stigma associated with Mental Health is an important aspect in helping people accept, cope and empower them. Dual diagnosis and addictive behaviour are also areas of interest to her.
