This presentation is a case story of the journey that Open Minds, Victoria has been on to develop best practice mental health workplace support for Victorian Public Service (VPS) employees.

Open Minds is VPS staff driven and from humble beginnings with two VPS volunteers in 2010, Open Minds has grown to have 9 Board members and 858 members.

Open Minds drew on The Canadian Workplace Mental Health Code of Best Practice to determine priority actions to improve outcomes for employees experiencing mental illness in the VPS. This involved mental health specific policies and programs that addressed 6 key criteria for its target audience of consumers, carers and managers/supervisors who can provide required workplace support.

Sane Australia, a National Mental Health Charity, holds people with lived experience of mental illness at the centre of all that it does. Sane Australia’s Mindful Employer program has supported the role of Open Minds (VPS) since 2012, by delivering a variety of programs for consumers, carers and managers/supervisors.

The presentation covers key challenges and successes of Open Minds, as well its future plans to keep the Victorian Public Service as a best practice mentally healthy workplace.

St John of God Healthcare, Richmond Hospital, has been running PTSD treatment programs for over 20-years. The 4-week residential program includes education about trauma responses and the introduction of specific strategies (including prolonged imaginal exposure therapy) to help participants manage their symptoms more effectively. The program also incorporates a series of continuation sessions over the following nine months. Aside from accreditation reviews, there are few other recently published data regarding Australian PTSD group therapy programs. With this in mind, the present paper provides an overview of the nature and effectiveness of the St John of God, Richmond Hospital PTSD residential program. Improvements in PTSD symptoms, perceived (personal) wellbeing, and depression and anxiety were evident by the end of the program and these benefits were maintained at 9-month follow-up. Aside from the general residential PTSD program, which includes individuals who have experienced trauma in a broad range of settings, a separate residential program for current and former police officers has been offered: The outcomes for this group are similarly favourable. Factors that may limit or enhance the progress of consumers participating in the program are also discussed.

TICPOT is one element of a broader national initiative promoting trauma-informed care and practice (TICP) across service systems and programs in Australia. The development of TICPOT stems from recommendations proposed by the National TICP Advisory Group in its position paper: MHCC 2013, Trauma-Informed Care and Practice: towards a cultural shift in policy reform across mental health and human services in Australia – A National Strategic Direction.
TICPOT is a quality improvement resource designed to assist integration of TICP principles across every aspect of an organisation. It is targeted at a diversity of community managed mental health and human services, primary and public mental health and inpatient settings.
Consisting of two separate resources, TICPOT contains a user guide and organisational assessment tool across seven domains including a brief overview of the processes necessary to assist ongoing, sustainable quality improvement. The second document provides materials and resources to assist building a trauma-informed culture and practice that supports staff and the consumers and carers engaging with the service. As part of a package, MHCC is offering a reporting service generated from the assessment completed online.
The process of becoming trauma-informed is an evolutionary journey, but a universal objective should be to establish a culture that will foster best practice, nurture flexibility and innovation in order to promote sustainability.

There is a growing body of research indicating that a substantial proportion of individuals who hear voices (otherwise known as auditory hallucinations) have also had experiences of trauma such as sexual abuse or assault. In addition to this there is significant research indicating that experiences of sexual abuse lead to an increased severity and complexity of presenting psychiatric distress. Consequently there is an apparent need for mental health and other social services to screen for and adequately respond to trauma such as sexual abuse.

This paper will explore the initial findings of a PhD project that is investigating how the Victorian mental health and social service system responds to individuals who experience voice hearing and have past experiences of sexual assault or abuse. A picture of current mental heath and social service system responses will be outlined as well as the consumer identified impacts of these responses. Key themes emerging from interviews with consumers and practice wisdom from mental health professionals will be discussed leading to new ideas about trauma informed care for voice hearers.