Published on 12 February 2024

Mental Health Monthly - January 2024

Paula Stephenson, General Manager Mental Health and Wellbeing Services 

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2024!

I hope many of you were able to enjoy a well-deserved break, spend time with family and friends, and have been able to start the (not so) new year with some fresh energy.

For those of you who continued to work throughout the holiday period, a huge thank you.

The size and scale of change that we all successfully navigated last year was monumental. Starting with the transition and integration of Mental Health and Wellbeing Services to Western Health, the opening of the Sunshine Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre, the implementation of a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act, the transfer of older person consumers to Mercy Mental Health, the successful completion of Accreditation in December and finishing the year with the stand up of our Allied Health education support structure. Whilst these are the high visibility changes, there has been a whole lot more that has occurred in local areas and teams led by our highly skilled managers and staff. Wow and well done to you all!

On behalf of the leadership team, thank you for your continuous efforts and dedication to Best Care. We look forward to working closely with you throughout 2024 to create a more responsive and integrated Mental Health and Wellbeing system that is accessible, collaborative, and easy to navigate for our consumers and their support network.

Warm regards,

Paula

  • 2024 Graduate Mental Health Nurse Program

    Ryan Dube, Director of Nursing Mental Health and Wellbeing Services 

    On 29 January 2024, 42 Graduate Mental Health Nurses across Western Mental Health and Wellbeing Services (18), RMH Adult and Older Adult Services (17) and RMH Orygen Specialist Services (7), commenced the 2024 Graduate Mental Health Nurse Program at Melbourne Health.

    Western Health’s Mental Health Graduate nurses will be working across our clinical and specialties and programs throughout this year. We know from experience that support and opportunities to learn are paramount to developing a successful graduate nurse. Our team of Clinical Educators, preceptors and experienced clinical staff are ready to offer them every support they need.

    Please welcome all of our new graduate nurses to our mental health nursing and wider multi-disciplinary team across the Division.

  • Your Experience of Service (YES) survey and the Mental Health Carer Experience Survey (CES) in 2024

    The YES and CES are national instruments that measure the experiences of consumers, and families, carers, and supporters engaged with clinical mental health services. These surveys reflect the priorities of the Fourth National Mental Health Plan and provide valuable data and insights to help services identify improvement opportunities.

    As Western Health is now a Designated Mental Health Service, this is the first time that consumers and carers will be participating in these surveys that will provide Western Health (WH) experience survey data. This will be an important baseline for our service.

    Consumer Consultant, Laura Kelly and Carer Consultant Gemma Kermac will champion survey participation for our division and we ask all MHWS staff to actively promote the surveys and provide support and encouragement for our consumers and carers to complete the surveys by the closing dates below.

    Your Experience of Service (YES) survey

    Open: 1 February 2024

    Close: 30 April 2024

    Mental Health Carer Experience Survey (CES)

    Open: 18 March 2024

    Close: 29 April 2024

     

  • FaPMI spotlight: Families where a Parent has a Mental Illness (FaPMI) - Family Outing Day!

    Julian Segulin, Mental Health and Wellbeing Services 

    On Wednesday 17 January, 14 adults and 17 children joined the FaPMI Family Outing Day!

    Due to the heavy rain, the trip to Funfields Theme Park was diverted to the Melbourne Museum and IMAX Theatres; seeing THE 3D movie “Secrets of the Sea”. Some families were also supported to have a splash at the Melton wave pool after the 3D movie.

    The families who came along had a chance to have some fun and connect socially with the FaPMI team, and other families within the program. This sense of belonging to a community assists families who are dealing with the effects of loved ones being within our care.

    Thank you to our staff volunteers: Julian, Callum, Carly, James, Jaimie and Luke for your hard work behind the scenes and on the day!

    Unfortunately, the planned Teen’s Hanging Rock and Daylesford Daytrip on Wednesday 24 January did not go ahead due to low numbers/interest.

    Nevertheless, the WH FaPMI Coordinators are already busy planning the next event in the upcoming school holidays on 10 April, which will be held at the Melbourne Zoo and include lunch at one of the Zoo’s private function rooms. This will be a collaborative project with other FaPMI Co-ordinators from Melbourne Health and Mercy Health.

    To get involved, feel free to get in contact with Anh-Thu Nguyen or via 0419 520 514, if you know of any families that may be interested.

  • New Intranet page for Mental Health and Wellbeing Services goes live 22 January 2024

    After months of diligent work and collaboration, the Modern Workplace project team launched a dynamic and user-friendly intranet for all staff to access from 22 January 2024.

    All relevant content from the “old” intranet site has been migrated across to the new site. Content authors from each department have gradually been completing training to update department and services pages on the new intranet.

    New intranet page
    Bookmark new URL: westernhealth.sharepoint.com for easy access

    If you have any questions or need assistance during the transition to the new intranet, please don’t hesitate to contact the following teams:

    Note that information housed on Westerly will be available up until June 2024.

    Visit New Intranet Coming Soon (wh.org.au) for more information.

     

  • DTS update

    Last month the remaining RMH Telstra Mobile Phones were ported/transferred across to WH Optus Network.

    SIM Porting is now complete, if you have had any issues with SIM porting.

    Please contact the IT Service Desk on 8345 6777.

  • MacHSR Research Fellowship Opportunity

    MacHSR Future Leaders Fellowship program

    MacHSR is a Health Services Research training fellowship program for established front-line Doctors, Nurses and Allied Health professionals. The program will support a select cohort to address problems pertinent to their health services. Projects that address aspects of healthcare sustainability, or the healthcare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are encouraged by MACH.

    Each Fellow will upskill in Health Services Research before being released from clinical duties for one day per week for 12 months, on a flexible basis and with no detriment to salary, to work with an expert academic supervisor to address their identified problem.

    • Formal HSR training
    • Protected research time
    • Expert supervision
    • Networking opportunities

    Full details available on the MACH website.

    Applications close 9am Wednesday 3rd April 2024.

  • Victorian Healthcare Association Mental Health Mentoring Program - Expressions of Interest

    Local and Area mental health staff across the state are invited to take part in a pilot mentoring program funded by the Victorian Department of Health and delivered by the Victorian Healthcare Association (VHA).

    The program provides practical training and knowledge of mentoring, to develop and grow leaders in the mental health sector. The program will equip participants with the skills and knowledge to provide mentoring support to other staff within the mental health service.

    Click here to register your interest

    The VHA is delighted to be offering this program, which aims to contribute to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System recommendations and Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2021-24 by providing participants with the skills to support the safety, wellbeing and retention of the mental health and wellbeing workforce in their service setting.

    There are six cohorts being offered throughout 2024 with commencement dates starting between February and May. Online or face to face options are available.

    The program consists of either eight half-day learning sessions (online delivery) or four full-day learning sessions (face to face delivery), informal peer group sessions, and access to an online community.

    Find out more about the Mental Health Mentoring program, including program dates, eligibility and the program facilitators.

  • Social Work Update: Self Care

    Shared by Mental Health Division of Mental Health Team: Patricia Toczek, Chief Social Worker; Brian Sarderson, Senior Social Worker and Georgia Hall, Social Worker

    As we hurtle into the new year, self-care is as important as ever, especially when it comes to professional burnout.

    Professional burnout is something that everyone may experience at some stage in their career. Burnout can include feelings of exhaustion, frustration and apathy – health care workers can be at heightened risk of burnout due to exposure to consumers and clients who are in distress.

    Recent data by Workforce Institute study released by Forbes magazine (2023) suggests that burnout and work-related stress is a factor that cannot be ignored. 43% of employees report feelings of exhaustion, with 78% indicating that stress negatively impacts their work performance, negatively impinges on their home life, and general sense of wellbeing.

    On the other hand, a positive focus on your mental health contributes to greater commitment to work and feeling more energised during the workday.

    Looking after ourselves is important, and there are plenty of resources we can utilise for our own self-care benefits; such as having regular breaks and engaging in activities we enjoy.

    Please see below for self-care resources that we believe are helpful in monitoring and maintaining professional and personal life balance.

    You can read how to ethically and accurately measure burnout:

    https://hbr.org/2021/03/how-to-measure-burnout-accurately-and-ethically

    Self-test burnout rating tool by Mind Tools:

    https://www.mindtools.com/auhx7b3/burnout-self-test

  • Jesuit Social Services – Carer’s Walking Group

  • Northern Health’s ‘Right Care, Right Time, Right Place’ Conference

    On 27 March 2024, the Northern Health Mental Health Division is bringing together medical, nursing, allied health, legal counsel and lived experience staff to discuss and redefine admission pathways for mental health consumers.

    Attendees will have the opportunity to exchange insights and concepts with fellow healthcare professionals, engaging in discussions with a panel of experts.

    https://inews.nh.org.au/2024/01/right-care-right-time-right-place/

  • Stay informed

    WESTERLY

    Stay up to date with all that’s happening within the Mental Health and Wellbeing Services Division Mental Health and Wellbeing Services – Westerly

    Sunshine Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre: Sunshine Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre – Westerly

    Mental Health and Wellbeing Act: Mental Health and Wellbeing Act – Westerly