Development of a training and support package designed to support Allied Health New Graduates meet their professional competencies working in mental health

Mrs Pam Maroney1

1Monash Health, Dandenong, Australia

Aim: The transition from student to practicing clinician can be challenging, so it is important to ensure that allied health new graduates that enter the mental health workforce receive the support and training required. Therefore, a project was initiated by a public mental health service in Victoria in order to establish how to best support and train their allied health new graduates.

Method: Information was gathered from various sources, including informal interviews, surveys, literature reviews, benchmarking, thematic analysis of practice standards, and mapping of training available.

Findings: The findings identified a gap in resources and training available to help allied health new graduates meet shared core competencies.

Conclusion: A number of resources were developed to help fill the gap, including online training modules, peer group support guidelines, a competency learning plan and a critical self-reflection tool. Final recommendations on how to make this program sustainable were also suggested.


Biography:

Pam Maroney is an occupational therapist who has been working in the field of mental health for 15 years. Pam is also a published researcher in Australian and British Occupational Therapy journals and has more recently found a passion for teaching occupational therapy university students. Pam has also been involved in various project roles within Monash Health’s mental health program over the years, and her latest role involved combining her love of education and training with project managment work and conducted research on how to best support allied health new graduates transition into the mental health workforce. She looks forward to sharing her findings and resources she developed.

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