Projects with Allied Health

in

In 2008, The Bouverie Centre’s Community Services Team embarked on a project sponsored by the Department of Health and Ageing: ‘No Bull Support for Rural Allied Health Outreach Workers.’ The progenitor of this project was a 2007 series of ‘No Bull Support’ workshops that the Community Services Team developed and delivered with Victorian drought support workers. These workshops offered people in the general community a forum in which to debrief about their experiences with individuals and families impacted by drought, and to discuss ideas for enhancing their abilities to manage potentially difficult conversations with clients, colleagues, friends, and neighbours. Additionally, we developed a train-the-trainers program, so that the drought counsellors themselves could provide the workshops autonomously, in their own teams, to their local communities. These proved to be a very welcome and well-attended series of events, far exceeding expectations. It is from this original pilot that the ideas to develop ‘No Bull Support’ as a ‘helping professionals’ workshop arose.

Allied Health Rural Outreach Workers are a large and varied group of professionals, reflecting a rich diversity of backgrounds and occupations. While recognising that they possess their own knowledge, strengths, skills and abilities, and that they occupy unique and often multi-faceted roles in their communities, we hoped to generate some collaborative and useful conversations related to our own field of expertise; focused especially on how to work effectively and therapeutically with clients during exceptionally trying times. We have been excited to have this opportunity to share our ideas with the Allied Health teams across Victoria, and to learn more about their wide variety of work contexts and professional experiences.

This project is current, with a planned completion date of March 2009, at which time we will have delivered seven workshops across rural Victoria. It is a full day of highly-interactive professional development, with group sizes ranging roughly from 10-25 participants.

The aims of the program are:

  • To enhance workers’ capacity to be helpful and responsive, within the boundaries of their professional roles, to clients who become distressed and/or who require emotional support from them during their time together;
  • To provide workers with some tips to avoid compassion fatigue and burnout by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms; encouraging time and attention to one’s own needs; discussing work/life balance and sustainable practice; and
  • To create opportunities for connection and relationship building between Rural Allied Health Outreach workers, and to consider the possibility of ongoing support networks.

A copy of the workshop agenda is available here.

This series of workshops is not open to people outside of the Victorian Allied Health network. However, if you are considering a similar project for your professional team and you would like to consult with someone about the possibilities, please contact Tina Whittle to express your interest.

Tina Whittle
Ph. 9385 5100
t.whittle@latrobe.edu.au

 

AttachmentSize
No Bull Support Program Allied Health (PDF)5.06 KB