As part of the Australian Government’s Mental Health Supports for Bushfire Affected Australians package, the Department of Health has engaged Phoenix Australia – Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health to deliver training to aid frontline workers better support community members affected by the recent 19/20 bushfires across Australia. Specifically, this project aims to work with General Practice staff to enhance their ability to:

Support community members recovery from bushfires
Promote their own resilience and psychological recovery from the bushfires
Support the resilience and wellbeing of their teams and organisations

About the training

Supporting Individuals after a Disaster training has been developed in collaboration with a GP, and tailored to the needs of staff working in general practice and other community health care settings in bushfire-impacted communities – from practice managers to general practitioners.

The course draws on Trauma-informed Care (TIC) principles and is an evidenced-informed approach that can be used whenever you interact with individuals and communities that have experienced a potentially traumatic event at some point in their lifetime. TIC is about creating an environment and interacting with the trauma-impacted person in such a way that allows for their recovery from trauma, as well as looks after your own wellbeing. Importantly, TIC is not about changing your current role at your practice or organisation, but rather about adapting your work to incorporate trauma-informed principles. In this course, you will learn about and practise key aspects of TIC, including understanding the impacts of trauma, as well as how to safely talk about and manage trauma disclosure, and simple strategies to teach trauma-impacted individuals to help them deal with their distress.

Who should do this course?

This brief introductory course on Trauma-informed Care is designed for a range of professionals who work in General Practice or Community Health settings: General Practitioners, nurses, mental health providers, other allied health providers, medical receptionists, practice managers.

Costs

Phoenix Australia typically delivers face-to-face training for $390 per person. However, the development and delivery of this training has been generously funded by the Australian Government’s Mental Health Supports for Bushfire Affected Australians package. As such, registration will be free of charge for eligible participants.