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 2019-20 bushfire-impacted communities – from practice managers to general practitioners.

Who is it for?

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.

Upon completion of the workshop, you can access a certificate of attendance, and once you complete the online component you will be provided with a Badgr certificate of achievement. These certificates can be shared with your manager, organisation, professional body or your networks as evidence of your continuing professional development.

What is it about?

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.

What does it cover?

In this course, you will learn about and practise key aspects of TIC, including:

understanding the impacts of trauma
how to safely talk about and manage trauma disclosure
simple strategies to teach trauma-impacted individuals to help them deal with their distress.

What is my time commitment?

Two-hour workshop with access to optional online training modules. Access to these online modules will be provided in the days following completion of the workshop.

What does it cost?

This training has been generously funded by the Australian Government’s Mental Health Supports for Bushfire Affected Australians package.

Who is eligible for free training?

Eligible frontline workers and organisations who live and/or work to support communities affected by the 2019-2020 bushfires can access this course for free under the funding agreement.

About 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 free training to eligible frontline workers in order to better support them in their work with community members affected by the 2019-2020 bushfires across Australia.

Through a range of free courses, Phoenix Australia aims to work with frontline workers to enhance their ability to:

support community members’ recovery from the bushfires
promote their own resilience and psychological recovery from the bushfires
support the resilience and wellbeing of their teams and organisations.