MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATIONS MODULE

Mental Health Systems, Diagnoses and Co-occurring Factors 

This module will provide you with new knowledge in mental health systems, diagnoses and co-occurring factors from a uniquely occupational therapy perspective.

All Occupational Therapists working in mental health require a strong understanding of the mental health system, including relevant mental health legislation, mental health diagnoses, as well as commonly used psychotropic medications and their effects.

Practitioners should also have a clear grasp of occupational therapy models of practice, and the impact of trauma, cultural identity and history on the person’s mental health and recovery journey. Practitioners should expect to maintain contemporary knowledge across these areas throughout their career.

This self-directed eLearning and development module will assist occupational therapists working in mental health settings to build the appropriate knowledge and skills in mental health systems, diagnoses and co-occurring factors.

This module is built on the OTA Mental Health Capability Framework.

Developed by OTs for OTs this module covers:

• Mental health frameworks, systems and relevant mental health legislation.
• Common Mental health diagnoses and treatment
• Occupational therapy models of practice and Recovery-oriented practice
• Trauma-informed practice
• Child and Adolescent Developmental Stages and Attachment theory
• Substance use disorders, gambling, and other addictions
• Culturally aware practice
• LGBTIQA+ aware practice

This self-direct mental health eLearning and Development Module will support practitioners in their pathway to OTA Mental Health Endorsement.

This course is suitable for:

Early Career OTs in Mental Health Practice or those wishing to refresh knowledge.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this module, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate a strong understanding of the mental health system, including relevant mental health legislation and frameworks. 
• Describe the presentations associated with mental health diagnoses, as well as commonly used psychotropic medications and their effects. 
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of occupational therapy models of practice, including their use to support assessment, information gathering and the development of therapeutic interventions.  
• Describe the impact of trauma, culture and sexuality on a person’s mental health and recovery journey. 
• Apply the principles of recovery-oriented practice to mental health occupational therapy.  
• Understand how to recognise and assess substance use disorders and the interaction between mental health conditions and substance use in clients with dual diagnosis. 
• Apply your knowledge of child and adolescent developmental stages and attachment theory to your work with younger people.  

PRESENTERS

Dr. Danielle Hitch
MA, MSc, MHlthEcon, PhD
Project team leader and subject matter expert

Danielle is an occupational therapist, health economist and healthcare researcher. She has 24 years clinical experience with people experiencing a range of disabilities, however most of her career has been focused on mental health occupational therapy. She began her career in vocational rehabilitation, before moving to the United Kingdom (UK) to work in the National Health Service. During her time in the UK, Danielle worked across inpatient, rehabilitation, community and forensic mental health services and acquired comprehensive knowledge of multiple areas of practice. Upon returning to Australia, she founded a private practice focused on mental health occupational therapy (including contracts with headspace and Carers Victoria) and worked as a Triage / CATT clinician. Danielle has significant experience in delivery high quality professional education across a range of mediums. 

Associate Professor Genevieve Pepin
BScOT, MSc, PhD, Grad Cert Higher Ed
Project team member

Genevieve is a mental health occupational therapist. She has extensive experience as a clinician, educator, and researcher in Australia and overseas. Her clinical expertise and research interest focus on mental ill-health and supporting recovery. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of mental illness on engagement in meaningful occupations and advancing occupational therapy practice, education and research in mental health. She is particularly interested in understanding the impact of eating disorders on function and the daily occupations of those with an eating disorder and their family, and the development of innovative interventions promoting best health outcomes. Genevieve is a strong advocate for occupational therapy in mental health and for the unique role occupational therapists can play in mental health recovery. She has exciting international partnerships, several publications, and presented her work around the world. Genevieve is a strong believer in multidisciplinary approaches, best practice, and emerging knowledge that support occupation-based interventions in the mental health sector. Her successful translation of research to practice resulted in the development of a facilitators training program and the integration of carers interventions in eating disorders services across Australia.

Associate Professor Kirk Reed
DHSc, Master of O.T, PG Cert Educational Leadership, Dip of O.T, Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy
Project team member

Kirk is an experienced, skilled, and passionate occupational therapist in the field of mental health (over 30 years’ experience as a practitioner and academic), in particular related to interventions for those people with severe and enduring mental health issues. Kirk has a strong interest in researching the area of work/employment for people with mental health issues and promoting the value of work within the mental health sector and policy context. Kirk is primarily a qualitative researcher, and has expertise in phenomenology, thematic analysis, and case study methods. He also has an interest in developing culturally competent occupational therapy practitioners and leads a project within the occupational therapy course at Deakin to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and ways of knowing into the curriculum, this process has included developing partnerships with local Aboriginal health providers. 

Rachel Knight
BOccTher
Project team member

Rachel is a passionate mental health occupational therapist with experience as a clinician, researcher, project manager and practice change lead. She has held various positions in the mental health sector in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Rachel’s clinical experience in mental health is vast. She has worked in a range of clinical settings, including inpatient/residential units, outreach/crisis teams, secure forensic facilities and in community-based teams. The breadth of her expertise and work experiences makes her uniquely positioned to have a comprehensive understanding of clinicians’ needs and sector related imperatives. Throughout her clinical career, she has become highly skilled in the provision of evidence based occupational therapy practice. Furthermore, she has demonstrated leadership skills and is proficient in project implementation having led numerous quality improvement and evaluation projects in mental health, some at a national level. Rachel has successfully delivered various workforce initiatives, including those with a learning and development focus. Rachel is currently completing PhD research into service system in eating disorders.

In addition to the primary authors, we would like to sincerely acknowledge the expertise and hard work of the following contributors to this module:

• Ellen Druce 
• Jaimee Dunlop 
• Dr. James Lucas 
• Rina Sanson-Fisher 
• Weenthunga Health Network  
   

CPD HOURS:

Total CPD claimable workshop hours: 4

ACCESS:

This resource is run through our external learning platform. All registrants will receive an email containing information on how to set up their online course account and/ or a notification that a course has been allocated to them.

You will be assigned an access period of 6 Months from date payment is made, to complete this online course.

Please be sure to check all email folders including junk and clutter. 

To ensure you receive all correspondence we recommend registering for this workshop with a personal email address. Also ensure you add cpdevents@otaus.com.au to your list of accepted email addresses.

If you do not receive this correspondence within the time frame stated above, please contact the OTA representative ASAP using the contact details below. 

To access your online learning account:

1. Go to the OTA Website home page.
2. Click on the Member Login button - even if you are not a member, all registrants can use this button to login to the online learning account. 
3. Username: the email address you registered for the course. 
4. Password: To set up a password click on the password re-set button and an email will be sent to you to create your password. You then can enter your password and login.
5. Navigate to My Dashboard/My Courses and locate the course.
6. Click on the login link to access the course materials.

If you can not login to your account or do not receive any correspondence within at least a week of the course start date please contact us at cpdevents@otaus.com.au

To ensure you receive all correspondence we recommend registering for this workshop with a personal email address as business email firewalls can block OTA group or automatic emails. Also an account with your workshop materials will be created using your registered email address and it is preferrable that you have individual access to this account. Please ensure you add cpdevents@otaus.com.au to your list of accepted email addresses. This will prevent correspondence being lost in your Junk box.

REGISTRATION FEES & INCLUSIONS

FEES:
OTA Member: $240
OTA Student/ New Graduate Member: $216 
Non Member: $312 

^{(All pricing is inclusive of GST)}
Members must be logged in with username and password in order to register at the member rate.

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DISCLAIMER

All information is correct at the time of publication. OTA reserves the right to alter or delete items from the CPD calendar as required, and takes no responsibility for any errors, omissions and changes.

All workshop resources including copies of the presentation, along with all supporting documents and links are not for distribution and are the property of the presenter.

An OTA staff member or representative may be photographing this event for use in OTA publications and/ or on OTA social media sites. If you do not wish to be photographed, or have your image published please make this known to the OTA representative at your course or contact OTA on 1300 682 878 or at info@otaus.com.au

TERMS AND CONDITIONS (T&C)

T&C's are available here

CONTACT US

Please direct all enquiries to info@otaus.com.au or phone 1300 682 878