ermha365 leads a partnership in innovation to tackle the urgent skills crisis in NDIS psychosocial disability support
In recent years, significant growth in funded NDIS psychosocial disability supports has resulted in a skills crisis. ermha365 in partnership with Wodonga TAFE & Mental Health Victoria have been funded by the Victorian State Government to develop a series of integrated innovative learning resources to tackle this crisis.
The $1.5 million training package is part of the Developing the Growing new NDIS (psychosocial disability) Workforce Project and includes virtual reality learning tools, videos and podcasts that place users in a series of realistic scenarios.
These resources include seven short films illustrating contemporary psychosocial disability support, fifteen podcasts reflecting on and discussing best practice and four world leading Virtual Reality Simulations that students can practice their skills in a fully immersive simulated environment.
Warning: the trainer simulator content is sometimes confronting and disturbing.
The aim of these resources is to fast track student development to improve participant outcomes and worker and participant safety. ermha365 is currently undertaking an in-house pilot program before the resources are trialed at Wodonga TAFE and Monash University mid-2021. The tools will then be rolled-out to all Victorian TAFEs that offer the Certificate IV in Disability course and to providers, to be used during the recruitment process.
Innovative learning resources for the growing NDIS Psychosocial Disability Workforce
Delivered by ermha365 in partnership with Mental Health Victoria and Wodonga TAFE, funded by the Victorian State government
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Background
ermha365 is a complex mental health and disability service, working with people who have been diagnosed with a significant mental disorder who also present with complex needs and challenging behaviours. The people we work with often have extended histories of self-harm and violence, and our workforce needs a high level of skill and competency in psychosocial disability support to work with them safely and effectively.
The transition of psychosocial disability support to the NDIS has seen a loss of skilled and experienced support workers. The changed nature and context of work also provides limited opportunity for new workers to hone their skills by learning from skilled practitioners and access to effective and timely supervision.
Progress and outcomes
This project will deliver a range of training resources, including a suite of Videos, Podcasts and Virtual Reality (VR) Simulations, that are integrated into National Competencies for vocational education. By using these resources and creating immersive VR experiences to stimulate emotional and experiential learning, new workers will be better equipped to handle the challenges of psychosocial disability support in the NDIS environment. Monash University’s Social Work Innovation, Transformation and Collaboration in Health Research Group has been engaged to provide an independent evaluation of the project.
For more information or to be involved
Call the ermha365 Academy team on 1300 376 421 or email training@ermha.org