🧠｜STEP - Mental Health Placement Training is Back

After a short break, I’m incredibly excited to announce that our STEP Mental Health Placement Training is officially back — updated, refined, and more relevant than ever.

This training has always been close to my heart because I know just how nerve-racking it can be to step into your first mental health placement. That feeling of uncertainty is real — and that’s exactly what STEP was designed to support. Whether you're a nursing or allied health student, this workshop helps you feel more prepared, confident, and purposeful before entering a mental health setting.

Here’s what the new STEP training covers:

🧩 1. Understanding the Mental Health System

We start with the big picture: how the mental health system works in Victoria. This includes public vs private care, inpatient vs community settings, the stepped model of care, and where students often fit within a multidisciplinary team. We explore terms like “recovery-oriented practice” and “least restrictive care” — and what they really mean on the floor.

🛠️ 2. Essential Skills and Modalities

We introduce you to the core skills you’ll be expected to bring — or begin developing — on placement.These include:

• Basic communication strategies (e.g. active listening, validating emotion)

• Trauma-informed care

• De-escalation and safety techniques

• Introduction to CBT and recovery frameworksWe also explore some common interventions used in youth, adult, and older adult mental health services, with examples from real clinical settings.

🧠 3. The Right Mindset and What to Expect

Mental health placements are different from medical or surgical wards. You won’t always be “doing” tasks — instead, being present, observing, and engaging respectfully becomes your main role.We help you shape the right mindset by discussing:

• The importance of curiosity and cultural humility

• Professional boundaries (and how to hold them)

• Embracing silence and non-judgmental presenceWe also walk through what a typical day might look like: from morning handover, attending groups, shadowing mental health nurses or clinicians, to afternoon reflections and documentation.

🔍 4. Common Challenges and How to Stay Safe, Confident & Reflective

The final part of our workshop is focused on you — your safety, emotional regulation, and confidence.We dive into:

• How to manage difficult emotions after a heavy conversation

• Responding when you witness distress, self-harm, or aggression

• When and how to escalate concerns using the right chain of command

• Realistic role plays and clinical practice scenarios that explore things like responding to a distressed client, noticing early signs of escalation, and using trauma-informed responses

• Reflective practices you can use during placement (journaling, debriefing, supervision)

We know not every student wants to work in mental health — and that’s okay. But every nurse, allied health worker, and support worker will interact with mental health throughout their career. That’s why STEP is designed not just to prepare you for placement — but to help you become a safer, more self-aware practitioner.

Our sessions will be running regularly from our new Sunshine site, and we’ll update you as soon as our face-to-face timetable is locked in. Group bookings will be available based on interest and availability.

In the meantime, we also encourage you (or your friends!) to explore our new Diploma of Nursing – HLT54121, which offers flexible combined delivery and may be eligible for Free TAFE.

Thanks for sticking with us — I’m looking forward to seeing some of you in the next STEP session!