Ms Pamela Edwards1, Ms Kristy Hill
1CRANAplus
Introduction: Rural and remote health workers across Australia have been challenged in the last two years more than any other time in recent history. CRANAplus has been delivering tailored, local workshops to health workers in these communities for over two years with messages about how to manage prolonged stress, avoid burnout, manage vicarious trauma and prioritise their own wellbeing. CRANAplus has delivered over 120 Wellbeing workshops to over 2200 rural and remote health workers.
What have we learnt from this experience?
Methods of delivering education or messaging to the health workforce has changed. It is difficult for staff to be able to travel or be away from the clinic or service to attend face to face professional development. To engage the health workforce, our experience has been to tailor and adjust delivery to the needs of the workforce. Wellbeing workshops have been delivered online at a shift changeover in tea rooms, joining other professional development sessions or pre-recording workshops for remote staff. This has changed the face of delivering support and education in the sector and we need to embrace it and make changes to accommodate. The focus is then how to deliver these important messages of looking after your own mental health and wellbeing in such short sessions – and what messages are taken up when delivery is done this way. Feedback we have received about Mindful Mondays has taught us simple, regular messages can make a difference.
Conclusion: The paper will explore experiences, feedback and how we might learn from these experiences in the delivery of education in the rural and remote health sector. The experience has reminded us of the importance of adapting to the needs of the workforce and ensuring our messaging provides simple, practical strategies.
Biography:
Pamela Edwards
Currently the Executive Director of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Pamela has extensive experience in the health sector across government and private industry and over two years’ experience in managing the delivery of education and resources regarding mental health and wellbeing to the rural and remote health sector.
Kristy Hill
Kristy, the Education and Resources Manager for Mental Health and Wellbeing, is a registered Occupational Therapist with over 20 years’ experience working within the health and social service sector. Kristy has worked in diverse and cross-cultural settings including Ghana, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia; and most significantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of North Queensland and Northern Territory.