The Pursuit of Wellbeing: Staff and Parent Wellbeing in Disability Services

Yooralla will be implementing the program (intervention) across the service's six sites (using a staged process - stepped wedge study design) and all Key Workers and Managers will receive the program as part of their systems change directed by the Executive Management. The training component of the intervention will be delivered to the first 2 sites in September 2017 with 2 additional sites crossing over to receive the intervention 3 months later in December 2017 and the final group of 2 sites crossing over to receive the intervention in March 2018. Implementation of the program is ongoing once the group of hubs have been exposed to the intervention. The program will include: 1) Key worker and Manager training to support parental wellbeing, including information around supporting parental wellbeing, particularly to identify red flags and be able to refer onto appropriate supports; as well as supporting staff job-related wellbeing. Delivery Key workers will receive 1 x day of training at their place of employment which will be delivered as two modules 1) strengthening capacity to support parental wellbeing and 2) staff wellbeing and role boundaries. Managers will receive an additional 2 hours of training which will focus on strategies to strengthen support for their staff around staff self-care for their wellbeing and promoting debriefing and counselling options if experiencing heightened stress or distress. The training will be delivered by a professional organisational psychologist, and designed to include educational modules, role-play activities and discussion. Modules a) Strengthening capacity to support parental wellbeing • How to identify issues with a parent’s wellbeing; identifying mental health ‘red flags’; how to support the wellbeing of parents and carers of children with a disability; dealing with complex families; addressing parental and family wellbeing through routine care and referral to appropriate services • Role play activities about: how to manage difficult conversations with parents b) Staff wellbeing and role boundaries • How to identify and manage stress in the workplace; self-care strategies; clearer outline of key worker roles, responsibilities and boundaries. Team support strategies. • Role play activities: how to debrief with another staff member and your manager • Utilising the referral pathways document c) Manager Training • How to identify and manage stress in the workplace for yourself and your staff; promotion of key worker role boundaries. Team support strategies. • Role play activities: how to debrief with your staff member • Providing expertise in parental wellbeing and assuming the “Champion” role for your team. 2) Access to someone with expertise in parental wellbeing (to be known as the “Champion”). Managers will receive extra training (as described above) to support them in their conversations with Key Workers on supporting parents’ wellbeing and to act as a 'champion' for the team. This aims to build the capacity of managers to assist key workers with potentially difficult work events. This will be provided as necessary to staff, time dependent on staff needs and will involve debriefing and problem solving between managers and staff . This is tailored specifically for staff. 3) Provision of a referral pathways document (mental health supports, peer supports and other relevant local services) – this document will be developed for each Hub and provided to all Key Workers and Managers. The referral pathway document will be introduced during the training and will be an ongoing resource for the organisation. This resource will be updated as necessary by the Director of Allied Services and Wellbeing. 4) Formalised debriefing process for staff – ensuring staff are aware of the options for de-briefing and counselling. Access to debriefing process for staff will be introduced during the manager training and will be an ongoing process for the organisation. Managers will share this information with their staff at team meetings and promote the use of regular debriefing or as necessary. Staff will be familiar with debriefing and counselling options within the organisation , such as during fortnightly supervision meetings or confidential access to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).