Mental health training boost for Tasmania’s residential aged care facility staff
Posted on January 20, 2020
A new statewide training drive will help people working in Tasmanian aged care facilities identify and support residents at risk of declining mental health.
Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN) announced today it had selected national not-for-profit organisation STEPS Group to deliver more than 70 training sessions to residential aged care facility staff across the state, following an open tender process.
It’s hoped the training boost will help reduce the impact of mental illness on older Australians in residential care, who are up to five times more likely to experience mental health issues than those living independently.
The mental health training program will boost the capacity of facility staff to:
- identify residents at risk of decline in mental health
- identify and respond to altered behaviour
- interpret and safely implement relevant policies and procedures
- safely implement mental health first aid
- understand self-care strategies.