Bachelor of Social Services (Level 7);
Graduate Diploma in Social Services (Level 7); &
New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 4)
Permanent External Advisory Committee Minutes
May, 2019
College of Community Development & Personal Wellbeing
Date / Time
Thursday 9 May, 3.30pm
Venue
Otago Polytechnic, G310
Chair
Barbara Fogarty
In attendance
Joanne Taylor-Cross, Morag Cunningham, Wayne Green, Barbara Fogarty-Perry, Barbara Long,
Chris Ford, Charles Pearce, Stacey, Sharon Ferguson, Doug Browning
Apologies
Barbara Payton, Jenny Conder, Thomas Cardy, Mike Wil iams, Vicki Begg, Stephanie Revel ,
Tom Smil ie, Claire van Loon Sim, Petra Haas, Megan McLay, Rachel Dibble, Jackie Dean, Chris
Wil iamson, Megan McLay, Margaret McKenzie-Davidson, Jenny Conder, Pam Close, Shirren
Tresslor
Absent
Minuted by
Nicole Abernethy
Minutes
Welcome
Chris Wil iamson
Discussion:
Welcome, thank you’s, and introductions.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
Barbara Fogarty-Perry
The minutes from the previous meeting are agreed to be a true and accurate reflection.
Reports from Community PEAC Members
Open Floor
Discussion:
Barbara Long
Currently recruiting staff. Have had three students on placement.
Discussion around student readiness for practice
Some concerns around professional boundaries, literacy level, and ability to clearly articulate specific mental
health disorders
It’s expected that students / new graduates wil need extra support furthering their professional development
in some areas; also concerned that some students / graduates need more support than they should
Discussion around interview process and the importance of being well prepared
Can support people with some development, but students need to give a professional presentation and show
initiative in the interview
Need more focus on developing student interview skil s
Barbara Fogarty-Perry
The restructure in the ITP and Polytechnic sector by the Labour Government wil potential y impact our degree level
programmes. At this stage there is a lot of uncertainty around what this wil look like
We are hoping that more funding wil be injected into the mental health sector
Otago Polytechnic has been incredibly active in the restructure process
Charles Pearce – Methodist Mission
Currently engage in a project for preschool children working on self-regulation. The project was developed in response
to the Dunedin Study.
At this stage it’s being run as a research project with the aim of finding out if this model wil work in a group as
well as one-on-one
Started with a smal pilot in South Otago; moved to Auckland and Southland
37 centres now running this programme with 800 children
The programme is ten weeks long and so far the outcome has been successful with significant shifts in self-
regulation. Now the focus is on what these outcomes look like long-term
Another project being run in conjunction with Talking Trouble.
Smal project with Manukau Court, working with youth
Looking into youth offending; particularly youth reoffending
10% of youth in these situations are remanded. The project focuses on finding somewhere for them to go so
they’re not in prison for this period
70% of young people who turn up to court don’t understand what’s happening to them
Just appointed a new client support worker
When looking at candidates, it’s preferable that they have a variety in their background
Barbara Fogarty-Perry
Literacy in corrections is a large issue with a substantial amount of youth offenders being neurodivergent
Discussion on preparing students for the interview process
Mock-interviews are set up for students with someone in the community. Students have received constructive
and honest feedback from this process
Discussion around the need for students to work on interview skil s and CV formatting
Wayne Green – Discussion around initiatives which OP have taken with the wider community; offering careers
workshops to high schools
Chris Ford – Disabled Persons Assembly
Concerns about the proposed cuts to funding for disability support discussed
The proposal has since been vetoed by the Ministry, but we’re now having to keep a close eye on what the
Ministry are doing with regards to Disability Support Services
Discussion on the issues surrounding housing modification support for disabled people. There is a need to ensure that
disabled persons and their whanau are at the centre of the support plan
Significant issues at the moment finding suitable and accessible housing which is leading to homelessness
There is more of a focus now on including disabled students in the mainstream classroom setting which is great
Disabled Persons Assembly are currently in the process of appointing a new Chief Executive, as well as someone to
be Kaitohutohu in Christchurch
Discussion around a research programme being run and initiated by disabled peoples
Looking for anyone who identifies as disabled to be interviewed for this research
Barbara Fogarty wil circulate the flyers for this
Equipment waitlist and housing crisis discussion
Looking at more independent living
Parents inquiring about children going flatting and how to manage this
Doug Browning
New legislation requiring Health Care Assistants to take a half an hour un-paid lunch break has created some issues
around childcare
Wider discussion around this, employees can negotiate with their employers to not take the half hour break
Discussion surrounding registered nurses attaining their qualification in NZ then moving to Australia for the pay
Has meant that lack of experience on the floor is becoming a significant issue
Currently there is no incentive for nurses to stay in the aged care sector
Also causes high staff-turnover impacting on remaining staff as well as clients
Discussion around an inter-professional approach with student placements
BSS are currently working with Nursing and Occupational Therapy to come up with an integrated paper which
would see BSS students placed with OT and Nursing students
Wil be case-study based with a focus on a col aborative, problem-solving approach
Strong focus on wel ness and wel being with students
Reports from PEAC Members
Open Floor
Discussion:
Wayne Green and Joanne Taylor-Cross are new to the BSS. Wayne is a graduate of the BSS with experience in
career practice with Student Success. Jo has come to us from the Blind Foundation, and is a qualified
occupational therapist with a wide variety of skil s. We also have Marie McKay who has taken on the role of
Kowhai Manager, and has come from Mirror Counsel ing. Katrina Le Cong is our new placement coordinator;
Katrina is coordinating the New Zealand Certificate in Health & Wellbeing (level 4) programme while Jenny Rudd
is on a sabbatical.
Bicultural supervision is now run as ‘workshop days’, rather than the one-hour class, once per month, as it has been
previously run.
Working within the case-study model
Feedback from students so far has been positive
2019 is the final year of the new degree roll-out
Any Other Business
Open Floor
Discussion:
Discussion around advocacy for those who do not meet the age criteria to receive the student allowance
Further discussion around limit on funded study; once students have completed 3 – 4 years, how do they
retrain or go into further education?
OP has a Wellbeing and Disability advisor who works with students experiencing disability or injury
Discussion around age discrimination in supported study through StudyLink / Work and Income
Scholarships are available to those who identify as Māori or Pasifika
Workforce gap: those who are aged 45+ are being ‘locked’ out of the sector as they can’t retrain (e.g. Cadbury
workers from the recent Dunedin factory closure)
This demographic often bring their own sets of skil s to the sector from their previous jobs / experiences,
which are invaluable.
Barbara Fogarty has spoken with StudyLink regarding this and encourages students and OPSA to get on
board as wel
Meeting
4.32pm
Close:
Next Meeting: TBC
Bachelor of Social Services (Level 7);
Graduate Diploma in Social Services (Level 7); &
New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 4)
Permanent External Advisory Committee Minutes
November 2019
College of Community Development & Personal Wellbeing
Date / Time
Thursday 14 November 3.30pm
Venue
Otago Polytechnic, H601
Chair
Katrina Le Cong
In attendance
Barbara Long, Barbara Payton, Claire van Loon Sim, David King, Jacqueline Legros, Jenny
Munro, Linley Hendry, Marie Laufiso, Megan McLay, Michel Reddy, Michel e Mielnik, Petra
Hass, Rene Gloor, Ronak Singh, Shireen Tresslor, Aroha Ngatai, Barbara Fogarty, Chris
Wil iamson, Desiree Wil iams, Katrina Le Cong, Kerryn Carson, Rachel Dibble, Wayne Green,
Micah Whitaker, Tayla Edmunds
Apologies
Barbara Bridger, Charles Pearce, Chris Ford, Doug Browning, Heather Casey, Ilka Beekhuis,
Jacqui Dean, Jade Bray, Jason Jewiss, Jenny Condor, Karla Butler, Lois Scott-Muir, Marco
Kleinangevelsloo, Melanie McNatty, Pam Close, Sharon Ferguson, Thomas Cardy, Morag
Cunningham
Minuted by
Amanda Henson Molloy
Minutes
Welcome
Chris Wil iamson, Aroha Ngatai, Katrina Le Cong,
All
Karakia & mihi, introductions, sharing kai
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
Barbara Fogarty-Perry
The minutes from the previous meeting are agreed to be a true and accurate reflection. Seconded by Wayne Green.
Group Brainstorming – Revitalisation of PEAC
Open Floor
Group Discussion:
What would make this PEAC process a valuable and meaningful one for you?
Responsive feedback to reports.
Frequency, more than two meetings, not on Mondays or Fridays, end of day is better, more flexibility. Twice a year at
minimum. Rotate times (am, noon, pm).
Times to be appropriate – request response, go with the majority.
Remote involvement. Contribute to agenda remotely prior to meeting.
Provide avenue for robust conversations. Workshops to qualification – feedback loop.
Exploring specialty groups, working groups for mental health/professional practice.
More advertising.
More structured.
Email reports earlier than the day prior to the meeting. Send out documents two weeks beforehand.
Needs to be more structured. Send out docs a week beforehand.
Perhaps summarise the details into a succinct report.
As part of the agenda have a theme or topic that would be up for discussion in a way that would be useful for students
when they are on section. For example, privacy in work – how does that really work?
A focus point to the meeting that benefits the students in some way.
Placement and support working groups – importance of partnership, good forum to bring up chal enges.
What is the expectation on both sides? What is the level of skil ?
What do we need from each other – clear expectations – ideal world lists.
Why do we have PEAC, what is its purpose, need consensus view. PEAC is important so that qualifications remain
relevant, needs to be a value-added process. What is the relevance of learner capability framework to PEAC?
Clarity about the role that is wanted from the Polytech
Support for placements needs to be more robust. Self-awareness of students.
Students need to be useful – no babysitting, actually contribute – not just there to tick off hours. Meeting in the middle
– partnerships.
Students ability to manage stress.
Student expectations levels – certificate vs bachelors.
Peer support roles for students – how do people’s lived experiences impact their placements?
Start interview process instead of best match (job interview process)
What needs to change to foster partnership?
Exploring working groups in between PEACs – ie mental health and working groups
Uneven experiences for students depending on mentors.
Know your agencies – good matching.
Understanding level at placement.
Competent cultural aspects – gap analysis.
Competent at graduation.
Group Brainstorming – Chal enges & Opportunities in the industry
Open Floor
Group Discussion:
What are the current opportunities for our sector?
“New Grad” thinking.
Career pathways.
Internship pathway.
Support of new grads/internships.
Filling gaps.
Accelerated career development – supported learning for mid-career.
Strengthen relationships by having al BSS staff in attendance.
Power analysis of sector/systemic change.
Networking.
Referees for future work.
Students being surprised by placement/future work – perspective changing.
Health coaches – integrated primary mental health care.
Potential employees – robust, competent.
Pre-enrolment – Level 4 – Bachelor.
What are the current chal enges for our sector?
Expectations of Level 4 – work readiness.
“Social Worker” expectations.
How to create better support networks around new graduates.
Placements too late in the year.
Pathways.
CDANZ – only applies when registered, can register as student subscribes.
Why are bachelor specialties taught separately?
Student being able to cope with placement – exposure.
Polytech sharing history of students – student triggers, likelihood to dropout, criminal records etc
Information on potential students – are they actually excited about the organisation?
Students picking where their passions are. Filtering students.
Confidential information held.
Meeting Close: 5.10pm
Next Meeting: TBC
Bachelor of Social Services (Level 7);
Graduate Diploma in Social Services (Level 7); &
Permanent External Advisory Committee Minutes
November 2020
College of Community Development & Personal Wellbeing
Date / Time
Thursday 24 November 4.00pm
Venue
Otago Polytechnic, H601
Chair
Chris Wil iamson
In attendance
Petra Hass, Jean Andrews, Alana Goldsack, Morag Cunningham, Piers Heaney, Wayne Green,
Margaret McKenzie Davidson, Veronica Neiman, Mike Wil iams, Jacqui Dean, Claire Ramsay,
Jenny Munro, Chris Ford, David King, Megan McLay, Rachel Dibble, Ian Smith
Apologies
Barbara Long, Charles Pearce, Elsie Freeman, Doug Browning, Mel Green, Jenny Conder, Karla
Butler, Joy Meredith-Chin, Kaitlyn Brown, Leisa de Klerk, Marcelle Nader Turner, Steff Revel
Minuted by
Minutes
Welcome
Chris Williamson
Welcome and brief overview of the year to date.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
Chris Williamson
The minutes from the previous meeting are agreed to be a true and accurate reflection. Seconded by Dave King.
Group Discussions
Group One:
Thinking about the proposed developments within the BSS for 2021, how do these changes align with
employment needs from your sector? (this is referring to ‘col apsing’ MH/Dis speciality and introduction of Youth
Work Diploma in 2022).
- We see a rising number people with MH issues that present as career clients; career practitioners need to know
what the exhibiting behaviour look like. Need more mental health knowledge
- To have a passing knowledge of what is going on for clients – clients with anxiety MH and resilience; notice
when something is not right; having general knowledge and pastoral care capability
- AC is largely social work so less likely to be affected; but for the future workforce we’d need whanau workers;
workforce needs to align with life more and more; people who can do the ‘leg work’; like the idea of a broader
approach; recruitment and retention is an issue
- We needed resource workers who do a lot of the contact, support work – they had no training specifically; there’s
a gap for whanau workers; Oranga Tamariki model are doing it; challenge of keeping people in Dunedin and
having enough in the workforce; Oranga Tamariki have realised finally that they don’t just need social workers -
“the al ied workforce”;
- Benefits of having a degree graduate vs a diploma graduate or certificate graduate. Like idea of broader
background
- Youth work qual we do is limited so need youth workers; Oranga Tamariki is heading that way too so they wil
need them too; health and wellbeing integrated with specialty learning. More youth work – wil be career path
openings
- A career adviser solely for disability; looking for level 7 qual at least
- Registration is going to cause huge issues
- More opportunities for career because of high unemployment due to COVID – but need to be members of
CDANZ
- There is no improvement in increasing capacity – more assessment and limited intervention
From your experience of our students/graduates – are there any gaps in their readiness to practice that you
have noticed? (make a note about context of responses/speciality)
- Nature of placement experience means they seem to come very wel prepared – counsel ing
- Careers – a gap is in the ability to deliver core practical delivery services ability when they arrive. Students
stopping CV, not ringing up re: lateness etc. This is recent past, expecting change in future
- Adolescent and children – massive gaps – in terms of providing services
- By the time they get to the end of placement they are practically an autonomous practitioner – positive feedback
for counsel ing students
- Career – the ability to deliver some of the core services – workers making basic mistakes – on day one students
need to be able to step into practical delivery (these issues are likely getting addressed with the new tutor)
From your experience of our students/graduates – what qualities/skil s/knowledge have you noticed to be of
benefit to your organisation/sector? (this might be on placement or after graduating)
- The ones who contact you early, have done their homework on the workplace, and are really keen, they’re the
ones we like to grab – that had maturity
- Maturity is a real bonus (all agreed strongly) – not necessarily an age thing, life experience
- Proactive, independent; committed; initiative where appropriate; don’t expect it to be handed on a plate; know
how to work; and know what they want to get out of it; ability to self-reflect, commitment to task, work ethic
- They are not meek – they hold their own space and have life experience; they are keen to get involved in the
agency; they’re ready to go when they start; resilient; have curiosity or are inquisitive
- Counsel ing – students are really great, ready to go and dive in
- Some amazing, great matches
Is there anything from the employment market (threats/opportunities) in Human Services that would be good
for us to know about?
- There is plenty of need, but how do we target that? It is linked to funding, but client numbers are not decreasing
- CDANZ pathway changing
- Gaps in mental health services – elderly?
- If pay equity comes through, I wil likely have to shed half my staff – funding comes from the “cannibalisation” of
departing staff salaries
- Needs to stay at degree level
- Mandatory Registration for Social Work Feb 2021
- Retention is a big issue in Dunedin. Social workers are thin on the ground therefore lower level frontline staff are
needed to complement social work
- COVID – more gaps and openings in careers (e.g. pop up careers work)
Group Two:
Thinking about the proposed developments within the BSS for 2021, how do these changes align with
employment needs from your sector? (this is referring to ‘col apsing’ MH/Dis speciality and introduction of Youth
Work Diploma in 2022).
- Jobs for youth work – what sector do these apply (e.g. careers)
- Where are the graduates from current diploma already being employed?
- Collapse of MH/CP and youth work
- Jobs? Not a diploma
- People are facing mental health/disability issues co-existing. Having the skil s to work with this and holistic
- Disability/mental health – a good combination. Wel ness and distress. Thinking about psychosocial/dis
- Concerns – social model and human rights
- Social model of disability – not to lose this. Inclusive forum.
- Overarching “wel being”, “living well”, having a good life – from an individual perspective
- Wel being – ecology of wel being
- Mental health funding pressures
- Live well/a good life - generalist
- Looking at general areas rather than specifics (siloed areas)
- Careful to think about use of language
- Holistic models of practice – look and meaning
- Youth development strategy “community health” focus. Youth are part of whanau and community
- Understanding of mental health/disability in Career Practice and working with youth
- Career practice needs to be more integrated
- More input into guest lecturers – John Marrable
From your experience of our students/graduates – are there any gaps in their readiness to practice that you
have noticed? (make a note about context of responses/speciality)
- Mental health/disability context in careers practitioners – need this specific knowledge, fulfil ing counsel ing roles
- Understanding of their own self-awareness, of what wel being is (wellbeing ecology) and supervision and
maintaining their own wel being
- Confidence and competence
- What’s outside the box? What’s in the box?
- Start of Year 1 careers work needs to include different perspectives/knowledge for working in speciality (mental
health/dis/addictions) – all placements have components of mental health
- Interest in social policy/disability rights using a disability lens (lots of different glasses)
- More integration across speciality skil s
- Emphasis on engagement and assessment – active listening and hearing the needs of the clients.
- Mahi Tika (Waikato), marginalised communities
- Youth work diploma
From your experience of our students/graduates – what qualities/skil s/knowledge have you noticed to be of
benefit to your organisation/sector? (this might be on placement or after graduating)
- Teamwork, listening, taking instruction, follow up care
- Networking skil s and assisting in community pop-up shops
- Building resilience
- Looking for: what it means to be engaged – hearing/understanding, needs strength, engagement
- Motivational interviewing
- Pasifika
- Values/related wel engagement and listening
Is there anything from the employment market (threats/opportunities) in Human Services that would be good
for us to know about?
- Careers – what is the contract for? e.g. mental health of employment. Awareness of where funding is coming
from (government, ACC, MSP). HR employment legislation. Broader perspectives on roles, incorporating mental
health/disability etc. IPS – individual placement services (employees). Integration of skil s required.
- Mental Health/Disability – solution focused training and skil s
- Megan is happy to be contacted for further discussion re: integration
- Integrated Practice Accelerator (OYWT) – community focused
- Neurodiversity
)
- Trauma informed ) more understanding and focus
- Family harm
)
Group Three:
Thinking about the proposed developments within the BSS for 2021, how do these changes align with
employment needs from your sector? (this is referring to ‘col apsing’ MH/Dis speciality and introduction of Youth
Work Diploma in 2022).
- Really good idea to train Youth Workers-need for good quality training. Praxis have had a distance course but
next year wil have tutor based in Dunedin.
- Youth workers have a registered national body with a Code of Ethics-Ara Taiohi
- Makes a lot of sense to train YW-sought after in this area-increasing need for them with training in mental health
- Good to have a less ‘siloed’ approach to MH-be more holistic
From your experience of our students/graduates – are there any gaps in their readiness to practice that you
have noticed? (make a note about context of responses/speciality)
- Professionalism in the workplace
- Accountability
- Communication with provider from student
- Being clear with provider what they can and can’t do
- Careers provider spoke of student ‘going missing in action’ with no communication
- Alanna from Youth Grow said any difficulties on placement have been more to do with personality of student
rather than any gaps in skil or knowledge
From your experience of our students/graduates – what qualities/skil s/knowledge have you noticed to be of
benefit to your organisation/sector? (this might be on placement or after graduating)
- Jean from Taieri spoke about being impressed with capability and clinical training of students from the
Counsel ing specialty-as an employer, said she would employ OP grads over Masters grads from other
institutions because of their clinical preparation. She said they have good basic skil s and are ‘hungry’ for
experience and knowledge. She said that over the last few years, the students who have come have been much
more suitable due to stricter vetting of acceptance into the course. In the past she had unsuitable students who
weren’t able to carry out the complex role required in schools (manage multiple stakeholders). Postmodern-
SFBT approach very useful as well as ecological models.
- Alana from Youth Grow said she has been impressed with MH students -their ability to come in with models and
apply them.
Is there anything from the employment market (threats/opportunities) in Human Services that would be good
for us to know about?
-
Opportunity to train suitable Youth Workers-clarity around their qualification and training (rather than Career
Force qualification). Need for clear guideline about professional practice; ethics; confidentiality
-
In Counselling-government has allocated mil ions for new positions in schools so a huge opportunity for new
counsellors
-
There is a real need for graduate training programmes to target specific areas of clinical practice eg working with
adolescents; working in schools; working with trauma etc
-
There is real potential for postgrad options - Certs and Diplomas
Main points include:
- More embedded professionalism e.g. students not communicating/being part of the informal team,
communicating via email, what are they doing?
-
Good idea that youth work program is being instigated
-
More awareness needed of the actual training that students get – mostly around mental health workers and there
currently being no registered body to join although there was some discussion around competency act around
allied health professionals
-
One provider stated that it was not ‘what you know’ its ‘what you can do’ which is around not just knowing models
etc but being able to actually integrate them with practice
-
Most feedback however was that BSS students are useful to have on board and that they would be happy to
have future students
-
A general teaching further need to move students from being a student to being a professional
-
Police vetting was discussed/questioned and explained that each student has to get police vetting and also that
1st year applicants get an interview pre starting around standard readiness questions and also at the end of the
first year students deciding on specialties get interviewed as well
-
One comment was that students also need to see that the qualification can be used to promote trust in the
student by the way the conduct themselves
Meeting Close: 5.30pm
Next Meeting: TBC
Bachelor of Social Services (Level 7)
Permanent External Advisory Committee Minutes
June 2021
College of Community Development & Personal Wellbeing
Date / Time
Thursday 17 June at 4.00pm
Venue
Otago Polytechnic, F209
Chair
Steff Revel
In attendance
Aslyn Brown, Kerryn Carson, Jacqui Dean, Rachel Dibble, Julie El iotte, Wayne Green, Alana
Goldsack, Petra Haas, Piers Heaney, Linley Hendry, David King, Jenny Munro, Veronica
Neiman, Matthew Sanson, Rose Stanton
Apologies
Jean Andrews, Robyn Bazsika, Doug Browning, Karla Butler, Thomas Cardy, Chris Ford, Toni
Griffiths, Leisa de Klerk, Holger Korth, Joy Lanini, Barbara Long, Shirley McCarthy, Penny Muir,
Shelley Pilgrim, Claire Ramsay, Amanda Tait, Matt Tempero, Chris Williamson
Minuted by
Kerryn Carson, Wayne Green, Veronica Neiman
Minutes
Welcome
Steff Revel
Welcome and brief overview of the year to date.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
Steff Revel
The minutes from the previous meeting are agreed to be a true and accurate reflection. Seconded by David King.
Group Discussions
Are there any recent developments in your industry?
- Earlier transition starting from Sara Cohen into day-programme? Potential for more desensitisation (needed).
- PACT – more corrections contracts/probation services. Youth service gaps from PACT perspective.
- Facing recruitment challenges for specific roles.
- TEC/CDANZ membership changes and need for post-graduate qualification for some levels of membership.
- Benefits of having a degree graduate vs a diploma graduate or certificate graduate. Like idea of graduates
coming from broader background.
- Shortage of Youth Workers. There wil be a need for more graduates to have specialist learning in youth work
area.
- More opportunities in career field because of high unemployment due to covid – however there is also the
requirement of CDANZ membership.
- High degree of unresolved grief (covid/jobs). Need workers to do End of Life Bil .
- Staff movement always an issue – need sustainable workforce; people leaving due to challenges such as fatigue,
pay, long hours, contracts, leadership issues, PD, burnout, compassion fatigue need quality external
supervision. Also includes the chal enge to hold on to younger graduates who move careers more readily and
money not being comparable to other careers. Community organisations needing to find a way of supporting
personal sustainable practice in new graduates.
- More Aged Care homes are achieving higher results with their MOH certification audits which indicates standards
remain high.
- Increasing trend of homes employing less qualified staff and training them on site. Government funding is
available for training and staff can get free.
- The Nurse Practitioner role is going to become more vital to the functioning of community health - this role also
takes pressure off GP services.
- Access for the Aged Care sector to community specialist services such as wound care, psychiatric services is
becoming paramount to assist to meet the needs of our increasingly medical y complex residents.
- Two areas that have not been accepted by the industry very well are the benefits of massage and counselling or
individual private mental health resident external support. Possibly due to the age group that are not familiar with
massage and do not want to accept they require mental health support as this indicates a weakness on their
behalf. Both these services also currently incur an "additional" care cost to the resident and this is a limiting factor
with this generation.
Are there any training and/or education gaps within the BSS that could support these developments (or work
toward supporting them in the future)?
- Developing Post Graduate qualifications.
- Supporting students to develop co-ordination skil s such as: report writing/admin and managerial skil s.
- Ensuring students have good level of computer/IT literacy.
- Students having more awareness of death care/end of life navigation.
- Practising self-care (sustainable practitioner) – not just giving it lip service.
- Mindfulness training and developing their level of self-awareness to manage the enthusiasm and energy with
boundaries.
- Neuroscience behind trauma e.g., Gabor Mate, Johann Hari and/or Steven Porge’s Polyvagal theory – need a
deeper understanding of trauma and working with it.
- Impact of social media, pornography and trans gender/pronouns/identity – these areas have a significant impact
on youth, even more so from five years ago.
- Diversional therapy training or even updating is increasingly difficult to find (Aged Care).
Is there any feedback from recent contact with our current learners this year that you wish to share? (This
might be strengths you have noticed or areas of further development.)
- Having encounters with student who have a positive attitude has been good (plus their resilience to cope with
demands of the workplace).
- Being ‘work ready’ - seeing graduates who are prepared for entering the workforce.
- Recent students have had strengths around communicating/interacting and having the skil s to develop rapport.
- Seeing students being prepared to speak up in meetings. Appreciate their pro-activeness.
- Having a student on placement that was an excellent ‘match’ for the organisation. This made the placement
experience on both sides positive.
This year we are trial ing a different format of PEAC reports – with the first report of the year being a brief
summary and a more comprehensive report will fol ow at the end of the year (when there is more to report
on). Any feedback on this structure?
- Good idea
- Would be useful to have report sent out earlier.
- Brief is good! Long is off-putting.
What content would you like to see more of in PEAC reports?
- Follow up from discussions within PEAC.
- New clarification on specialties.
- Just relevant information is needed. Happy with what is already in them in terms of content.
Anything else you would like to discuss/share?
- Do student reps attend PEAC? Would be nice to hear from student voice.
- Not just OP that benefits from PEAC meeting - appreciate the inclusive approach that is taken.
Meeting Close: 5.30pm
Next Meeting:
TBC
