The 'Applied Mental Health in Residential Aged Care: Practical Program for Clinicians' course aims to up-skill mental health professionals in the provision of clinical mental health services to support people living in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs). It is suitable for a number of health and community professionals including counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, mental health nurses, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers.
This course comprises four, 2-hour online learning modules and is based on the latest research and best-practice principles for working therapeutically with older people living in residential aged care:
- Module 1: Introduction to ageing: Facts, attitudes and myths
- Module 2: Aged care and the Australian residential aged care environment
- Module 3: Mental health issues of older people living in residential aged care facilities
- Module 4: Evidence-based treatments.
The course covers educational information about the ageing process, navigating the aged care system and residential aged care setting, commonly occurring mental heath issues in older people, the assessment of older people's mental health, and delivering evidence-based psychological interventions in the context of residential aged care. Mental health professionals can claim 8 hours of Continued Professional Development by completing this course, and will receive a certificate of completion upon completion. Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, this course will be available at no cost to learners until June 2022.
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Describe the typical trajectory of ageing and common physical/functional, neuropsychological/cognitive, and emotional changes that occur during late adulthood.
- Describe the broader Aged Care system, and the application of the Aged Care Quality Standards within residential aged care.
- Understand the types of experiences older people transitioning into residential aged care may have and name factors that may hinder or benefit transitions into residential care.
- Identify mental health issues occurring in older people living in residential aged care settings, and the biopsychosocial factors involved in their development and maintenance.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the assessment of mental health of older people in RACFs, including the appropriate use of screening and assessment tools.
- Identify evidence-based interventions for older people, including an understanding of appropriate modifications to accommodate the distinctive biopsychosocial functioning of
older people.
- Apply ethical and legal standards with particular attention to ageing-specific issues such as informed consent, confidentiality, capacity/competency, end-of-life decision making,
and elder abuse and neglect. |