Delivery Mode: Online

2-Day Harm Reduction Masterclass

Please ensure you can commit to attending both days before enrolling for this training.

Date:

DAY ONE – Wednesday 26 March 2025, 1:00PM – 5:00PM

DAY TWO – Thursday 27 March 2025, 9:30AM – 1:30PM

Location: Online

Description: Harm Reduction Masterclass: learn the principles and best practice with peer expert trainers from Harm Reduction Victoria. Learn alongside our living experience trainers about what clients who use drugs really want and need from our services. There are 7 modules delivered over 2 half-days online, with each one designed to give you a basic understanding of each topic.  There is an activity that needs to be completed before attending the second day of training. Participants will receive details via email the week before the training.

 

Details

DAY ONE – Wednesday 26 March 2025, 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Harm Reduction 101

  • Understand the history of harm reduction in Victoria & Australia.
  • Understand the National Drug Strategy policy of Harm Minimisation and how Harm Reduction fits into this policy.
  • Understanding the Substance, Set and Setting principles as a way to understand an individual’s drug experience.

Safer Injecting

  •  Understand safer injecting practices, including injecting sites; using a tourniquet, and infection & Blood Borne Virus risk.
  • Understand the circulatory system and the difference between veins and arteries.
  • Understand through “hands-on” demonstration the drug mixing up the process and the transmission risk points during the process.

Drug Overdose & Adverse Effects

  • Understand some of the common myths around opioid overdose.
  • Be able to recognize the signs of overdose and of actions to take in different circumstances
  • Understand when and how to intervene in overdose situations.

Naloxone Administration

  • Understand where to obtain naloxone for clients
  • Understand the different formulations of naloxone available
  • Understand the difference between someone who is ‘on the nod’ or overdosing and the appropriate time to administer naloxone.

 

DAY TWO – Thursday 27 March 2025, 9:30AM – 1:30PM

Introduction to Pharmacotherapy

  • Be aware of the pharmacotherapy options available to PWUD in Victoria.
  • Understand how to access pharmacotherapy in Victoria.
  • Be aware of Victoria’s “broken system”

Working Effectively with people who use drugs

  • Understand barriers to effectively working with people who use drugs (PWUD), in particular, people who inject drugs (PWID)
  • Understand and challenge the ‘gateway drug’ theory.
  • Understand common myths about PWID, the effects of criminalisation, and the stigma on the health of PWUD

Stigma & Discrimination

  • Understand how stigma and discrimination act as a barrier in healthcare settings.
  • Understand how frameworks of morality and social discourse frame our understanding of drug use.
  • Understand how we can all contribute to eliminating stigma and discrimination in ourselves and our services

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service including workers employed under the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as family violence, homelessness, mental health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

2-Day Harm Reduction Masterclass

Please ensure you can commit to attending both days before enrolling for this training.

Date:

DAY ONE – Wednesday 26 March 2025, 1:00PM – 5:00PM

DAY TWO – Thursday 27 March 2025, 9:30AM – 1:30PM

Location: Online

Description: Harm Reduction Masterclass: learn the principles and best practice with peer expert trainers from Harm Reduction Victoria. Learn alongside our living experience trainers about what clients who use drugs really want and need from our services. There are 7 modules delivered over 2 half-days online, with each one designed to give you a basic understanding of each topic.  There is an activity that needs to be completed before attending the second day of training. Participants will receive details via email the week before the training.

 

Details

DAY ONE – Wednesday 26 March 2025, 1:00PM – 5:00PM

Harm Reduction 101

  • Understand the history of harm reduction in Victoria & Australia.
  • Understand the National Drug Strategy policy of Harm Minimisation and how Harm Reduction fits into this policy.
  • Understanding the Substance, Set and Setting principles as a way to understand an individual’s drug experience.

Safer Injecting

  •  Understand safer injecting practices, including injecting sites; using a tourniquet, and infection & Blood Borne Virus risk.
  • Understand the circulatory system and the difference between veins and arteries.
  • Understand through “hands-on” demonstration the drug mixing up the process and the transmission risk points during the process.

Drug Overdose & Adverse Effects

  • Understand some of the common myths around opioid overdose.
  • Be able to recognize the signs of overdose and of actions to take in different circumstances
  • Understand when and how to intervene in overdose situations.

Naloxone Administration

  • Understand where to obtain naloxone for clients
  • Understand the different formulations of naloxone available
  • Understand the difference between someone who is ‘on the nod’ or overdosing and the appropriate time to administer naloxone.

 

DAY TWO – Thursday 27 March 2025, 9:30AM – 1:30PM

Introduction to Pharmacotherapy

  • Be aware of the pharmacotherapy options available to PWUD in Victoria.
  • Understand how to access pharmacotherapy in Victoria.
  • Be aware of Victoria’s “broken system”

Working Effectively with people who use drugs

  • Understand barriers to effectively working with people who use drugs (PWUD), in particular, people who inject drugs (PWID)
  • Understand and challenge the ‘gateway drug’ theory.
  • Understand common myths about PWID, the effects of criminalisation, and the stigma on the health of PWUD

Stigma & Discrimination

  • Understand how stigma and discrimination act as a barrier in healthcare settings.
  • Understand how frameworks of morality and social discourse frame our understanding of drug use.
  • Understand how we can all contribute to eliminating stigma and discrimination in ourselves and our services

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service including workers employed under the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as family violence, homelessness, mental health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

Understanding Trauma and Addiction

*This course is now full*

Date: Tuesday, 15th April 2025 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Location: Online

Description:

This half day workshop provides AOD workers with information and strategies to work with clients who have histories of trauma and substance use. The workshop covers frameworks of trauma, its impact on the brain, the link between trauma and addiction, and recommended treatment approaches when working with this cohort.

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service including those under the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as Family Violence, Homelessness and Mental Health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

Implementing Intersectionality in Practice – Doing Difference Differently

Description

The aim of the Doing Difference Differently Reflective Practice sessions is to provide a safe, supported, reflective space to dive deeper into implementing intersectionality in practice, using peer learning models and case studies.

Practitioners will be invited to:

  • Explore and navigate case studies/practice issues/incidents together fusing an intersectional lens and utilising tools provided in the training (e.g. Power Matrix, Peer Support Model).
  • Raise questions arising from training modules for further discussion and learning.
  • Develop critical thinking/analysis through cases/video/stimulus materials provided by facilitators if time permits.

Prerequisite to this course

Students are required to complete the Doing Difference Differently self-paced learning unit.

To access the learning unit, go to Self-Paced E-Learning and click on Doing Difference Differently E-Learn. Enrol in the unit by clicking on ENROL NOW and change it to I’m Going).  Go to your dashboard and access the unit from MY COURSES.

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service, including Peer and LLE workers and workers participating in the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Students on placement or internships, workers from other community sectors such as family violence, homelessness, mental health, and AOD workers outside of Victoria. Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend,  cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

Understanding Trauma and Addiction

Date: Tuesday, 17th December 2024 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Location: Online

Description:

This half day workshop provides AOD workers with information and strategies to work with clients who have histories of trauma and substance use. The workshop covers frameworks of trauma, its impact on the brain, the link between trauma and addiction, and recommended treatment approaches when working with this cohort.

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service, including Peer and LLE workers.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as family violence, homelessness, mental health, and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

Walking the line – a workshop on professional boundaries

Date: Monday, 9th December 2024 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Location: Online

Description:

This half-day workshop will build and strengthen core knowledge and skills in understanding and maintaining professional boundaries, specifically when working with clients with alcohol and other drug issues. This will include:

  • Understanding professional boundaries
  • Strategies to prevent and respond to boundary challenges
  • Consideration of specific boundary issues to different AOD treatment roles, including lived experience roles
  • The use of technology
  • Selfcare

This workshop will use case based discussion throughout to ensure knowledge and skills taught are relevant to the AOD workforce.

Key learning outcomes:

  • Understand professional boundaries and their maintenance
  • Recognise and respond to boundary challenges
  • Build your own toolkit of practitioner specific boundary maintenance strategies, including managing technology
  • Recognise your own and your colleagues’ warning signs and challenging client presentations
  • Enhance your self care skills and know when to debrief and access further support

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service, including Peer and LLE workers.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as family violence, homelessness, mental health, and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

Motivational Interviewing – Fundamentals

Date: Thursday, 14th November 2024 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Location: Online

Description:

This is a core skills workshop suitable for new practitioners and as a refresher for experienced and advanced practitioners.

In this one-day workshop, participants will gain core motivational interviewing skills and a deep understanding of the spirit and philosophy of motivational interviewing to adapt it to any client or situation.

Motivational interviewing is an essential skill that has powerful impacts on change. We use demonstrations, clinical anecdotes and practice so participants walk away with real skills they can apply immediately to their alcohol and other drug work.

Key learning outcomes:

  • Find out what really motivates people to change so staff know exactly what to target in their work with clients
  • Understand motivational interviewing theory and processes to quip staff with a solid framework to work form
  • Build and strengthen core motivational interviewing skills and strategies, adaptable to any situation

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service, including Peer and LLE workers and workers participating in the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Students on placement or internships, workers from other community sectors such as family violence, homelessness, mental health, and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

ACECHO- AOD Collaborative ECHO

The AOD Collaborative ECHO (ACECHO) partnership involves VAADA, Turning Point, and Goulburn Valley Health. This dedicated ECHO for Victorian AOD state-funded services aims to enhance the capabilities of AOD workers in addressing substance use issues among their clients. The primary objective of these sessions is to foster a community of AOD workers with varying levels of expertise, united by the shared goal of improving the well-being, and achieving positive outcomes, for individuals with problematic substance use.

Conducted under the guidance of Turning Point, each session commences with a presentation delivered by a Turning Point expert or a related professional, focusing on a specific topic. This is followed by an in-depth case consultation, during which attendees have the opportunity to ask questions or offer recommendations based on a case study presented by one of the participants.

ACECHO Timetable

 

4th December, 2024

When less is more: Deprescribing in the AOD context
Presenter – Dr Dan Pham

Dr Daniel Pham is an addiction psychiatrist at Turning Point, currently working across its Statewide Services in Richmond and Turning Point Eastern Treatment Services in Box Hill. He undertook his general psychiatry training at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne before going on to complete advanced training in addiction psychiatry at Turning Point. His area of interest includes the treatment of persons with co-occurring addictive and mental disorders including pharmacological, psychological and social intervention modalities.

 

Launch zoom meeting

 

Submit a Case Presentation to ACECHO

Case presentations by participating healthcare providers are the cornerstone of the ECHO model. Presentations are always followed by an open Q & A discussion of the case and recommendations by the hub team. To submit a case study, click Go to Form.

Go to Form

 

Youth AOD Brief Interventions (online)

Date: Wednesday, 25th June 2025, 9:30AM – 4:30PM

Location: Online (Link will be sent to you closer to the training date)

Description

This session will cover how workers can provide effective brief intervention support to young people unwilling to engage in more traditional, clinical or intensive AOD support.  The workshop will also cover other experiential and novel ways to work with young people when traditional approaches aren’t fit for purpose.

 

Learning Objectives:

  • What are and when can we use AOD Brief Interventions with young people
  • Experiential and novel approaches to supporting young people experiencing AOD issues
  • Exploring creative and tailored ways to meet the needs of young people experiencing AOD issues

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service, including those who are new to the AOD sector or recently employed under the COVID-19 Workforce Initiative and Peer workers.

Who is not eligible?

Students on placement or internships, workers from other community sectors such as Family Violence, Homelessness and Mental Health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration at least 24 hours before the cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

No shows will be charged a $50 cancellation fee.

Motivational Interviewing Foundational Skills (online)

Dates:

Day one: Thursday, 16 October 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM*

Day two: Thursday, 23 October 2025, 9:00 – 4:30 PM

*Download both days to your calendar.  Bookings can only be made from day one of training.

Location: Online (Link will be sent to you closer to the training date)

Description

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative method for guiding conversations about change. More than a set of techniques, MI is a discipline in its own right that brings together a set of values, principles and disciplined use of skills to assist people in resolving ambivalence and deepen motivation to pursue meaningful changes for them.

While the skills take time and practice, the conversation style is gentle, and curious and comes from a place of faith in the other person. The hope is that, together, we may discover what is meaningful for this person and what choices would work best for them, knowing who they are and what they want deep down for their future. MI asks us to be mindful of the way our own hopes and assumptions can interfere in the process as much as they can help and create a space of genuine enquiry and deepening understanding.

Rather than replace other approaches, MI can enhance and deepen the full range of interventions we use by bringing a more acute awareness to the how and when of conversation rather than just what we talk about.

The training is highly interactive, with a focus on practical skill development. The two-day workshop will offer an opportunity to:

  • Gain a clear and up-to-date understanding of MI – what it is, how it works and recent changes to the framework
  • Increase understanding of the change process
  • Review and practice the core skills
  • Apply the skills to the change process
  • Increase ability to work effectively with resistance and ambivalence
  • Practice skills in softening sustained talk and eliciting change talk
  • Develop strategies to continue learning and practising MI.

 

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service, including those who are new to the AOD sector or recently employed under the COVID-19 Workforce Initiative and Peer workers.

Who is not eligible?

Students on placement or internships, workers from other community sectors such as Family Violence, Homelessness and Mental Health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration at least 24 hours before the cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

No shows will be charged a $50 cancellation fee.

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