IMPORTANT: registrations for training will become live approximately two months prior to start of training. To enrol in this or any training, you must click the link below and complete the registration. If you do not complete the registration, you will not have a place in the training. If you experience a broken link, please get in touch with us at elevate@vaada.org.au

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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 to resolve ambivalence and deepen motivation to pursue the changes that are meaningful for them.

While the skills do take time and practice, the style of conversation is gentle, 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 deep down really want 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 has a capacity to 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 sustain talk and eliciting change talk
• Develop strategies to continue learning and practising MI.

IMPORTANT: registrations for training will become live approximately two months prior to start of training. To enrol in this or any training, you must click the link below and complete the registration. If you do not complete the registration, you will not have a place in the training. If you experience a broken link, please get in touch with us at elevate@vaada.org.au

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The Harm Reduction Masterclass comprises of seven modules over two half-days, each one designed to give you a basic understanding of each topic:

DAY ONE

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 in to this policy.
• Understand 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 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 and 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

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 doing effective work with people who use drugs (PWUD), in particular people who inject drugs
• Understand and challenge the ‘gateway drug’ theory.
• Understand common myths about PWID; the effects of criminalisation and 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

The four units listed below are included in the CHCSS00093 Skill Set for AOD workers. This training:

• Provides skills and knowledge required to establish and work with; philosophy and values of the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector.
• Conduct assessments of (AOD) clients to determine eligibility, service requirements and referral needs.
• To establish treatment goals and to develop and evaluate individual treatment plans to meet those goals.
• Conduct and monitor intervention strategies to address (AOD) issues. Interventions would be ongoing and be conducted under the guidance of a supervisor.

Units of competency:

• CHCAOD001 – Work in an alcohol and other drugs context
• CHCAOD004 – Assess needs of clients with alcohol and other drugs issues
• CHCAOD009 – Develop and review individual alcohol and other drugs treatment plans
• CHCAOD006 – Provide interventions for people with alcohol and other drugs issues

IMPORTANT: registrations for training will become live approximately two months prior to start of training. To enrol in this or any training, you must click the link below and fill in the registration. If you do not complete the registration, you will not have a place in the training. If you experience a broken link, please get in touch with us at elevate@vaada.org.au

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The aim of this module is to provide participants with knowledge and skills for working with people who have an ABI who present with alcohol and/or substance use and mental health issues.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this session it is anticipated that participants will be able to:

• Know how to screen for ABI risk factors and how to refer for further assessment
• Describe a number of common mental health disorders
• Understand how alcohol and other substance-related brain injury occurs and their common consequences
• Understand how complexity/comorbidity occurs
• Implement strategies to assist with working with complexity
• Understand brain-behaviour relationships and the effects of ABI on behaviour

The Advanced AOD Forensics Training is delivered as either a full-day face-to-face training or two half-days online. It is targeted at senior AOD clinicians working with forensic clients who present with multiple complexities, including personality disorders, significant mental health issues and other co-morbidities in addition to their substance use. The training is delivered by experienced forensic clinicians and provides knowledge and skills for working with complex forensic clients in AOD settings.

What is covered?
The training covers the key challenges in working with complex forensic clients, understanding and strategies for working with these complexities, knowledge about how to work safely with complex forensic clients including those who have committed violent and sexual offences. The training also provides an opportunity to apply the information to your own practice using case examples and group discussion exercises.