Priority Population: All

Symposium: A Spotlight on Women’s Issues and Perspectives with Substance Use

This 1-day symposium is for anyone supporting women with substance use issues.

Women’s experiences with substance use and support services are often shaped by distinct factors, such as societal expectations and caregiving roles amongst others. These factors can influence their reasons for using substances, create unique barriers to seeking help, and affect their recovery journey. Additionally, women often encounter systemic barriers that can disadvantage them in accessing treatment and support.

This event aims to deepen your understanding of these specific needs, helping you to provide more effective and responsive support. You will have the opportunity to engage with leading experts, hear from women with lived and living experiences, and participate in an interactive workshop that offers practical strategies for improving your practice and support services.

 

Key Focus Areas:

👉 Women’s experiences navigating AOD support, services and treatment

👉 Gender-responsive practices and approaches

👉 Integrating research and lived experience

 

View Program

Booking: via Humanitix

CHCSS00093 Alcohol and Other Drugs Skillset

This skill set reflects the skill requirements for support workers providing services to clients with alcohol and other drugs issues.  It is the minimum qualification standard for workers in the Victorian AOD sector.

The Department of Health fully funds the AOD Skillset offered under Elevate.

Eligibility

  • You must work within the Victorian AOD Sector in a State-funded AOD service.
  • You must undertake the entire skill set.  If you have completed any units in the past, you are not eligible* to enrol.
  • You must have clearance from your line manager to attend workshops during work hours.  All workshops are compulsory.

*We may take on students with only one or two units to complete, provided a spot becomes available in any of the units.  If you wish to go on the waitlist, email elevate@vaada.org.au with the units you need to complete.  Please note it is not a guarantee you will get a place in this course.

Please read all the following information carefully.

  • Once you enrol via Elevate!, you will need to complete enrolment with Uniting (see instructions below)
  • The skillset comprises four units: CHCAOD001, 004,009 and 006.  You must attend all workshops. 
  • Workshops take place during work hours in-person
  • Unit start dates occur before the workshop dates
  • Rural and regional participants may be eligible for travel contribution

 

Course Details

Induction and Orientation (attendance mandatory)

Date: Tuesday 22nd August, 2023

10:00AM-12:00PM Online

 

CHCAOD001 Work in An alcohol and Other Drugs Context – Start Tuesday 22nd August 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to establish and work within the current context, philosophy and values of the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector.

This unit applies to AOD workers with clients affected by alcohol and other drugs.

1-day Workshop (attendance mandatory)

Date: Tuesday 29th August, 2023

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM – in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

 

Tutorials (optional)

Dates to be confirmed

 

CHCAOD004 Assess needs of clients with alcohol and/or other drugs issues – Start Friday 15th September 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to prepare for and conduct assessments of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) clients to determine eligibility, service requirements and referral needs. This includes knowledge of factors affecting assessment for a range of different client groups, including different genders, youth, older people, mandated and voluntary clients, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

This unit applies to AOD workers who assess clients using established organisational or jurisdictional AOD assessment tools.

3-day Workshop (attendance mandatory)

Date: Monday 18th – Wednesday 20th September

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

 

Tutorials (optional)

Online – Dates to be confirmed

 

CHCAOD009  Develop and review individual alcohol and other drugs treatment plans. Start date Friday 13th October 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to work collaboratively with clients to establish treatment goals and to develop and evaluate individual treatment plans to meet those goals.

This unit applies to workers who develop treatment plans with and for clients with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) issues based on an existing assessment and within established organisation guidelines. The plan’s development may be autonomous or collaborative, depending on the context. Workers may or may not be the person conducting the assessment.

2-day Workshop (attendance mandatory)

Date: Thursday 19th October and Friday 20th October, 2023

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

 

Tutorials (optional)

Online – Dates to be confirmed

 

CHCAOD006 Provide interventions for people with alcohol and other drugs issues. Start date Friday 17th November 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to confirm, conduct and monitor intervention strategies to address alcohol and other drugs (AOD) issues.

This unit applies to workers who support people with AOD issues within the scope of an established individual treatment plan. Interventions would be ongoing and conducted under the guidance of a supervisor.

2-day Workshop (attendance required)

Date: Wednesday 22nd November and Thursday 23rd November

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

 

Tutorials (optional)

Online – Dates to be confirmed

Check with Uniting for due dates for all Assessment tasks

 

To enrol:

Change ENROL NOW to I’m Going below

Refresh this screen (click the reload button in your browser)

Click on COMPLETE ENROLMENT to visit Uniting’s enrolment portal.

Doing Difference Differently – Reflective Practice

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 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.

Please ensure you have clearance to attend from your line manager. If you cannot attend, even if you find out the day before, please cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waiting list.

Doing Difference Differently – Reflective Practice

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 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.

Please ensure you have clearance to attend from your line manager. If you cannot attend, even if you find out the day before, please cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waiting list.

Doing Difference Differently – Reflective Practice

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 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.

Please ensure you have clearance to attend from your line manager. If you cannot attend, even if you find out the day before, please cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waiting list.

Doing Difference Differently – Reflective Practice

**Please note change in date from June 12t to June 19th**

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 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.

Please ensure you have clearance to attend from your line manager. If you cannot attend, even if you find out the day before, please cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waiting list.

Doing Difference Differently E-Learning

Doing Difference Differently aims to teach intersectionality in ways you can apply to your everyday practice.

The unit takes approximately 60 minutes to complete.

Learning objectives:

This course aims to provide you with tools, concepts, and frameworks to unpack how specific differences between people are made or constructed and how these differences are made to matter through hierarchies and binaries of status and value.

In this course you will learn:

  • Identity and representations: what is intersectionality? What isn’t intersectionality?
  • Power: understanding power and harnessing power
  • Framing and Representation: putting intersectionality to work

To access the course:  Make sure you are signed up or signed in,

Click on ENROL NOW. Click on the GO TO TRAINING button (it will appear once you are enrolled)

Create an account with Insight Queensland to receive your certificate of learning.

2-day Motivational Interviewing Foundational Skills

Dates

Day one: Tuesday July 4th, 9:00AM – 4:30PM

Day two: Tuesday July 11th 9:00AM – 4:30PM

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

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.

Please ensure you have clearance to attend from your line manager. If you cannot attend, even if you find out the day before, please cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waiting list.

CHCSS00093 Alcohol and Other Drugs Skillset – Adult

This skill set reflects the skill requirements for support workers providing services to clients with alcohol and other drugs issues.

It is the minimum qualification standard for workers in the Victorian AOD sector.

The AOD Skillset offered under Elevate is fully funded by the Department of Health.  To be eligible, you must work within the Victorian AOD Sector in a State-funded AOD service.

 

Please read the following information carefully.

The skillset comprises of four units: CHCAOD001, 004, 006, 009.  You must attend all workshops. 

DO NOT ENROL IN THE SKILL SET WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL FROM YOUR LINE MANAGER.

Workshops take place during work hours

 

Course Details

CHCAOD001 Work in An alcohol and Other Drugs Context – Start 4th April 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to establish and work within the current context, philosophy and values of the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector.

This unit applies to workers who come into contact with clients affected by alcohol and other drugs.

Induction (attendance required)

Date: 4th April, 2023

11:30AM – 1:00PM – online

Workshop (attendance required)

Date: 11th April, 2023 (NEW!)

9:00AM – 4:30PM – in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Tutorials (optional)

Date: 14th April, 2023

Time: 1:00PM – 2:00PM online

Date: 21st April, 2023

Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM online

 

CHCAOD004 Assess needs of clients with alcohol and/or other drugs issues – Start 9th May 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to prepare for and conduct assessments of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) clients to determine eligibility, service requirements and referral needs. This includes knowledge of factors affecting assessment for a range of different client groups including different genders, youth, older people, mandated and voluntary clients, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

This unit applies to people involved in the assessment of clients with AOD issues using established organisation or jurisdictional AOD assessment tools.

Workshop (attendance required)

Date: 9th May 2023

9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Workshop (optional – if cannot attend in person)

Date: 26th May, 2023

9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Tutorials (optional)

Date: 9th June, 2023

Time: 1:00PM – 2:00PM online

Date: TBA

Time:  3:00PM – 4:00PM online

 

CHCAOD006 Assess needs of clients with alcohol and/or other drugs issues – Start date –  July 11th 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to work collaboratively with clients to establish treatment goals, and to develop and evaluate individual treatment plans to meet those goals. This unit applies to workers who develop treatment plans with, and for, clients with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) issues on the basis of an existing assessment and within established organisation guidelines. Depending on the context, development of the plan may be autonomous or collaborative. Workers may or may not be the person conducting the assessment

Workshop (attendance required)

Date: 11th July, 2023

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Workshop (attendance required)

Date: 28th July

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Tutorials (optional)

Date: TBA

Time: 1:00PM – 2:00PM online

Date: 3rd August, 2023

Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM online

 

CHCAOD009 Develop and review individual alcohol and other drugs treatment plans – Start date 8th September 2023

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to confirm, conduct and monitor intervention strategies to address alcohol and other drugs (AOD) issues. This unit applies to workers who provide support to people with AOD issues within the scope of an established individual treatment plan. Interventions would be ongoing and be conducted under the guidance of a supervisor.

Workshop (attendance required)

Date: 8th September

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Workshop (optional – if can’t attend in person)

Date: 25th September, 2023

Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM in person

Address:  26 Jessie St Coburg

Tutorials

Date: TBA

Time: 1:00PM – 2:00PM online

Date: 21st September, 2023

Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM online

Check with Uniting for due dates for all Assessment tasks

Supervision Skills for the AOD Sector: Advanced

Description

Online 0.5day delivery with 2 hr e-learn completion pre-requisite

Details

The Advanced Supervision Skills training package includes a pre-workshop e-learn and a half-day online workshop focusing on discussions and skill-building activities to apply learnings. It has been designed for those who have completed the Supervision Skills Foundations training and who are seeking to expand their supervisory skills further.

What is covered?

Building on the learnings in the Foundations Package, this training further explores reflective practice approaches and provides information and skills for facilitating group supervision sessions, responding to challenges in supervision and tailoring supervision to supervisees’ needs. Ethical and legal considerations in supervision are also explored.

Pre-requisite

In preparation for “Supervision Skills for the AOD Sector: Advanced, there is an e-learning module that you are required to complete ahead of the training.  This e-learn aims to equip participants with advanced knowledge about the process of supervision and move beyond foundational skills in order to meet the needs of supervisees. This content will be explored in more detail and applied in the online half-day workshop.

To access the E-learning module, enrol in this training and go to MY COURSES in your Elevate! account.  The E-Learning link will appear in this listing.

Eligibility Criteria

The training is designed for supervisors working in a supervisory role within the Victorian AOD sector who have completed the Foundations in Supervision Skills training.

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.

Please ensure you have clearance to attend from your line manager. If you cannot attend, even if you find out the day before, please cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waiting list.

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