Mental Health Training

Module 1: Mental Health and Illness

This module will include audio-visuals, readings and online discussion that introduce participants to the ‘world’ of mental health, mental illness, deinstitutionalisation, stigma, and psychiatry – and antipsychiatry. The cultural construction of mental illness will be considered, together with the current push to ‘pathologise’ common reactions to stressful situations. Participants will be encouraged to think about their own perceptions of mental illness, as well as their attitudes and beliefs.

Module 2: Mental Health Assessment

In this module, participants will be introduced to approaches to undertaking mental health assessment. Participants will be provided with some of the more common mental health assessment tools, including the mental state examination, clinical risk assessment and suicide risk assessment. Case Studies will also be provided as a discussion point.

Module 3: Mental Health Interventions

Participants will consider the interventions that are most commonly used by mental health practitioners in Australia. These include psychopharmacology, Case Management, CBT, IPT, and also electroconvulsive therapy. There will be a ‘real time’ guided discussion forum between students and the facilitator regarding the comparative benefits of CBT, IPT, and other therapies.

Module 4: Consumer Centred Models of Care, and Ethical Questions

In this final module, participants will consider the benefits and challenges of consumer-centred models of care. They will also be introduced to mental health legislation and discuss the ethics of requiring people with an acute or severe mental illness to receive care. Participants will also hear about the consumer’s experience and recovery journey in the mental health context.