MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING

Mr O'BRIEN (Napier) (15:02): My question is for the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education. What support is the government providing to boost the skills of workers in the non-government mental health sector workforce?

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for Youth, Minister for Gambling) (15:02): It was last week that I had the pleasure of attending a graduation ceremony for participants of what was then a pilot program to provide training in psychosocial rehabilitation. This pilot program was funded by DFEEST, and it was delivered through the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia to direct care staff of the non-government sector who provide community-based mental health services.

This training program was developed following the Social Inclusion Board's 2007 report entitled Stepping Up: a Social Inclusion Action Plan for Mental Health Reform 2007-2011. The main task of the program was to deliver psychosocial rehabilitation training to 65 mental health care workers. Initially, the program aimed to train 12 participants as trainers but, in fact, 19 enrolled in that program for trainers.

Following the completion of this program, further discussions commenced between DFEEST, the Mental Health Coalition, the Health and Community Services Skills Board, and the Mental Health Operations Unit of the Department of Health in order to explore how the success of this pilot program could be built upon. The result of those discussions was my being able to announce at the graduation ceremony that $120,000 will be provided to fund a two-year extension of what is a very important training program. This funding will be provided jointly through DFEEST and the Department of Health.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge publicly the support of my colleagues the Hon. Gail Gago, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and the Hon. John Hill, Minister for Health. It is anticipated that the program extension will provide psychosocial rehabilitation training for some 200 non-government mental health care workers over two years. That is almost one-third of the sector's workforce. I thank also Monsignor David Cappo, Commissioner for Social Inclusion, for his letter commending the continuing support for the implementation for the Social Inclusion Board's 2007 report and for noting that this training will 'add momentum to the reform process and help to re-fashion our mental health system into one that is modern and recovery focused'.

This successful training program demonstrates the government's commitment to supporting the development of the non-government mental health sector workforce to enable it to continue to build its capacity to assist in the recovery of people with mental illness. I certainly congratulate all the people who have been involved in this particular training program.