What the Royal Commission said
The range of mental health and wellbeing services is expanding in Victoria. These services need a diverse, skilled and multidisciplinary workforce.
The Royal Commission recommended a range of structural workforce reforms. It also recommended reforms to develop new and enhanced workforce roles.
These reforms aim to attract, train and transition the staff needed for Victoria's mental health and wellbeing services. These include non-government organisations, community services, and Local, Area and Statewide Mental Health and Wellbeing Services.
The Royal Commission highlighted many systemic issues that affect workers and have contributed to workforce shortages.
Some of the challenges include:
- staff burn out
- the need to develop more pathways into employment
- poor avenues for career progression
- workforce stigma
- a lack of specialist skill development
- difficulty retaining employees in the workforce.
What are we doing?
Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy
Victoria's Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Strategy 2021-2024 (the strategy), was published in December 2021. The 2022-23 Victorian State Budget invested a record $372 million to support the vision and priorities for workforce reform outlined in the strategy.
The investment supports more than 100 psychiatry registrars, more than 400 mental health nurses, more than 300 psychologists and over 600 extra allied health clinicians in the mental health and wellbeing sector.
The strategy will be reviewed in collaboration with our sector partners to ensure it continues to meet the needs of services, the workforce and community.
Strategy initiatives include:
Growing our regional and rural Victorian workforce
The Regional Mental Health Workforce Incentives program was launched in 2022. The program aims to attract and retain more mental health professionals in rural and regional communities.
This is a key focus of Recommendation 39 and Recommendation 40 of the Royal Commission's final report.
More early career positions for nurses, allied health and psychiatry trainees
We’ve commissioned early career mental health positions for mental health nurses, occupational therapists, social workers and psychologists. These new roles support early career mental health practitioners to enter the workforce.
In 2023, enrolled nurses, psychiatry registrars and expanded allied health disciplines including art and music therapists, speech pathologists, exercise physiologists, dietitians, clinical pharmacists and physiotherapists were added to the program.
Prequalification employment program
The department funded a prequalification program to provide additional on-the-job experience for allied health, nursing and medical students while completing their study.
Starting in 2021, this initiative helps at least 120 clinical students per year to undertake paid work in an Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Service. The program offers early exposure to the sector and increases the likelihood that students will choose a career in mental health.
Earn and Learn
The department funded 6 mental health community support services in 2023 and 2024 to deliver the Mental Health and Wellbeing Earn and Learn Traineeship program.
The program provides 12 months of supported, on-the-job paid work experience while trainees complete formal mental health qualifications via a Certificate IV or Diploma of Mental Health.
Allied Health and AOD Postgraduate Scholarship Program
Starting in 2022, the postgraduate scholarship program aims to build expertise in allied health mental health and Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) workforces. Up to 50 allied health and 20 AOD postgraduate scholarships are awarded each year.
Read more about the mental health and wellbeing workforce scholarship program.
Student Placement Support Program
The department funded 5 universities to increase access to and the quality of mental health student placements. Student placement coordinators have been employed to coordinate and facilitate increased numbers of mental health student placements in the mental health and AOD sector. Supported disciplines include medicine, psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, social work, art therapy, physiotherapy and speech pathology.
Find out more about the strategy here.
Reviewed 09 October 2024