The Center for Mental Health Nursing team at the Annual Mental Health Services Conference
In August, the Centre for Mental Health Nursing team travelled to Adelaide for the 23rd Annual Collaborative Mental Health Services Conference (TheMHS).
The Collab had a record number of attendees with over 500 Mental Health Nurses, consumers and members of the mental health nursing community attending the two-day event.
One of the highlights of the symposium was a co-produced presentation with A/Prof Bridget Hamilton, Dr Teresa Kelley, Catherine Roper, Cathie Miller, and Hosu Ryu on Scaling Up MHNS Access to Quality Clinical Supervision: Reporting on a Novel Development Strategy.
Conference delegates were introduced to the masterclass - the overall aims, the program structure and accessibility, and the learning journey - including the experiential component of the program. The presenters explored the underlying pedagogical approaches to the training which were supportive of the program's success - utilising the radical flipped classroom, and grounded in Narrative, Relational and Reflective approaches to learning. The consumer perspective module was highlighted as both an important and unique component of this clinical supervision training.
The symposium finished with a 10-minute panel Q&A session where delegates engaged well, asking several pertinent questions and expressing appreciation for the wholistic and strategic design of the program.
Four members of the Centre MHN team presented at The Collab with Dr Haley Peckham giving a Keynote presentation on Neuroplastic Wrap: The non-pathologising, ecological alternative to diagnostic labels. Haley discussed that mental suffering can often be diagnosed as a psychiatric disorder or pathology, but in many cases, it can also be interpreted as a healthy brain's adaptive "fast life history" response to childhood trauma, which sets up a natural expectation of future adversity. Neuroplasticity and therapy can help the brain to re-learn to expect, and produce, better days. Part of Haley’s presentation included a lyric video by Baba Brinkman called ‘Better Days’ below.