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Getting Started

with the Let’s get real Learning Modules

Published in September 2009 by Te Pou o Te Whakaaro Nui

The National Centre of Mental Health Research, Information and Workforce Development.

PO Box 108-244, Symonds Street, Auckland, New Zealand.

ISBN 978-1-877537-27-1

Web www.tepou.co.nz/letsgetreal

Email

Contents

Introduction 4

The development of the seven Real Skills 5

Let’s get real: Real Skills 5

Let’s get real: the learning modules 6

Let’s get real: values and attitudes 7

The Let’s get real values and attitudes are as follows. 7

How to use the learning modules 8

Assessment 8

Structure 9

Summary of key themes of the learning modules 9

Completing the learning modules 13

Getting prepared 13

Working through the learning modules 13

Reflecting on learning and getting feedback 14

Getting it finished – Individual Professional Development Plan 15

Getting going again – Summary Action Plan 15

Overview - How to use the learning modules 16

Glossary 17

References 23

Let’s get real Self-assessment Tool 25

Summary Action Plan 42

My Action Plan: how will I do this? 42

This document has been formatted to work on electronically. Type your answers into the areas indicated with grey shading. The answer areas will grow to accommodate the length of your answer. Print versions are available if you would rather handwrite your answers, see www.tepou.co.nz/letsgetreal to download a print version.

Introduction

Ko te pae tawhiti whaia kia tata; ko te pae tata, whakamaua kia tina.

Pursue distant goals so that they become accessible, those goals that are close, grasp them and hold securely.

This Getting Started learning module must be read in conjunction with the Let’s get real Overview which can be accessed from the Te Pou website, www.tepou.co.nz.

Let’s get real is a key action from Tauawhitia te Wero – Embracing the Challenge: National mental health and addiction workforce development plan 2006–2009 (Ministry of Health, 2005).

Let’s get real is a framework that describes the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes required to deliver effective mental health and addiction treatment services in New Zealand.

Let’s get real aims to:

·  strengthen shared understandings – everyone, including service users, their families and whānau, support workers, regulated professionals, managers, funders and planners, people working in district health boards, and people working in non-government organisations, will understand the shared work that each person is engaged in

·  affirm best practice – appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes will be better recognised and valued by services through human resources, performance management and professional development processes

·  complement the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 – the Let’s get real framework brings together the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes required of all professions working in mental health and addiction, and complements the different competency frameworks developed by each of the registered professions whose members work in mental health or addiction treatment services

·  improve transferability – other services around New Zealand will be able to recognise and value workers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes

·  enhance effective workforce development – all mental health and addiction workforce development activities, including education and training, human resource strategies, organisational development, and research and evaluation, will link back to the Let’s get real framework

·  increase accountability – by documenting the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for the job, we can demonstrate evidence against them to be more accountable to service users.

The development of the seven Real Skills

The development of the seven Real Skills contained within Let’s get real drew on all of the current and emerging frameworks for mental health and addiction treatment services. This includes:

·  the recovery competencies for mental health workers

·  the competencies developed for professionals who are regulated by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003

·  Te Ao Maramatanga standards of practice for mental health nursing (2004)

·  mental health frameworks for particular professional groups

·  the practitioner competencies for alcohol and drug workers (Alcohol and Drug Treatment Advisory Workforce Development Advisory Group, 2001)

·  the Midland Common Capabilities Project.

In addition, Te Rau Matatini (the Aotearoa Māori Mental Health Workforce Development organisation) and Matua Raki (the National Addiction Treatment Workforce Development Programme) drew on their involvement in, and knowledge of, developing Māori dual competency frameworks to develop what was initially known as the focusing on Māori Real Skill and is now called the Working with Māori Real Skill.

Let’s get real: Real Skills

The seven Real Skills describe the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes required to deliver effective mental health and addiction treatment services in New Zealand.

The seven Real Skills

1.  Working with service users – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service utilises strategies to engage meaningfully and work in partnership with service users, and focuses on service users’ strengths to support recovery.

2.  Working with Māori – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service contributes to whānau ora for Māori.

3.  Working with families/whānau – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service encourages and supports families/whānau to participate in the recovery of service users and ensures that families/whānau, including the children of service users, have access to information, education and support.

4.  Working within communities – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service recognises that service users and their families/whānau are part of a wider community.

5.  Challenging stigma and discrimination – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service uses strategies to challenge stigma and discrimination, and provides and promotes a valued place for service users.

6.  Law, policy and practice – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service implements legislation, regulations, standards, codes and policies relevant to their role in a way that supports service users and their families/whānau.

7.  Professional and personal development – every person working in a mental health and addiction treatment service actively reflects on their work and practice and works in ways that enhance the team to support the recovery of service users.

The seven Real Skills apply to everyone working in mental health and addiction treatment services, whether administrative staff, psychiatrists, support workers or team leaders. It is important to read acrossall of the Real Skills and understand the interrelationships and connections between them.

Real Skills: levels

Each of the Real Skills has a broad definition and three levels: essential, practitioner and leader.

·  Essential – this level is expected to be reached by all staff within mental health and addiction services.

·  Practitioner – this level is for practitioners and clinicians who have worked within a service for at least two years. Everyone in this level is expected to have achieved competencies within the essential level.

·  Leader – includes people in management or clinical leadership roles. Everyone in this level is expected to have achieved competencies within the essential level. Some may also have met the practitioner competencies in recognition that they have maintained (or still exercise) a clinical role.

The levels have been structured to recognise the differing requirements of different roles at the various times that a person may enter the workforce. The levels can be cumulative (in other words, a person could aim to progress from essential to practitioner, and then to leader), but they can also be used in other ways.

For each level of each Real Skill, there is a defined set of performance indicators. The performance indicators outline what a person must demonstrate, in order to show they have achieved that particular Real Skill at the designated level.

Let’s get real: the learning modules

Let’s get real and the demonstration of the seven Real Skills are driven by the need for service users to experience staff as respectful, compassionate, recovery focused and skilled. Ongoing training, workforce development and support are the means to achieving this outcome.

The learning modules are a self-directed learning resource that sits alongside the Let’s get real enablers, which include:

·  Guide for Managers and Leaders

·  Human Resource Tool (covering recruitment, selection, orientation, performance development, and performance management and coaching)

·  Team Planning Tool.

In addition, there is the Let’s get real Real Skills Plus series, which builds on the practitioner level of the Real Skills for people working with infants, children and youth: Real Skills Plus CAMHS (The Werry Centre, 2008) and Real Skills Plus Seitapu: Working with Pacific people (Le Va, 2009).

The Education Tool supports providers of mental health and addiction education and training to integrate Let’s get real into their curriculum development, and programme and course reviews.

Let’s get real: values and attitudes

Let’s get real is underpinned by essential values and attitudes that run throughout the Real Skills. These are the foundation from which Let’s get real has been built and there is a dedicated learning module about the values and attitudes for all mental health and addiction staff to complete. More details about the values and attitudes can be found in Let’s get real: Real Skills for people working in mental health and addiction (Ministry of Health, 2008).

The Let’s get real values and attitudes are as follows.

Values
·  Respect
·  Human rights
·  Service
·  Recovery
·  Communities
·  Relationships / Attitudes
·  Compassionate and caring
·  Genuine
·  Honest
·  Non-judgemental
·  Open-minded
·  Optimistic
·  Patient
·  Professional
·  Resilient
·  Supportive
·  Understanding

Let’s get real: the learning modules in detail

Design

These self-directed learning modules have been designed to apply directly to participants’ work contexts and environments. Let’s get real can only become real when staff understand each of the seven Real Skills in the context of the work they do.

Key principles underpinning the design and development of the learning modules

·  Individuals and organisations in the mental health and addiction sector are committed to improving outcomes for service users through the continuous improvement of mental health and addiction services and the capabilities of staff working within these services.

·  Staff in the mental health and addiction sector take an active and willing role in their learning and personal and professional development, and this is an ongoing process.

·  Staff have an individual personal responsibility to maximise learning and growth through active participation, self-reflection and action.

·  Individuals and organisations have a responsibility to be participants in the learning of others by working in partnerships with colleagues and peers, utilising peer review, critique, and supervision processes as appropriate,

·  Learning modules are self-directed and based on adult learning concepts.

·  The modules are designed to encourage critical self-reflection and personal and professional development.

·  The learning activities within the modules are work-related, practical and based on the personal analysis of experience.

·  Organisations will exercise their responsibility in creating supportive learning environments and processes to encourage shared learning and development for all staff.

How to use the learning modules

A process to determine how to best use the learning modules in your organisation is provided on page 16.

Assessment

The Let’s get real framework assists services to develop competency-based workforce development programmes. However, these self-directed learning modules do not include performance-based assessment, nor is there a formal assessment component attached to these learning modules.

Structure

The learning modules are a package comprising:

·  Getting Started

·  Values and Attitudes

·  three modules for each of the seven Real Skills - a separate module for essential, practitioner and leader levels of each Real Skill.

The Getting Started and Values and Attitudes learning modules should be completed by all staff.

Performance indicators for each level are presented at the beginning of each learning module. This is followed by an overview, and then more detailed information about the topic area.

All of the learning modules identify the main national strategy and policy documents that relate to the mental health and addiction sector, and contain a reference and recommended reading section to inform further investigation.

As preparation for completing each of the learning modules, participants should source any additional documents that may be specific to their area of work (for example, older adult, adult, specialist, child and youth, addiction) and familiarise themselves with the key messages.

The learning modules generally follow a standard outline. At times, they direct participants to additional resources that are either unique to their organisation or easily found in the public domain. This is followed by a variety of activities, linked to the performance indicators, which have been purposefully designed to encourage participants to reflect on their learning, and the way they work with service users, families/whānau, Māori and the wider community.

Summary of key themes of the learning modules

The following table summarises the key themes addressed in each of the learning modules. The themes, which are expressed in the table as both behaviours and as ideas/concepts, are directly related to the performance indicators for each of the different levels of each of the seven Real Skills.

Values and attitudes
Exploring and articulating personal values in relation to the work that you do.
Developing an understanding of the shared values and attitudes that exist in the mental health and addiction sector.
Recognising and understanding the various impacts that our values and attitudes can have on service user experiences. /
Real Skill / Essential level / Practitioner level / Leader level /
Working with service users / ·  Engaging people and building strong relationships
·  Building empathy
·  Understanding recovery
·  Recognising strengths and understanding the whole person
·  Person-centred planning
·  Addressing disparities in Māori health and well-being
·  Key aspects of mental illness and wellness / ·  Recovery in practice: working holistically
·  Therapeutic relationships, working collaboratively, planning, monitoring and review
·  Application of knowledge:
-  definitions and categories of mental illness and addiction
-  assessment and intervention processes, concepts of risk