Application

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required work effectively when supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients by integrating knowledge of key strategies, service and work practices designed to improve client social and emotional wellbeing.
Specific skills and knowledge to work with individual clients to improve their social and emotional wellbeing are covered in other units.
This unit is specific to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people working as health workers or health practitioners in a multidisciplinary primary health care team. It underpins effective performance in a range of roles at different levels of seniority.
The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice.
No regulatory requirement for certification, occupational or business licensing is linked to this unit at the time of publication. For information about practitioner registration and accredited courses of study, contact the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia (ATSIHPBA).

What You'll Learn

Assessment Requirements

Performance Evidence

Evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit in the context of the job role, and:
• source and collate information and use to support service provision:
• one current national strategy or framework designed to guide services and work practices for improved Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing
• definitions or explanations of social and emotional wellbeing from the strategy or framework and different but interrelated aspects
• key features of risks and protective factors described for social and emotional wellbeing
• features of three approaches identified in the strategy or framework to guide service delivery for social and emotional wellbeing care
• how the national strategy or framework links to those for the local state or territory
• according to actual social and emotional wellbeing services provided to clients, or from case study documentation:
• reflect on three services provided
• evaluate and identify how work practices could be improved to reflect current thinking about best practice service provision.

Knowledge Evidence

Demonstrated knowledge required to complete the tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit:
• ethical, legal and cultural obligations that underpin work that supports client social and emotional wellbeing and the related organisational policies and procedures for:
• maintaining confidentiality of client and community information
• maintaining professional boundaries
• ensuring personal safety of self and others, including the obligations of organisations to protect the safety of workers
• scope of the role of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health workers and practitioners:
• in providing social and emotional wellbeing care and referrals to support services
• how their role in providing primary social and emotional support is distinct from counselling
• boundaries of authority that relate to provision of mental health assessments, services and treatments
• the role of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community members in maintaining and healing social and emotional wellbeing:
• family members
• Elders
• community leaders
• traditional and bush healers relevant to the local community
• how social and emotional wellbeing and physical health are connected and how each impacts on the other
• the principles and models of social and emotional wellbeing as outlined in current national, and local state or territory, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander mental health and social and emotional wellbeing strategies and frameworks including government and non-government:
• how social and emotional wellbeing is defined
• the interrelated domains of social and emotional wellbeing
• risk factors and protective factors associated with each of the domains of social and emotional wellbeing
• relationship between social and emotional wellbeing and mental health, including links and differentiation
• basic features of current approaches identified at a national level to guide and support social and emotional wellbeing:
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander leadership and partnership
• addressing social determinants of mental health
• addressing racism
• person-centred care
• focus on children and young people
• integrated approaches
• trauma-informed care
• culturally appropriate, affordable care
• clinically appropriate care
• key concepts that underpin current models of service delivery for social and emotional wellbeing care, and how these are applied at a local level:
• focus on promotion and prevention by providing access to information, advice and self-help resources
• increased early intervention through access to lower cost, evidence-based alternatives to face-to-face psychological therapy services
• providing and promoting access to lower cost, lower intensity services
• increased service access rates to maximise the number of people receiving evidence-based intervention
• improved access to adequate level of primary mental health care intervention to maximise recovery, prevent escalation and provide wrap-around coordinated care for people with complex needs
• prevalence and statistical incidence of mental illness in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander populations compared to non-Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australian populations
• prevalence as compared to the prevalence in other Australian populations, key features, interrelationships, and impact of the following on the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients and communities:
• substance abuse, including alcohol and other drugs
• imprisonment
• family violence
• homelessness
• poverty
• poor physical health
• disability
• unemployment
• grief and loss
• trauma, including intergenerational trauma
• types of activities and services that support social and emotional wellbeing:
• promotion and education of individuals and groups
• support for individual clients and groups to address particular issues
• referral to other agencies
• collaboration with internal and external colleagues to support coordinated care.

Assessment Conditions

Skills can be demonstrated through:
• work activities completed within an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health service, or
• project activities and case studies completed within a training organisation, based on comprehensive information about the provision of local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing support services, actual or simulated.
Assessment must ensure the use of:
• current national, and local state or territory, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander mental health and social and emotional wellbeing strategies and frameworks including government and non-government
• organisational policies and procedures for:
• maintaining confidentiality of client and community information
• maintaining professional boundaries
• adhering to scope of own job role
• ensuring safety of self and others.
Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations requirements for assessors, and:
• be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who has applied the skills and knowledge covered in this unit of competency through experience working as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker or practitioner, or
• be a registered health practitioner with experience relevant to this unit of competency and be accompanied by, or have assessments validated by, an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person.

Foundation Skills

• {'skill': 'Reading skills to:', 'description': 'interpret detailed familiar organisational policies and procedures; interpret unfamiliar and potentially complex information about approaches to social and emotional wellbeing.'}
• {'skill': 'Oral communication skills to:', 'description': 'adhere to cultural protocols to deliver client information and ask questions clearly and safely.'}

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