Workforce learning and development

Introduction to Motivational Interviewing

Mental Health Victoria’s Introduction to Motivational Interviewing workshop is a 2-day course introducing participants to the principles and practices of effectively assisting clients and patients to prepare for change. Motivational interviewing is person-centred, evidence-based, and therapeutic. It encourages individuals to use their unique motivating factors to implement the steps needed in order to create the change they wish to see.

This course is delivered by Mental Health Victoria. Facilitated by Karen Walker, an experienced educator in the mental health sector, this course will teach you how to spot the warning signs and support those near you to find the help they need. This course has been informed by those with lived experience of mental health problems and mental health professionals.

Visit our Upcoming training page to register for this event here.

Organisation Training

If your organisation would like to be trained in Motivational Interviewing, please contact us for a quote at learning@mhvic.org.au.

If you are a leader, consider undertaking the Engaging Professionals 90-minute course, delivered by Mental Health Victoria and taught by Karen Walker, to understand why mental health awareness is crucial for leaders in the workplace.

MHFA: Engaging Leaders

“Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.” (1) The average adult spends over 50% of their waking hours at work.

Workplaces can be a protective, supportive, and high-performing environment for staff to work, and be, well.

This 90-minute course is crucial for leaders in the workplace. It will equip decision-makers and senior staff with the awareness of the importance of employee mental health and cover the basics of Mental Health First Aid training.

The Engaging Leaders course is a chance to step towards better understanding the critical need for mental health awareness in the workplace.

⁽¹⁾ World Health Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work

To register your interest in additional workforce development courses and/or dates, please use the following EOI form.

In addition to the short workforce development courses Mental Health Victoria provides, we also continue to be heavily involved in shaping the Lived and Living Experience workforce through our facilitation of the Cert IV in Peer Work and the Peer Cadetship Program.

About your teachers:

Karen Walker is a practitioner with declared lived experience. She is passionate about equipping Victorians in the workplace and the community with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to recognise, understand and respond to another adult experiencing a mental health problem or mental health crisis. She specialises in the co-creation of wellbeing strategies and action plans to improve psychosocial wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organisations.

Karen has worked with renowned organisations such as Alfred Health, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Kathmandu, and Swinburne University of Technology. In addition, she created New Zealand’s first accredited Responsible Service of Gambling training course. She has senior management experience for which she brought her lived experience to create change and impact in the workplace and beyond. In addition, she was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Australia 2018 for her contributions on: The importance of social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing at work; research on leadership, human performance, and culture; and workplace diversity, inclusion, and safety.

Karen is a licensed Mental Health First Aid Australia Instructor and finds teaching Mental Health First Aid to be one of the most important and impactful contributions she makes towards the wellbeing of others.