News

Record cohort of postgraduate students for MDAS

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 03:32:00

The Mallee’s peak Aboriginal organisation has ‘tooled up’ its workforce with a record cohort of students officially completing a major postgraduate training initiative on Friday.

Thirteen frontline staff from Mallee District Aboriginal Services officially graduated from a postgraduate certificate course in Family Therapy studies, delivered by the Bouverie Centre, in conjunction with Latrobe University.
The MDAS staff from Family Services, Early Years, Social & Emotional Well-Being and Executive teams at Mildura, Swan Hill-Kerang and Robinvale signed up for the course, aimed at delivering better understanding, support and more effective services to the Mallee’s Aboriginal families.
MDAS Family Services Manager Andy Charles, who was also one of the graduates, said the training had both practical and theoretical elements.
“It has really ‘tooled up’ our teams to take a broader approach to the everyday challenges they face in working with clients who have complex needs,” Mr Charles said.
“In the past, we have tended to focus solely on the client in front of us, but this training has helped us to take a more holistic view of what else might be an issue or a challenge for that particular person,” he said.
“The more clients we see through our family and health services, the more we’ve come to understand that whatever the issue is, we usually won’t succeed if we work just with the client as an individual,” he said.
MDAS Social and Emotional Wellbeing Manager Raelene Stephens said the training came from an identified need to build the skills and confidence of staff working with clients facing a mix of challenges, including drugs, alcohol, family violence, anger, depression and anxiety.
“There is no point in focussing just on that person in isolation – they are a member of a wider family and we have to keep the rest of the family in mind and in the conversation,” Ms Stephens said.
“Having had 13 staff complete this training and now taking what they’ve learnt back to their team’s means that as an organisation we are more effective in tackling the challenges of Closing the Gap and really having an impact at breaking the cycles of behaviour that are holding people back.”