The School of Mental Health, Dawson House.

School of Mental Health

The education programs offered at the SoMH include:

• Continuing Education: on topics and core competencies relevant across the profession eg Risk Management; Counselling; Crisis Management; Psychopharmacology.
• Clinical Specialty Education: delivered to clinical areas of The Park- Centre for Mental Health, featuring such modules as reflective learning; seminar series; and an educational service delivered direct to clinical team meetings.
• Discipline-Specific Education: The SoMH has a facilitation and teaching role for the Graduate Nurse Transition Program (GNTP) and the Enrolled Nursing Program, in addition to closely supporting students at The Park completing the Graduate Diploma of Nursing (GDP).
• Consumer Presenter Network, which includes a Register of mental health consumers who are engaged as presenters within staff training session to provide a consumer perspective of the education topics. 

Park Education Program

The Park Education Program (PEP) consists of a range of professional education initiatives including: interdisciplinary courses; clinical specialty programs delivered at the clinical interface; support for programs offered in partnership, for instance support for the University of Queensland Graduate Diploma in Mental Health.

The three areas of responsibility for PEP are:

• Mandatory Training: This program includes topics such as Fire and Safety, Patient and Object Handling, CPR and Professional Assault Response Training (PART) and is designed to ensure that legislative and corporate requirements are met.
• Clinical Education: is provided to the to clinical areas and addresses topics identified as priorities for clinicians providing contemporary care. This education is both Multi-disciplinary and discipline specific in focus.
• Strategic Education:  PEP has a facilitation and teaching role to support the nursing staff undertaking the one year Graduate Nurse Transition Program (GNTP) and the two year Graduate Diploma of Mental Health (Nursing) (GDP) – which are undertaken in partnership with the University of Queensland.  They are also responsible for facilitating the training of preceptors and advancement of clinical supervision for nurses and other nursing education projects.

Service Evaluation Research Unit (SERU)

The goal of SERU is to support staff in the ongoing rehabilitation of people with mental illness by providing timely, accurate and comprehensive feedback on consumer outcomes.  It supports staff to measure consumer outcomes; enhance evidence-based practices and interventions; and promotes the values of research activity within the mental health professional's practice.

The Unit also undertakes facility, zonal and statewide projects through external grant funding of a variety of projects.

HIGH QUALITY LIBRARY SERVICES

Our Library supports The Park's clinical, research and education services in achieving their stated outcomes, primarily by the timely provision of access to relevant and accurate information and resources.

Our library has the largest collection of mental health resources in Queensland with 120 journal subscriptions; 10,000 books; and 200 videos. The Library services all staff of the Hospital, the West Moreton District Health Service and staff of mental health facilities throughout Queensland. Students and the general public are welcome to access the library facilities on-site, but are unable to borrow.

On-line information services at the Library

Information at your Fingertips

The Library Catalogue is on the Queensland Health Intranet, and so widely available to staff at their desktops. Also accessible to staff are electronic request forms that enable emailing of requests directly to the Library. We obtain articles and books to support clinical, education and research programs from a wide variety of libraries within Australia and overseas.

A wide variety of databases are available from the library computers e.g. Medline, PsychInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane, and an Internet connection is available for Queensland Health acceptable usage.

Library staff provide assistance in sourcing
vital references

Southern Zone Mental Health Education Service (SZMHES)

The Southern Zone Mental Health Education Service (SZMHES) was formed in late 2002 by combining education resources from The Park-Centre for Mental Health and the Toowoomba Mental Health Service District and is co-located at The Park

The central purpose of the SZMHES is to ensure effective and equitable access to mental health education by sharing resources and consolidating education systems and delivery methods.

A PROFESSIONAL & COLLABORATIVE APPROACH

The School of Mental Health prides itself on an innovative style of education delivery that is multi-disciplinary, repsonsive, and collaborative. Our Educators are drawn from a range of professions including nursing; psychology; occupational therapy; social work; and medicine, and have strong clinical backgrounds. A major project is also underway to develop a formal University Partnership that will develop conjoint appointments and postgraduate courses directly relevant to service provision across the professions working in mental health care.