Area Mental Health Services (AMHS) Scoping Project

Purpose

Part of the CMHL’s function is about understanding both the needs of the workforce and how those needs are understood and met locally, regionally and on a statewide basis. To better understand how to enhance the work of the programs supporting the workforce and possible avenues for collaboration, the CMHL sought to gather baseline data on the learning and development programs which train and educate the clinicians working in the Area Mental Health Services (AMHS) across the state, as well as Forensicare.

Aims

The aims of this scoping project were to foster relationships with the AMHS and develop an understanding at the CMHL of the learning and development programs, personnel and resources of each AMHS. The Learning and Practice Development (LPD) team was able to meet virtually or in-person with all but one AMHS. The meetings were usually with the managers of education teams or senior psychiatric nurses.

Key Findings

The information gathered from this scoping provides rich information about the enormous amount of work that AMHS undertake in relation to workforce development and highlights the complexities of the work. The challenges faced by regional areas in providing training and education and staff retention has been a common theme, challenges around data collection of who attends training and education, and lack of consistency around training needs analysis have been some early findings. Already these consultations have guided some of the projects underway at CMHL for the second half of 2021, and the LPD coordinators have been able to connect services seeking support with resources which became known through the project.

Next Steps

We see this as the first step in creating greater connections across services and an important milestone towards coordinated planning, data collection and increased workforce capability. A de-identified report is being written to share with AMHS contributors.