How do I become a great Mental Health Care Worker?

How do I become a Mental Health Care Worker?

The World Health Organisation refers to mental health as not what it is but how it can be determined by a range of different factors such as socioeconomic, biological and environmental. These factors affect individuals and can lead to a long/short-term mental illness.

With over 7.3 million Australians experiencing some sort of mental illness, there has been a demand for workers all areas in mental health. The field has grown strongly over the past 5 years, from 21,000 in 2014 to 36,000 in 2019.

If this sounds like a career you would be interested in, Kirana Colleges offers a Certificate IV in Mental Health. This course will help you gain understanding and build practical skills to work in the mental health sector.

Where can this course take me?

The course is delivered through online learning for students who will learn about providing recovery for mental illness patients in the aged care, disability and community services sector. You will predominantly be working with clients who are dealing with anxiety, depression and other illnesses/disorders that can affect your everyday life.

Upon completion of this course, there are a variety of pathways you can take in various fields to help you become an excellent support worker. With this course you could become a:

Mental Health Worker
Community Rehabilitation and Support Worker
NDIS Support Worker
Mental Health Outreach Worker
Mental Health Intake Officer

What kind of tasks would I be doing?

Some daily tasks and duties would include:

Assessing clients needs
Referring clients to other support groups and social services
Delivering counselling (to individuals or groups)
Contributing to developing new services and other programs
Help clients define goals, plan action and gain insight
Encourage clients to discuss emotions and experience

What will I be learning? What is the course structure like?

Some of the courses included in the core and elective units include: working collaboratively with the care network and other services, providing recovery orientated services, providing loss and grief support, managing personal stressors in the world environment and also working with trauma informed care.