Message from the Chair

Happy New Year from the General Practice Mental Health Standards Collaboration (GPMHSC) and welcome to the first edition of our newsletter for 2022.

We have an exciting year ahead of us, with the GPMHSC already beginning work on new projects including the development of Mental Health Treatment Plan templates for specific populations and a new Trauma Informed Care resource hub for GPs. These will assist GPs to continue providing the most appropriate care for their patients based on individual needs.

FPS Mentorship Program for 2022

The Focussed Psychological Strategies (FPS) mentorship program provides an exciting opportunity for experienced GP providers of FPS (mentors) to guide and support newly trained GPs (mentees) towards becoming skilled FPS providers.

This program has been designed to help GPs with a common interest in mental health to connect with their peers in an open and supportive environment.

An expression of interest was recently sent to GPs to gauge interest in this program.

Applications will open in February, so keep an eye out if this sounds like something you would like to be a part of.

Suicide and mental health in the workforce

Since our last newsletter, I have attended several meetings on suicide prevention and mental health in the workforce.

These meetings coincided with the launch of the National Lived Experience (Peer) Workforce Development Guidelines under Action 29 of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on suicide and self-harm in Australia, both of which you can read more about below.

Mental health training standards 2023–2025

I’m pleased to announce the GPMHSC has commenced work on the development of the Mental health training standards 2023–25.

We have sought feedback from GPs and training providers on how we can improve our current standards, including the adjudication/accreditation process.

The updated standards will include information around online training in the post-COVID environment, standards in telehealth/videoconferencing and changes in CPD requirements for GPs.

Associate Professor Morton Rawlin
Chair, GPMHSC