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Table of contents

Part 2: Planning mental health courses for GPs

Introduction

Read this information carefully before planning your mental health courses for GPs.


GPs’ eligibility to provide mental health consultations

After completing an accredited skills training course, a GP is eligible to provide specific types of mental health consultations with consumers and claim relevant MBS items.


CPD and PDP hours for GPs

After successfully completing accredited mental health courses, GPs can also accrue RACGP CPD and/or ACRRM Professional Development Program (PDP) hours.


Types of mental health courses for GPs

There are two types of mental health courses for GPs that the GPMHSC accredits:
  • Skills training courses
    (Mental Health Skills Training and Focussed Psychological Strategies Skills Training)
  • CPD courses.


Skills training (ST) courses

There are two types of GPMHSC-accredited skills training courses:
  • Level 1: Mental Health Skills Training (MHST)
  • Level 2: Focussed Psychological Strategies Skills Training (FPS ST).


CPD courses

There are two types of GPMHSC-accredited CPD:
  1. Mental Health CPD (MH CPD)
  2. Focussed Psychological Strategies CPD (FPS CPD).
The GPMHSC also elects to accredit some CPD courses as gold standard CPD courses. Gold standard CPD courses:
  • run for a minimum of six hours
  • include predisposing and reinforcing components (work completed before and after the course delivery)
  • include involvement from carer and consumer representatives.

Trauma informed care

Developing your activities from a trauma informed lens
  • GPMHSC-accredited activities should be developed through a trauma-informed care lens to ensure training environments and content are safe, supportive, and respectful for all participants, including those with lived experience of trauma. This involves embedding the TIC principles into program design and delivery:
    • Safety
    • Trustworthiness
    • Choice
    • Collaboration and
    • Empowerment
TIC training should also help GPs recognise the signs and impacts of trauma in patients, understand how trauma can influence behaviour and health outcomes, and respond in ways that avoid re-traumatisation. By integrating trauma-informed principles, training providers can better prepare GPs to deliver compassionate, effective, and culturally safe care—particularly for populations with high rates of trauma exposure, such as refugees, veterans and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.