Critical Conversations

As health work­ers in rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties we are on the front line of sup­port­ing indi­vid­u­als in the com­mu­ni­ty. Whether at work or off duty, we are in a posi­tion of trust. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, many health work­ers do not feel con­fi­dent in talk­ing with indi­vid­u­als who may need help or are expe­ri­enc­ing emo­tion­al distress.

As a result, the CRANAplus Men­tal Health & Well­be­ing Ser­vice has devel­oped Crit­i­cal Con­ver­sa­tions, a free online course for rur­al and remote health work­ers. This course has been designed to build health work­ers skills in com­mu­ni­cat­ing with indi­vid­u­als who may need help, are in emo­tion­al dis­tress or you are wor­ried about.

We hope it will increase work­ers’ con­fi­dence in hav­ing these crit­i­cal con­ver­sa­tions and know­ing when to seek addi­tion­al help and sup­port for com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, mem­bers of your fam­i­ly and colleagues.

This free, inter­ac­tive online course has been designed by remote men­tal health pro­fes­sion­als specif­i­cal­ly for the rur­al and remote health work­force. It guides learn­ers through a 4‑step approach for hav­ing a suc­cess­ful con­ver­sa­tion and is packed full of prac­ti­cal strate­gies and real-life scenarios.

The course aims to pro­vide par­tic­i­pants with the skills and con­fi­dence to:

• Be pre­pared and respond when some­one approach­es you to have a con­ver­sa­tion, or you are con­cerned about someone
• Increase con­fi­dence and skills to have a suc­cess­ful conversation
• Know when extra help is needed
• Be famil­iar with key points in regard to dis­cussing self-harm or suicide
• Know where peo­ple can access help and resources nationally.