I clear­ly remem­ber, very ear­ly on in my career as a remote health work­er, a time when I was sit­ting at the air­port wait­ing to fly out of a com­mu­ni­ty. I was yarn­ing with a col­league who I hadn’t known for long. I soon realised that they weren’t trav­el­ling well and I need­ed to check-in with them and offer my support. 

I remem­ber think­ing ​“Oh no! They need some­one to talk to. I hope I don’t stuff this up!” 

As the years have gone by, I’ve realised that although I might feel a lit­tle anx­ious, the most impor­tant thing I can do is to reach out, to have empa­thy and to lis­ten well.

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

As a result, the CRANAplus Men­tal Health and Well­be­ing Ser­vice has devel­oped Crit­i­cal Con­ver­sa­tions, a new, 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.

Why would rur­al and remote health pro­fes­sion­als want to do this course?

We are all affect­ed by per­son­al dis­tress at some point in our lives. Each year, one in five remote and rur­al Aus­tralians will expe­ri­ence a men­tal health dis­or­der¹. Sui­cide is the lead­ing cause of death for Aus­tralians between the ages of 15 and 44 years, with peo­ple in remote areas being two times more like­ly to die by suicide.

These facts can be con­fronting; how­ev­er, sui­cide can be pre­vent­ed. Evi­dence indi­cates that hav­ing these con­ver­sa­tions can make a real dif­fer­ence in improv­ing someone’s well­be­ing and sav­ing someone’s life².

Health pro­fes­sion­als are one of the most trust­ed pro­fes­sions, so it is com­mon that patients will dis­close issues regard­ing their own or their loved one’s dis­tress and men­tal health. There­fore, health work­ers can play a vital role in sup­port­ing some­one in distress.

They are also in a posi­tion where they inter­act sig­nif­i­cant­ly with the com­mu­ni­ty – and can role mod­el healthy con­ver­sa­tions with oth­er peo­ple. It can be daunt­ing to many health work­ers as they may not feel they have the skills and train­ing in men­tal health. This course is designed to build con­fi­dence and devel­op the basic skills to recog­nise if some­one may be strug­gling, ini­ti­ate a con­ver­sa­tion, lis­ten and pro­vide sup­port, and encour­age action.

What’s involved in the course?

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