Training Rural Mental Health Staff in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: A Case Study from Rural NSW
Tracks
Mossman - In-Person
| Friday, November 8, 2024 |
| 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM |
| Mossman Ballroom |
Overview
Dr Anastasia Hronis, University Of Technology Sydney; Australian Institute For Human Wellness
Presenter
Dr Anastasia Hronis
Clinical Psychologist; Academic
University Of Technology Sydney; Australian Institute For Human Wellness
Training Rural Mental Health Staff in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: A Case Study from Rural NSW
Abstract
It is known that people living in rural and remote areas in Australia experience higher rates of substance use, acute mental health conditions, and higher rates of suicides. Severity of these presentations is often worse than for those in metropolitan areas. Barriers to accessing mental health care include reliance on informal supports, negative past experiences with services, cost, and service inaccessibility including location of service and hours of operation. Wait times for specialist mental health care are longer in rural areas where the provision of specialist care is limited.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an empirically supported treatment, originally developed to assist those experiencing chronic and recurrent self-harm and suicidality, in the context of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Since then, it has been expanded to the treatment of other disorders, including addictions, eating disorders, and chronic emotion dysregulation, for both adults and adolescents.
Given the complex needs and severity of presentations for people living in rural and remote areas, DBT is an effective treatment option which should be considered by rural and remote mental health services. It allows for support with both crisis presentations in the context of suicidality, self-harm and addictions, while also assisting to manage overall emotion regulation and address underlying trauma.
This presentation discusses the delivery of and preliminary evaluation of DBT training to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, peers support workers, Aboriginal mental health workers, nurses and other staff in Far West NSW. Feedback from the staff on the training is presented. Also discussed in this presentation, is a qualitative evaluation of adolescent DBT groups which have been run, with barriers and facilitators to running DBT groups explored.
We propose DBT as being a useful modality that a wide range of staff can be trained in, the cost-effective options for individual or group delivery of skills.
Three Key Learnings:
1. Understanding the usefulness of how DBT can be delivered in rural and remote mental health services.
2. Understand the barriers and facilitators to delivering DBT treatments in rural and remote areas, based upon the learnings in Far West NSW.
3. Understanding of the ways in which DBT can be integrated into existing services and used to up skill the workforce.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is an empirically supported treatment, originally developed to assist those experiencing chronic and recurrent self-harm and suicidality, in the context of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Since then, it has been expanded to the treatment of other disorders, including addictions, eating disorders, and chronic emotion dysregulation, for both adults and adolescents.
Given the complex needs and severity of presentations for people living in rural and remote areas, DBT is an effective treatment option which should be considered by rural and remote mental health services. It allows for support with both crisis presentations in the context of suicidality, self-harm and addictions, while also assisting to manage overall emotion regulation and address underlying trauma.
This presentation discusses the delivery of and preliminary evaluation of DBT training to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, peers support workers, Aboriginal mental health workers, nurses and other staff in Far West NSW. Feedback from the staff on the training is presented. Also discussed in this presentation, is a qualitative evaluation of adolescent DBT groups which have been run, with barriers and facilitators to running DBT groups explored.
We propose DBT as being a useful modality that a wide range of staff can be trained in, the cost-effective options for individual or group delivery of skills.
Three Key Learnings:
1. Understanding the usefulness of how DBT can be delivered in rural and remote mental health services.
2. Understand the barriers and facilitators to delivering DBT treatments in rural and remote areas, based upon the learnings in Far West NSW.
3. Understanding of the ways in which DBT can be integrated into existing services and used to up skill the workforce.
Biography
Dr Anastasia Hronis (B Psych (Hons) | M Clin Psych | AMusA | LMusA | Ph.D)
Dr Anastasia Hronis is a clinical psychologist working across academia and clinical practice. She is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney. Anastasia is also founder of the Australian Institute for Human Wellness. Anastasia has specific interests in both addictions, and rural mental health. She has worked with services across NSW and the NT, assisting to up skill the workforce in mental health interventions.
