Staff Health, Safety & Wellbeing

New Employee Wellbeing Support Services

Employee Wellbeing Support Services has replaced the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) delivered by TELUS Health.

Our new provider, Converge International, will deliver Employee Wellbeing Support Services. The free and confidential services support school staff wellbeing.

Employee Wellbeing Support Services will have a suite of new offerings, including:

• Employee Assist, Manager Assist, Career Assist, Legal Assist (for personal non-work related legal matters), Money Assist, Family Assist, Nutrition and Lifestyle Assist, and Conflict Assist
• dedicated specialist helplinesfor staff who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, identify as LGBTIQA+, have disability or are a carer for a person with disability, staff experiencing domestic and or family violence, require support with loved ones entering aged care or those seeking spiritual and pastoral care.

Converge International will continue the current onsite support for schools after critical incidents.

For more information, refer to Employee Wellbeing Support Services flyers below:

Supporting Specialist School Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing

Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of principals and staff at specialist schools is a key priority for the department.  Below is some information about new and existing supports for specialist school staff safety and mental health and wellbeing.

Expanding the Early Intervention Program to specialist school staff 

The Early Intervention program that has been available to school principals as part of the Principal Health and Wellbeing Services, has now been expanded to provide support to all Department of Education staff in specialist school settings.    

This confidential program provides support for emerging health and wellbeing risks to prevent them from escalating into more serious health concerns. Under the program, a dedicated care coordinator can help to address a range of work and non-work-related matters (excluding workers’ compensation claims).  

The program is offered to all specialist school staff including education support and casual relief teachers employed by school council access to comprehensive professional services, including psychologists, physiotherapy, dietetics, and exercise physiology tailored to meet individual challenges.  

Specialist school staff can access this self-referral service by contacting Cogent Thinking. Cogent Thinking is an external provider that specialises in early intervention and injury treatment Contact Cogent Thinking by: 

• phone: 1300 090 924   
• email: eiprogram@cogentthinking.com.au  

More information is available on the department’s Policy and Advisory Library.  

Rapid Contact Calls for immediate staff support  

A Rapid Contact Call is an effective option to support staff who may have been impacted by potentially traumatic events, providing immediate access to psychological support before Critical Incident support is delivered.  

A Rapid Contact Call provides psychological first aid to identified staff and can be actioned within an hour in most cases. Follow-up is also provided 24 to 48 hours after the initial support, at 7 days and again at one month post-support (if required). 

You can request, with the staff member’s consent, for a Rapid Contact Call to be made to a staff member in your school by calling Converge International on 1300 291 071 and selecting option 1 for Critical Incidents. Please notify the Client Services Officer you would like to arrange a Rapid Contact Call.  

Planned workplace support 

If you are concerned about the wellbeing of your staff due to an ongoing matter, or where there have been a series or accumulation of events that have caused ongoing stress for staff, planned workplace support can be provided through Converge International.   

Planned workplace support is scheduled in advance of an event (for example, the anniversary of a traumatic event) and offers a combination of services onsite at your school, including counselling appointments and facilitated discussions, delivered by consultants with counselling and debriefing skills.  

To access planned workplace support, please contact the Employee Wellbeing Response Team by email: Employee.Wellbeing.Response.Team@education.vic.gov.au.

Wellbeing awareness sessions 

The department has partnered with FBG Group, the provider of the Proactive Wellbeing Support program, to deliver wellbeing awareness sessions to school staff teams. Sessions will cover 13 topics that are focused on areas of greatest need for school staff. 

To request a wellbeing awareness session for your staff, please complete this online form. A full list of session topics is available on the department’s intranet. 

Peer Group Supervision 

The department is introducing peer supervision and reflective practice groups for principals and assistant principals, from Term 4, 2024, in partnership with FBG Group. This follows a peer group pilot program in southern Melbourne and Hume Merri-bek areas this year.  

Groups will be run either on an area basis (through principal networks), or available to groups of Specialist School Principals (or Assistant School Principals) statewide online.  

If you are interested in joining with other specialist school principal class colleagues either in your area or across regions, please express your interest by email: employeehealth@education.vic.gov.au  

Protective Intervention Training  

Protective intervention training helps school staff to prevent, de-escalate and manage challenging student behaviours while keeping themselves, students and others safe. 

Specialist schools can choose from a range of training options that include full-day in-person sessions, and various 90-minute online modules.  

To request Protective Intervention Training through either of our 2 panel providers, please submit an expression of interest form.   Staff members can also take part in a cluster training with staff from other schools. Please contact your local OHS Services Officer (OSO) if you would like to arrange a cluster in your local area. 

Other Supports 

Please note that the following supports are also available to you and your staff: 

• Onsite counselling support after a critical incident: Please call 1300 291 071 and select option 1 to be transferred directly to the Converge Rapid Response Team 
• Employee Wellbeing Support Services: Staff can access these services by calling 1300 291 071 or booking online via the Converge portal with the organisational code mywellbeing   
•  Staff can access information to help them prevent and respond to student challenging behaviours using this link.  

Staff Wellbeing Plan

In 2023 we developed a Staff Wellbeing Plan about the actions we are taking as a school to promote, protect and address staff mental health and wellbeing. Despite WRV being present in all schools, this remains an ongoing concern for us at Jackson. We have received additional funding for a refresher of the Protective Intervention Training (PIT), which supports staff in keeping themselves safe during critical incidents at work. It is vitally important that staff continue to lodge EduSafe reports when injured at work so that the Department, Secretary and Ministers are informed of the challenges faced within our schools every day. Staff must do everything they can to keep themselves safe during critical incidents where students are displaying unsafe behaviours of concern. Do not intervene physically or verbally, and keep yourself and other students safe when a student is escalated.

For more information, please visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/school-staff-wellbeing-after-conflict-violence-emergency-or-accident 

Staff Wellbeing & Greater Space

Alex Baynes (Social Worker) has been appointed as the Staff Wellbeing Officer. All members of the leadership are also available and happy to provide staff with assistance when required. Just ask - We'll make the time! We will also continue to have Week 5 as our Staff Wellbeing Week for the term, where staff can finish early on the Wednesday of this week.

This year, we invested in Greater Space to provide additional mental health and wellbeing support for staff. 

Greater Space is an innovative mental & professional health care solution specifically designed for educators. Educators meet with their preferred practitioner and discuss whatever they need to in order to be at their best for their students, colleagues or clients. Their mental health practitioners have worked in the classroom, and are also mental health practitioners - so we can help with a broad range of issues either related to your work, or beyond. They offer:

• 1:1 Virtual Counselling
• Clinical Supervision
• Critical Incident Preparation & Debriefing
• Professional Development & Group Consulting

This is a free service paid for by Jackson School to support your mental health and wellbeing. It is completely anonymous and confidential. We only get an invoice for the number of sessions used. 

To book in, click on the link below or use the tile on the portal. Select your preferred specialist and time. Include JACKSON in the redeem coupon section so you don't have to pay.