14
In 2013 we moved away from the title ‘Mentors’ to
the title of Supervisors. This cements our view that
Supervisors have a dual responsibility: both to the
clinicians they support on an operational basis and to
BUSHkids management at a strategic level.
This allows for additional involvement, day-to-day
support when clinical management is required and,
in line with the new Model of Care, a single message
to clinical staff and accountability.
Gail Huggins, a member of BUSHkids Council, also
volunteers her time as our Clinical Mentor, enabling
Gail to follow her passion and support the growth of
BUSHkids, providing the General Manager
with required advice.
This also allows our clinical teams and Supervisors to
tap into her wisdom and experience and seek advice
as needed. BUSHkids is grateful to Gail for this
additional commitment.
Thank you also to Helen Dimond, our Speech
Pathologist Mentor who left us in January 2013: we
are grateful for your support and words of wisdom to
our ‘Speechies’ in your time with BUSHkids.
SPEECH PATHOLOGISTS
Annalisa Bishop
I commenced working as the Speech Pathology
Supervisor with BUSHkids in May. I have really
enjoyed being part of the BUSHkids family.
Since starting, I have been busy supporting the
speech pathologists in Bundaberg, Emerald, Mount
Isa and Warwick. This involved regular supervision
sessions where the speech pathologists are able
to discuss clinical cases, identify professional
development opportunities, raise issues and meet
established learning goals to help support their
clinical practice.
The discussions in supervision have often been quite
interesting and provided many opportunities for
learning for all. The use of
LYNC
has also made the
supervision sessions very personal and has broken
down the issue of distance; this has also made the
facilitation of the monthly speech pathology meeting
so much easier.
It has been encouraging to watch the development
of the Speech Pathologists over the last six months.
They are all doing a fantastic job!
With Carlton’s support this year has seen a shift in
the organisation from Mentor to Supervisor which
has meant there has been some revision of our roles.
This has provided supervisors with an opportunity to
have greater involvement in providing support and
direction to the organisation.
There have been many meetings this year between
Supervisors and the Clinical Services Redevelopment
Working Group
(CSRWG) which has achieved:
• finalisation of the Model of Care (MoC) and the
core documents to support its implementation
• review of discipline specific position descriptions
• review of the supervisor role and position
description
• review of the supervision guidelines and
supervision documents
• development of the Clinical Services Manager
role description
Conference week is almost upon us [as I write this]
and I am looking forward to helping to support
the final implementation of the MoC and providing
the speech pathologists with some professional
development during this week. I am looking forward
to finally meeting everyone face to face!
It has been a pleasure working with everyone at
BUSHkids over the past six months and I am
looking forward to what the future will bring for the
organisation, as we all work together to support the
development of children in rural and remote areas.
PSYCHOLOGISTS and FAMILY HEALTH
SUPPORTWORKERS
Jane Morgan
The FHSWs have had a very busy year, attending
a range of professional development events,
including
123 Magic
,
The Secret Agent Society (SAS)
and
Circle of Security
, among others.
These programs will add greatly to the existing range
of programs offered to BUSHkids clients and their
families.
These programs play a significant role in the new
MoC as health education sessions within the EIPP,
MAIP and SEBP pathways, and as health promotion
activities under the PEACH pathway.
We have also worked on redefining the FHSW role
to ensure the title and position description accurately
reflect the vital and varied work that they do.
Supervisors
Supervision (Mentoring) 2013
Hours
Speech Pathologists
76
Occupational Therapists
89
Family Health Support Workers
85
Psychologists
57
TOTAL hours
297
