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Over the past three decades, "lived experience" designated roles in mental health services in Australia have increased. However, the lived experience of staff in roles not designated in this way is often hidden or unacknowledged. This qualitative study included 33 participants employed in a range of roles at two Victorian mental health services, including 10 social workers. Interviews explored staff perspectives regarding the sharing of lived experience by staff with colleagues and supervisors. Concept analysis identified conflicting ways of thinking about lived experience, which influenced when and how staff shared and how they responded to sharing by other staff. These findings suggest the need to explicitly address the purpose and value of sharing lived experience in the mental health workplace, to better support staff and service users. Recommendations for social workers and their colleagues, working at all levels of the mental health system, are provided. IMPLICATIONS The perspectives and experiences of mental health service staff suggest room for improvement in the valuing and inclusion of staff with lived experience, which may have benefits for service-user experiences of support. Promoting the value of sharing lived experience to reflective-practice and service reform is consistent with core social work values and, thus, the responsibility of all social workers, supervisors, and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about Couple/Marriage and Family Therapy (C/MFT) or Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) trainees with respect to their baseline perceptions about substance use and other systemically relevant therapeutic concepts integral to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Understanding trainee's baseline perceptions upon entering a SUD-focused training program may allow for directed tailoring of the training to meet student's educational needs in learning about how to work with families affected by SUD most effectively. To help address this gap, this study examined substance use perceptions of C/MFT and CMHC trainees upon initial enrollment in an opioid training program. Masters-level trainees completed a baseline survey assessing substance use/user perceptions, efficacy in working with substance-using clients, interprofessional collaboration, multicultural competency, and professional quality of life. Baseline data from n = 61 trainees were examined. Findings indicated substance use perceptions were related to trainee efficacy, multicultural competence, and professional quality of life. Further, there were group differences in drug perceptions based on previous substance use training and in trainee efficacy related to working with families affected by substance use, as well as and previous experience working with families affected by substance use. The current findings can inform development and refinement of substance use training within the behavioral health fields and develop the substance use workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the discourse regarding social care practice focuses on the differences between the various professions, practice fields, geographical, and organizational contexts involved in the provision of social care. This study surveyed Australian social care practitioners' (N = 438) perceptions of influence on their practice and what similarities and differences existed in these perceptions. Eighteen influential factors were identified with minimal differences across the participants' profession, practice field, organizational sector, or geographical context. These findings suggest that a common ground of experience exists that can be used as a basis for critical discussions and interdisciplinary practice and, thereby, provide a foundation for more consistent and integrated service delivery and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of current developments in the field potentially provide opportunities for preventative relationship and family interventions to be integrated into primary care. In this context, it is important to understand what family counselling is and how it might differ from family therapy. Thus, this paper investigates how the service of one low-intensity family counselling provider, Relate, is conceptualised and practised by counsellors on the ground. Questions about practice were posed to five focus groups of family counsellors and these were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that Relate family counselling is seen as ‘family therapy lite’, with a flexible, eclectic and integrative use of concepts and techniques within a systemic framework. Implications of this conceptualisation of family counselling for training, practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]