Slide 1: Welcome to the information session for the full fee postgraduate mental health nurse scholarship program my name is Chantelle Allan and I'm a project officer working within the Mental Health and AOD Workforce growth team at the Department of Health.
Slide 2: I'd just like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the country throughout Victoria and pay my respects to them their culture and their Elders both past and present. We proudly acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples and their ongoing connection to Country, Culture and Community. I'd also like to welcome people with lived and living experiences who are joining this webinar thank you for working in partnership to achieve system transformation.
Slide 3: So, the purpose of today's session is to give you an overview of the scholarship program and to help you submit a really strong and competitive application.
Slide 4: To begin, I'll cover a bit of The Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System which will be referred to as the Royal commission throughout this document and we will cover how this ties in with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Scholarship Program.
Slide 5: So, to set the scene the Royal Commission released two reports; an interim report in 2019 and a final report in 2021 and this recommended a series of programs to build the foundations of a future reform agenda. These reforms aim to ensure that Victoria’s mental health and well-being workforce is well supplied, highly skilled and supported to thrive. It provides a once- in a generation opportunity to reform Victoria's mental health system for consumers and their families, carers and supporters. We've highlighted recommendation seven from the interim report which focuses on addressing Workforce shortages by developing educational and training pathways. This includes 140 fully funded postgraduate mental health nurse scholarships to be provided annually which will aid in growing a specialized mental health nursing workforce.
Slide 6: The Royal commission recommended scholarships as a way of expanding the mental health workforce and this scholarship program is one of five of the programs that we will cover across the Victorian public mental health system.
Slide 7: We will now be focusing on the purpose and scope of this particular scholarship program which is the Full Fee Postgraduate Mental Health Nurse Scholarship Program.
Slide 8: Mental health nurses that are working in Victorian public mental health services now have an opportunity to apply for and receive a scholarship covering the full amount of their tuition fees. The objective of this initiative is to support nurses to specialize in mental health and to also support continued learning and development pathways which will help build the workforce skills, knowledge and capabilities to deliver high quality, evidence-based consumer centred care. We hope that through this initiative, the workforce will be supported to remain in the Victorian public mental health services and have opportunities for their career progression.
Slide 9: As mentioned earlier, the department funds 140 Full Fee Postgraduate Mental Health Nurse Scholarships per year. This is to encourage and support nurses to specialize in mental health nursing. There are three eligible courses included in this program. The Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing, or a Master of Mental Health Nursing, or, for applicants who are early in their mental health nursing career, a Master of Advanced Nursing Practice in Mental Health Nursing.
Slide 10: There's a lot of useful information in the application guide in terms of eligibility, both for applicants and courses being undertaken as well as information regarding the assessment perspective. This information is also partly relayed on the Health.Vic website as well as the Australian College of Nursing website. Scholarships are awarded on a competitive process therefore some people who apply won't be awarded a scholarship. So, the more familiar you are with the guidelines, the better your application will appear and your chances of being successful in the application process.
Slide 11: We will now dive into assisting you with submitting a strong application. There are two assessment criteria questions that you will be required to respond to and in the next few slides we've highlighted what we are specifically looking for when assessing the scholarship application. We advise that before you write your answers, familiarize yourself with what is being asked and take some time to think about how you actually satisfy these criteria.
Slide 12: Looking at the first assessment criteria, this question asks that you provide a 200-300-word statement describing what motivated you to pursue a career in mental health nursing. Some prompts that will help you to answer this question include; your reasons for pursuing mental health as a career, someone who has inspired you throughout your career or previously, and why an example of working alongside consumers, families, carers and supporters or lived experienced workers and an example of a time where you wished you had mental health skills or knowledge to support a person. You can also include any anything else that's motivated you as this is a non-exhaustive list.
Slide 13: The second assessment criteria requests that you provide a statement explaining your commitment to working in the public mental health and/or AOD sector. The points that need to be covered in this response include what your career aspirations and goals are and how these studies will aid your career development. Are there any specialist areas or specific interests that you'd like to move towards or explore within the mental health sector and how will these studies aid your commitment to mental health nursing in the context of providing person centred, and recovery-oriented care.
Slide 14: Just to go through some tips when writing and submitting an application. If the question isn't asking for it, then the panel is likely not assessing it. So, it's important to keep your answer directly linked to the question at all times, and this will save you from going over the word limits. You're encouraged to share experiences that have motivated you inyour life including any self-directed voluntary initiatives such as additional courses completed, leadership positions you you've been in or any other specific examples which have led you to this career in mental health. It's very important to note that you need to pay attention to the language that you use in your responses especially in a reforming sector. The panel appreciates language that's aligned to reform and language which is contemporary and respectful. If you need more information regarding the correct use of language terminology, there is a link which has been provided on page eight of the application guide and this diverts you to the ‘Mental Health Lived Experience Engagement Framework.’ It's also advised that you get, your response reviewed by a friend, colleague or mentor and have them give you feedback which you can then use to amend your response to make it as strong as possible. It's also encouraged to write your responses in a Word document so that you can do a spell check and then just copy and paste them through into the portal when you're ready to submit. Lastly you need to get your application responses reviewed as well as endorsed by your director of mental health nursing or your unit manager. This is to ensure that they both endorse the quality of your application as well as support you to participate in the postgraduate studies. There is a template that has been provided on the application form on the ACN's website for you to use.
Slide 15: Okay, so looking at the application process, pay attention to these steps. The first step is just to confirm your eligibility and check the grant or scholarship conditions. Complete your application form making sure that you've proofread your responses. Scholarships will then be awarded on a rolling basis up until the 31st of January 2024 or until full allocation is reached. You should be notified of your outcome either in December or the end of February depending on the date that you submit your application.
Slide 16: Okay, so we'll now be looking at some example responses that will hopefully give you an idea as to what a strong application response looks like and these have been provided in the appendix of the application guide.
Slide 17: I'll give you some time to read this response and then we'll go through how the response didn't hit the criteria. Okay, so why is this this particular response a weak response? Firstly, there are some grammar issues which potentially could have been corrected if someone had just simply reviewed this response. The question has also not been answered… why have they actually pursued a career in mental health? What has led them to taking this direction in their care? Has there been something or someone that's most motivated them in their life? Also looking at the language, the language that they've used is not contemporary, referring to words like client as opposed to Consumer is an example. There are also no personal experiences shared that have prompted them to pursue mental health as a career and as mentioned at the start we don't think this has been reviewed by a manager as a manager like would have guided this response a bit better.
Slide 18: I'll now give you some time to read this example response and then we'll go through why it's a stronger application. Okay so this is a strong response because it's very well structured and it's covered all that's been requested. They've shared what personal experience has motivated them to pursue mental health as a career. Their reason for pursuing studies is clear in that they want to expand their knowledge and skills in addition to using their lived experience and they've also used language which is respectful and contemporary.
Slide 19: This brings us to the end of this webinar. Feel free to submit any questions to the Mental Health and AOD Workforce Growth team they'll come through to myself Chantelle Allan. An email address is provided which is MentalHealthWorkforce@health.vic.gov.au. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to reviewing your application.
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