Psychological Injury Management in the Workplace Congress agenda

Conference day one – Tuesday 23 May

Case Study: Skilling up leaders in identifying and managing psychological injuries

• Creating a visible and accessible senior management system that supports employees when needed
• Training managers to deal with the foreseeable psychosocial hazards in the workplace
• Achieving organisational connectedness through authentic support and on-going supervision

Todd Wehr, Executive Manager Staff Support Service, Queensland Ambulance

Case Study: Establishing early identification and intervention initiatives to reduce psychological injuries

• Raising the awareness of early signs of workplace psychological injuries
• Recognising the early acute symptoms of mental health that can progress to full-blown psychological injuries
• Responding to incidents and knowing when to take action or intervene

Geraldine King, Manager of Workplace, Safety and Wellbeing, Citibank

Case Study: Normalising the discussion of psychological injuries and approaching your employees appropriately

• Assisting employees with the ability to ask for help freely
• Asking the right questions and knowing how to jump in
• Providing a reliable platform of support that is easily accessible to your employees

Lana Hogno, Manager Workplace Health and Safety & Sanette Allen, Psychologist and Employee Assistance Program Manager, North Sydney Local Health District

Case Study: Creating a resilient workforce with organisational prevention approaches

• Improving workforce resilience by first focusing on organisational resilience
• If the organisation is resilient, what does this then mean for individual resilience?
• Engaging staff with best practices and enhancing their mental health literacy
• Achieving a balance between employee wellbeing and performance management

Rob Kosova, Executive General Manager of Safety, Programmed

Case Study: Shifting acceptance of psychological risks in the workplace

• Implementing a psychological strategy in the workplace
• Empowering employees to take responsibility for their psychological wellbeing
• Establishing a supportive workplace culture where psychological risks are accepted and proactively managed

Samantha Ferguson-Smith, Acting Assistant Manager – Safety, Health, Environment & Quality, Defence Housing Australia

Panel Discussion: Fostering a respectful workplace culture that prevents bullying

• Clarifying the perception of bullying amongst managers and employees
• Eliminating a hostile working environment with clear and precise workplace regulations
• Utilising effective factual investigations in resolving workplace conflicts
• Establishing respectful behaviours and dealing with conflict resolutions

Louise Ashelford, Director of Healthy Workplace Strategies, NSW Ambulance

Lana Hogno, Manager Workplace Health and Safety, North Sydney Local Health District

Jacqueline Bloink, Workplace Wellbeing Program Manager, St Vincent’s Melbourne

Daniel Palmer, Manager of Health and Wellbeing, NSW Department of Education

Afternoon tea

Case Study: Improving workforce health & wellbeing through staff support programs

• Providing for a psychologically safe work environment through an intervention that actively promotes health & wellbeing
• Promoting the benefits of social capital via peer support programs – can contribute to a healthy workplace culture
• Exploring how peer support programs meet the needs of its users, how they impact on wellbeing, and provide value for service
• Discussing the evolution of such programs and the relevance in the face of today’s workplace issues and incidents
• Considering strategies that mitigate the stigma of mental health issues in the highly functioning health worker and provide links to professional support when otherwise reluctant to access.

Jacqueline Bloink, Workplace Wellbeing Program Manager, St Vincent’s Melbourne

Afternoon Tea

Case Study: Utilising advanced psychosocial management frameworks over traditional management approaches

• Strengthening the workplace environment with a new systematic and social protocol
• Responding to mental health with advanced models that focus on the individual
• Reinforcing the traditional models that strengthens psychological injury management

Peter Prasad, National Manager of Health Services, Qantas

Conference day two – Wednesday 24 May 2017

Case Study: Treating the person not the injury

• Distinguishing each incident with a case-by-case approach
• Supporting the recovery process with unique social treatment models that reveal external factors contributing to the injury
• Communicating effectively with both injured employee and rehabilitation provider

Jane Hayter, Rehabilitation Manager North Queensland, Department of Defence

Case Study: Collaborating with employees in their recovery from psychological injuries

• Overcoming psychological injuries by reducing non-medical formalities
• Setting mutually agreed outcomes
• Treating the psychologically injured employee as a partner and not a subject in recovery
• Recognising the behavioural factors of recovering individuals and facilitating people with low internal efficacy

Alex Tejeda, Senior Injury Management Advisor, Fairfax Media

Case Study: Facilitating effective post-injury support

• Ensuring a high quality of clinical treatment services to employees with pure psychological injuries or psychological injuries overlaying physical injuries
• Adequately addressing potential barriers that can disrupt the recovery process
• Communicating with all relevant stakeholders on improving each return to work outcome
• Keeping on-going contact with employees despite a predicted short recovery time

Carlene York, Assistant Commissioner, NSW Police

Case Study: Reframing the debate on psychological injuries from a legislative perspective

• Examining the fine line between what constitutes as a psychological injury and what doesn’t
• Balancing the legal responsibilities with the caveats in managing psychological injuries
• Ethically responding to workplace mental health under a work cover model

 Andrew McGarity, Manager of Injury Management, Fire & Rescue NSW

Case Study: Setting return to work as a treatment strategy not just an outcome

• Incorporating early return to work as a primary treatment method for psychological injuries
• Identifying employee capability constraints
• Managing the associated stigma when supervisors make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for employees returning to work with a psychological injury
• Engaging health practitioners early on the return to work plan and creating a comfortable environment prior to return

Nea Saunders, National Injury Manager, TNT Australia

Case Study: Working with rehabilitation providers in managing the needs of both the individual and the organisation

• Ensuring that healthcare/rehabilitation providers understand the organisation objectives and engage with key stakeholders appropriately
• Integrating return to work management and business decisions with psychological health and wellbeing
• Empowering injured employees to control in their recovery in the workplace
• Engaging employees in the injury management decision-making processes to improve outcomes.

Daniel Palmer, Manager of Health and Wellbeing, NSW Department of Education

Afternoon Tea

Case Study: Preparing for change, leading through change and understanding change at times of organisational restructure

• Overcoming the psychological risks of an organisational restructure on employees
• Encouraging peer support during organisational change and normalising the psychological effects as natural human reactions
• Communicating the impact of changes in a clear and timely manner
• Matching the job description to the abilities of the worker whilst providing appropriate training and support

Emma Blee, Head of Enterprise Safety & Tonya Scibilia, Executive Manager of Letters and Mail Network, Australia Post

Case Study: Maximising the wellbeing of NSW Ambulance staff and volunteers following exposure to traumatic and significant events – a comprehensive organisational approach

• Incorporating robust and well understood guidelines and strategies for managing exposure to significant traumatic events
• Exploring the NSW Ambulance approach to identifying and responding to incidents that are likely to have a higher impact on the workplace.
• Equipping staff to know when and how to access support and the importance of having a stigma free, supportive workplace culture.

Paul McFarlane, Senior Chaplain, NSW Ambulance