The seven principles provide a common set of core values and approaches that underpin all interactions between professionals and consumers, carers and families.
Seven practice principles
The seven practice principles
- All practice responds to the consumer’s needs
- All practice understands the consumer in their context
- All practice focuses on the consumer’s strengths and wellbeing
- All practice is trauma-informed
- All practice is culturally safe and responds to diversity
- All practice is ethical and grounded in human rights
- All practice is respectful, compassionate and collaborative
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Services, teams and practitioners put the person at the centre of practice and service delivery.
What this looks like in practice
All care, support and treatment respects and responds to the preferences, needs, life stage, and values of consumers, families, carers and supporters.
People providing care take the time to identify and understand what and who is important to the consumer. We foster trust, establish mutual respect, and work together to share decisions and plan care.
- All consumers services are actively engaged in shaping their care, support and treatment.
- Care, support and treatment draws on and includes the existing resources and strengths of families, carers and supporters.
- Care, support and treatment outcomes are regularly assessed from the points of view of the consumer and their families, carers and supporter. We make sure that people’s needs and preferences are being considered and met.
Considerations for the workforce
- Am I putting the consumer’s wishes, needs and preferences at the centre of my engagement?
- Am I using holistic planning to address all aspects of the consumer’s wellbeing and context?
- Am I actively seeking to understand consumers’ diverse and changing needs, and exploring their options for support with them – within my own expertise (or ‘scope of practice’) and beyond (through referral pathways)?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How do we include people’s voices (consumers, carers and families, as well as the entire workforce) in the development of our services? What do we need to do to hear voices that are rarely considered?
- In what ways are leaders championing person-centred practice?
- How do we use feedback to improve our practice?
- Are we collecting and reporting experience data?
- How are person-centred principles part of core business and embedded in all documentation?
Services, teams and practitioners consider the broader context that affects a person’s mental health. This includes socioeconomic, environmental and relational factors. Practice uses evidence-informed approaches according to the preferences and needs of the person, their family, carers and supporters.
What this looks like in practice
All care, support and treatment seeks to understand the consumer in their context. This includes the person’s connections with other people and service systems. People providing care understand the social determinants of mental health and wellbeing.
Care, support and treatment considers people in relation to other factors and does not view them in isolation.
Service delivery respects people’s broader context and circumstances.
Considerations for the workforce
- What have I done to build positive rapport and collaborative relationships with the consumer and key people in their life?
- How have I built my understanding of the relationships that are important to the consumer?
- How am I working with the consumer to understand their relational context, including how these relationships support their wellbeing?
- How am I including the consumer’s family, carers and supporters in my decision-making?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How do we assess and respond holistically to diverse needs in our care, treatment and support?
- How do our policies and procedures involve consumers, families, carers and supporters in our service model and ways of working?
- How do we involve people with lived experience in the design of our policies and procedures?
- Do we have collaboration pathways and networks to help us respond to the needs of all members of our community?
- Do we provide training for staff on person-centred, holistic care? Do we embed stories from families, carers and supporters in our training material?
- Do our recruitment and evaluation processes include questions about holistic and person-centred approaches?
Services, teams and practitioners work together with consumers and their families, carers and supporters to identify the person’s strengths and support recovery and wellbeing.
What this looks like in practice
All care, support and treatment recognises the following:
- Everyone has the capacity for positive health and wellbeing.
- All people have strengths, including relationships, that can and should support their recovery.
- Recognising a person’s strengths supports them to feel good about themselves and believe in their own recovery.
Considerations for the workforce
- How do I promote a message of hope and optimism, supported by realistic goal setting?
- How do I actively draw on and foster the person’s strengths, resilience and personal resources?
- How do I include the person’s family, carers and supporters in my decision-making?
- How do I engage with the person to develop a collaborative and inclusive approach to care?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How does our organisation support its workforce to focus on people’s capabilities and strengths, rather than their deficits?
- How do we privilege the person’s thoughts and values, and incorporate them into our approaches?
- How do our care plans, tools and approaches support strengths, goals and aspirations?
- How do we embed people’s personal agency, self-esteem and overall wellness in our care, treatment and support?
- How do our services promote protective factors, including partnerships, networks and supports?
Services, teams and practitioners understand trauma and its prevalence among people who use mental health services. They understand and respond to the neurological, biological, psychological and social effects of trauma.
What this looks like in practice
Care, support and treatment emphasises physical, psychological and emotional safety for consumers, families, carers and supporters. It seeks to help people rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.
All care, support and treatment will be mindful of and respond appropriately to trauma and its impact on the mental health and wellbeing of consumers, families, carers and supporters. It understands the prevalence of trauma among consumers accessing mental health and wellbeing supports.
Service providers move from a caretaker role to a collaborator role. This approach is at the heart of the transformed mental health and wellbeing system. The entire workforce has a foundational awareness of how trauma affects consumers’ lives.
Considerations for the workforce
- How do I create a safe and inclusive environment in my engagements and interactions?
- How do I show the consumer that I have listened to them and want to and am seeking to understand their experiences?
- Do I focus on consumers’ experiences when I seek to understand them and their needs?
- Do I regularly update my trauma-informed awareness and practice?
- Do I apply trauma-informed principles in all my interactions with consumers, including: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration and empowerment?
- Do I monitor the effect my work has on me? Am I practising self-care strategies as part of my responsibilities to myself, consumers and colleagues?
- Do I seek to understand whether the consumer been harmed previously by services? If they have, how do I think about how this might affect their relationships with me and other staff?
- How do I enable, foster and support a safe and inclusive environment?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How do we build awareness of the impacts of trauma?
- How do we balance service outputs against the importance of relationships?
- How have I, as a leader, embedded trauma-informed principles at all levels? Does this include the physical environment of services, procedures, professional development and practice guidelines?
- How do we consider the risk of vicarious trauma? Does our workforce know that personal awareness, conduct and self-care have major implications for their work with consumers?
- How do our recruitment, training and development policies and procedures follow trauma-informed principles? Does the organisation provide regular reflective supervision practice?
- Do all levels and aspects of our services use apply trauma-informed principles, including: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, empowerment?
Services, teams and practitioners understand that Victoria’s population is diverse. They respond to the consumer’s unique background and needs. This includes personal and cultural identity, values, beliefs, language and circumstances.
All care, support and treatment is safe and inclusive. It incorporates principles of respect, inclusion, equity, compassion and cultural safety. It values shared respect, knowledge and learning.
Care, support and treatment recognises that people’s needs will vary depending on their culture, language, background and identity.
What this looks like in practice
All care, support and treatment respects and responds to the cultural needs and diverse identities of individual consumers. People providing care use and advocate for culturally safe practices. They understand and recognise different types of diversity and the barriers that individuals face.
Care, support and treatment is safe and respectful.
Service delivery is adapted to meet the diverse needs and background of the individual.
Considerations for the workforce
- How do I consider barriers to care? What do I do to find and implement practical solutions to make sure people from diverse communities can access our service?
- How do I improve my understanding of culturally safe engagement and practice?
- How do I consider what I need to do differently to be more culturally safe and responsive?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How do we create and maintain awareness of unconscious bias?
- How do we support our workforce to think about consumers’ different needs and backgrounds?
- How do we provide a safe and inclusive environment for all?
- How do we support staff to deliver diversity-responsive and culturally safe care?
- How do we review training and development in diversity-responsive and culturally safe care to ensure it is up to date?
- How do we include language and cultural factors in service design and delivery?
- How do we embed a zero-tolerance approach to racism and discrimination?
Services, teams and practitioners act ethically and with integrity in everything they do. They work in accordance with the principles, objectives and specific provisions of relevant legislation.
They support consumers, families and carers to make decisions about their own care, treatment and recovery. They use human-rights approaches that challenge stigma and discrimination and prioritise strengths-based recovery and wellbeing.
What this looks like in practice
All service delivery, engagement and interactions are ethical and informed by relevant human rights responsibilities. They empower individuals to make their own decisions.
Services uphold and respect individuals’ rights and values.
Services promote and prioritise safety across the workforce.
Human rights responsibilities and ethical practice underpin all care provision.
Considerations for the workforce
- How do I ensure that ethical practice underpins all my interactions with consumers, families, carers and supporters?
- How do I ensure that I support consumers to actively engage in decision-making?
- How do I acknowledge consumers backgrounds, needs, strengths and treatment preferences?
- How do I include families, carers and supporters in decision-making wherever possible?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How do we integrate human rights principles and practice into our everyday work?
- How do we model ethical behaviour and ethical decision-making?
- How do we consider and incorporate lived experience insights to support our reflective practice?
- How do we reward behaviour that aligns with ethical and rights-based behaviours?
- How do we ensure people’s rights are being protected?
Services, teams and practitioners at all levels actively involve, value and respect all types of expertise, including lived experience expertise. They use mutual respect, compassion and collaboration in all their relationships. This includes professional relationships as well as with consumers, families, carers and supporters. All practice is respectful, compassionate and collaborative.
What this looks like in practice
All care, support and treatment is respectful and compassionate. We work collaboratively to ensure mutual respect is present at every point of care.
Care, support and treatment respects the individual at all times.
We value and consider different perspectives, experiences and expertise.
Service delivery, where possible, caters to the needs of the consumer and their family, carers and supporters.
Services, teams and practitioners respect colleagues with diverse backgrounds, experience and professional types. They understand the importance of diverse expertise in people’s treatment.
Considerations for the workforce
- How do I l incorporate the consumer’s values and ways of thinking into my practice?
- How do I work collaboratively with the consumer to develop an inclusive approach?
Considerations for managers and leaders
- How do we create and maintain a culture that is compassionate, genuinely collaborative and authentic?
- What do we value in our team? Do we celebrate respectful and collaborative interactions and engagements?
- How do we build the capacity of our team to think about approaches that enhance respect and reciprocity?
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