Organisation: Mental Health Commission
Job Title: Clinical Consultant
Location: East Perth
Experience in developing professional networks and effective working relationships
I believe that it is important to develop professional networks and maintain effective working
relationships to increase the productive edge of staff. Relationships within the workplace and
external relationships should be nurtured to foster cooperation and future opportunities. I have
the required skills to culminate a productive working relationship and in turn create a productive
environment. Additionally, I believe that communication, guidance, mentorship, leadership and
prioritisation are salient to fostering productive working relationships.
My current role is as a Psychiatric Liaison Nurse (PLN) working in the Emergency Department (ED)
within the Department of Psychiatry for the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. As a psychiatric nurse
responsible for mental health patients, I am regularly called upon to educate the ED staff, many of
whom do not have an in-depth knowledge of psychiatry, and negotiate a patient’s ongoing care. If
we are unable to transfer a mental health patient to an appropriate psychiatric setting, they will
be required to stay in the ED for a period, generally one to five days. This causes frustration and
problems with the ED staff as they want to move them out of ED to free up beds.
The largest challenge I face in this role is managing the relationships with the staff of the ED. There
is an underlying prejudice against people with mental health issues; there is a perception they are
not sick and are taking up valuable bed space. That is where my negotiation skills come in to
salvage injured feelings and explain the realities of the situation. I need to manage the
relationships with the ED and I find that if you are forthcoming with information and offer
assistance as required, the team members are more receptive to this. The main message I need to
convey is the situation is out of everyone’s control and we all need to work together to provide
the best possible care to all patients.
If I place someone under the Mental Health Act they are required to stay in the ED until a bed
becomes available. This is not a popular decision as it entails the use of a large amount of ED
resources; they are required to assign a nurse to the patient and the patient care is more intensive
and involved than with other patients.
If someone takes umbrage with a patient being placed under the Mental Health Act, I need to
work with him or her to restore injured feelings. Everyone plays a key role in the patient’s care and
I find if I provide assistance and explain what I can do to alleviate their concerns, this plays a vital
role in maintaining and strengthening these relationships.
The results of these discussions are generally positive; team members understand why the patient
is there and they do what they can to work with you and follow the patient’s care plan while they
are in the ED.
Extensive clinical experience in mental health care and service systems
Approved as a Mental Health Practitioner in 2012, I hold current registration with the Australian
College of Mental Health Nurses. Additionally, I undertook training through the Office of the Chief
Psychiatrist in the form of the ‘Mental Health Act 2014 Train the Trainers’ program. As such, I am
qualified to train other staff in this Act and am required to hold an in-depth knowledge of this
piece of legislation.
Having completed my studies in 1984 at the Wellington Hospital Board School of Nursing, Porirua,
I have over 30 years of experience in nursing, mostly in forensic settings, with approximately 6
years of service in a national security unit. Following this, I spent approximately 7 years in the
Regional Forensic Service.
The Regional Forensic Service is a 15-bed medium secure unit. While there, I was required to
perform risk assessments, rate the acuity of patients and allocate staffing resources based on
acuity level. I was responsible and accountable for the overall functions of the unit, including client
allocation and staff supervision.
Whilst working for the Health Department, Wanganui Area Health Board, I was appointed to the
position of Senior Staff Nurse in the National Security Unit. This unit was New Zealand’s only
dedicated maximum security forensic unit. My responsibilities included all aspects of patient care
in a maximum security environment, including being involved in the development of a training
program to teach staff to deal with challenging incidents.
Currently, I am a Psychiatric Liaison Nurse (PLN) within the Department of Psychiatry in the
Emergency Department (ED) of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and have been in this role for over
five years. This is the busiest ED in Perth in terms of mental health load as the toxicology centre is
located here and St John Ambulance brings the majority of overdose cases directly to our ED. Once
patients are cleared by toxicology, they are presented to the psychiatry unit.
Since August 2015, when the mental health unit opened, I have worked predominately on night
shift. As the only staff member rostered on during this period, I am personally responsible for the
admission of patients and this has opened up a variety of challenges, requiring me to strengthen
my relationship with other departments, especially the emergency doctors, as I require them to
prescribe medications for patients. Due to the relationships I have established with these doctors,
they act on my knowledge and advice regarding medication needed by particular patients.
Experience in education and training
With my wife, I co-authored a guide to family trusts in New Zealand. In writing this guide, we took
a highly technical, legal subject, and made it understandable to the layperson. I was also involved
in producing trading trusts for approximately 400 lawyers nationwide, as well as the public. At
times, I acted as the trustee for these trusts. We were involved in auditing trust activities to
ensure they were compliant with trust laws in place at that time. As a result of the success of this
book, I was approached to provide a one-hour training seminar followed by a Q and A session
regarding that particular style of investment.
I am a trained clinical supervisor and have a number of staff I supply clinical supervision to on a
regular basis. When I was in the forensic service in New Zealand, I ran an informal training session
with junior staff on the use of seclusion.
Using seclusion is a highly emotive topic as taking away someone’s liberty is a big thing and is a
treatment method that should be used minimally as an absolute last resort. If used properly, I
believe seclusion is one of the best therapeutic tools but it has to be used appropriately and
intelligently. I trained all junior staff in the appropriate and correct use.
The most common time to use seclusion is when a patient is displaying threatening behaviour.
When training the junior staff members, I taught them to anticipate situations they may find
themselves in and to formulate plans of action in advance, regarding what they would do if they
were faced with a threatening situation.
If there is no forward planning of a potentially high-pressure situation, there is potential for staff
at all levels to make a mistake. Being prepared ensures you are less likely to make an error.
Providing this training ensured all staff had the knowledge and skills to react appropriately in
threatening situations and used seclusion only when absolutely necessary.
High level written and verbal communication skills
My role requires me to write assessments, on average three to five pages in length, on each
patient being considered for admission. This contains a complete assessment and risk assessment.
The assessment contains a complete medical history of the patient detailing past medical and
psychiatric situations, assessment of their social situation around drugs and alcohol, any family
history of mental health issues, and if there have been recent presentations to other mental
health services.
My report includes what I believe is going on with the patients and my recommendations on the
most appropriate response for that patient with that presentation.
The outcome depends entirely on the patient; some are discharged, some are admitted to the
various services, and others are admitted under the Mental Health Act as involuntary patients. If
the patient is discharged, they are generally referred to a community mental health clinic in their
area and various other support services I can refer them to through the mental health
department. Ongoing care on discharge depends predominately on what the patient is willing to
engage with.
There are times when a patient should present to the hospital but they do not want to. In these
cases, I need to assess if they are a risk. If not, then admission under the Mental Health Act is off
the table and I refer them to mental health services. If yes, I admit them under the Mental Health
Act as required.
If the patient is to be admitted, regardless of whether this is voluntary or under the Mental Health
Act, the senior psychiatric mental health staff review my written assessments.
When I teach junior staff to write these assessments, I ensure they follow the dictum of writing
every word with the thought in mind that some time in future a judge might be reading what you
have written, so you must always ensure you are professional in your written assessments.
My verbal communication skills are utilised on a daily basis. I constantly interview mental health
clients and their families, as well as discussing mental health plans with the staff of the ED.
Constant negotiations with patients are required if they do not want to come to hospital, or if they
do want to come to hospital but this is not the appropriate place for them. When negotiating with
patients who want to come to hospital and this is not appropriate, I get them to tell me the
benefits they expect from coming in to the hospital. Generally, I find if the onus is on them
regarding why they need to come in, they are more likely to talk themselves out of it as not being
the appropriate place. This will also initiate them discussing a plan for their ongoing care, for
example, speaking to the community health team.
In the past, I have been a paid public speaker on the topic of contracts for wrap mortgages. I
developed a contract that allowed an investor to carry out these transactions and then developed
and sold the contract documentation and templates, providing a turnkey system for the person
who purchased these to implement them in their dealings.
Excellent interpersonal skills including negotiation, interviewing and facilitation skills
I currently work in the Emergency Department (ED) of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital as a Psychiatric
Liaison Nurse (PLN) within the Department of Psychiatry. My responsibilities as a PLN is for mental
health patients who present to the ED.
One of my principal functions in the ED is triage; I am an ambassador for mental health and I often
deal with people, patients and family who have never encountered mental health situations
previously. My role is to educate them and alleviate their anxiety. In my experience, if people are
adequately and properly informed, they are less anxious and more forgiving of delays. Therefore, I
use my experience to provide them with as much knowledge and information as possible so they
know what to expect and do not have any unwelcome surprises.
I am often required to facilitate conflict resolution between patients and their families; mostly this
is just educating everyone involved and attempting to alleviate their anxiety. Generally, any
contact with a hospital relating to psychiatry and mental health causes anxiety because of the
unknown, particularly when dealing with new presentations or people who have not been
involved in this mode of care for an extended period. They do not know what to expect and
cannot anticipate possible delays. Therefore, I use my knowledge and experience to educate them
in the process and what they should expect.
Whilst I am speaking with the families and friends, I am also interviewing them and undertaking
assessments of the patient. I frequently interview the next of kin, family member or support
person. Essentially, my concern is not so much determining the treatment as it is determining the
help someone needs and the most important avenue to use to facilitate that help and provide
them with safety. Often, patients and family will ask if we will be starting treatment with
antidepressants, I will reiterate to them that my role and priority is to make sure the patient is safe
and the people around them are safe.
If it is safe for the patient to go home, then I will facilitate that and put in place support networks.
On the other hand, if it is not safe, I facilitate movement within the hospital, either in ED if no
psychiatric beds are available or move to a long or short term mental health bed.
When interviewing, I tend to use a relaxed approach and encourage the interviewee to open up to
me. I build a rapport with them so I acquire the best possible information, identifying and using
different interview techniques with different people. Sometimes I need to be empathetic,
sometimes I need to be confrontational, and I use the approach that is the most effective for that
person. Building rapport by educating and identifying needs through my interview techniques
results in me gaining the information I require to make a judgement on what is the most
appropriate outcome for that patient.
Strategic and project management skills
As a business activity, I was offering contributory mortgages, where we were taking funds from
the investing public and providing loans to property developers. Providing these loans
necessitated us complying with the requirements of the New Zealand Securities Commission
(NZSC). There were standards we had to comply with on a daily basis, and because we were taking
investment funds from the public and loaning these to developers, we were under intense
scrutiny. As the general founder of the company, I managed these processes. All accounts were
required to be audited and, consequently, we applied high standards to ensure all expenditure
was correctly accounted and was used for operating the company and not to contribute to a flashy
lifestyle.
To comply with reporting requirements of the NZSC, we needed to report to the commission and
our investors to meet the minimum requirements under the New Zealand Securities Act. We also
had to ensure our borrowers were up to date with repayments, capital requirements, and any
other restrictions placed on their loan.
To confirm our borrowers were complying with conditions, for example, they would have the roof
on by a certain date, we would physically inspect these properties to make sure these milestones
were met. To manage all aspects of the loan, we used the loan monitoring software, finPOWER.
From an audit perspective we were required to report to the NZSC on a quarterly basis. We also
performed general audits twice yearly in the form of a general 6-month audit and then a major 12-
month audit.
This resulted in our company fulfilling every single promise we made in our prospectus and end
statement. We never had a borrower default on their loan terms and all investors were paid
monies with interest as stipulated in the prospectus. This is of particular significance as this
occurred during the time of the global financial crisis (GFC) and many of our investors were from
the same group of people who had been impacted by the GFC. To appease their concerns, I
phoned them on a weekly basis to keep them updated on progress. We also met all compliance
requirements of the NZSC.
Between 1998 and 2007 my wife and I bought, renovated and sold approximately 70 properties,
some of these were very small renovations and some were major. To track these renovation
projects I developed a spreadsheet that stepped us through every sequential step of the process
to make sure that everything was done in the most efficient, cost effective way.
Prior to purchasing the project, we would perform a due diligence, utilising financial modelling
spreadsheets I had created for this purpose. I would estimate costs of required renovations and
input this into the spreadsheet; the spreadsheet was designed to add an overage to account for
any variances to the project.
Using spreadsheets to track the project lifecycle, I would schedule tradesmen to be on site at the
required time in the project. It was important to adjust the schedule regularly as one delay would
have a flow on effect, causing delays to the rest of the project. As per the communication plan, I
would distribute this tracking spreadsheet by email to all relevant contractors on a Monday
morning during the project lifecycle. This was especially important as we would generally have
multiple projects running concurrently and the team of tradespeople would be working on those
multiple projects with us, so this also enabled them to schedule their working week efficiently.
A separate workbook was used to track budget, actuals, and project milestones. One spreadsheet
would contain the budgeted figures, another would track actual expenditure and a third would
track project milestones. This allowed us to report on budget versus actuals and investigate
reasons for project variances in expenditure. Tracking the project milestones in this spreadsheet
also provided the opportunity to track project progress and redistribute budget costs if and when
these milestones changed. These tools also allowed me to report on project process to relevant
stakeholders as required, such as the bank.
Working on these projects required the establishment of great working relationships with all
stakeholders in the project, including tradespeople and representatives from the bank. The
creation of great working relations, constantly reviewing timeframes, sequences, what was going
well, investigating savings potential, and comparing budgeted versus actual expenditure, resulted
in the projects generally being finished on time and in line with budget costs and variance
safeguards.
Ability to work independently and use high levels of initiative to achieve required outcomes
Since August 2015, when the mental health unit opened, I have worked predominately on night
shift. As the only staff member rostered on during this period, I am personally responsible for the
admission of patients and need to ensure I maintain strong relationships with staff in all
departments to achieve the best care for a mental health patient at a given point in time.
One of the things I constantly do in the ED is watch the screen for presentations of people who
may have a mental health background. If I see someone who may be a mental health person, I
check Solice to review details on the patient to see if we have any history on file for them, for
example, if they are prone to carrying weapons, or selling drugs, or if we have an alert on Solice
for them. If I locate any information relating to a patient during these checks, I immediately advise
the nursing staff in the ED so they know they have this person in their care. This allows them to
put an action plan in place and alert the responsible areas. They are very appreciative of this
information.
As a Senior Staff Nurse in the Regional Forensic Service in New Zealand, we had a patient transfer
from the forensic unit. This case was extremely complex; the patient was being treated after
perpetrating a violent crime. When I heard about the case, I volunteered to be the key worker as it
would be a challenge to manage the patient’s care.
The largest challenge in this case was the management of staff providing the ongoing daily care.
The patient challenged staff and stirred up emotions to the point the staff were divided about the
ongoing care and management of the patient. To ensure all staff involved in the patient’s care
stayed on the agreed, consistent approach to care, I found myself providing clinical supervision to
them and I was constantly monitoring and reviewing emotional responses to the situation.
There were two staff members in particular who needed additional supervision and I arranged
meetings with both staff regularly during the week, sometimes together and sometimes
separately. Together, we constantly reviewed the goals of the patient’s care, the approach we had
agreed to take, as well as reviewing their actions.
The two staff members were emotionally clouded in the early days and I needed to work with
them to show them the difficulties they were experiencing were a direct result of their emotional
response to the patient, rather than the mental illness of the patient. Whilst working with these
staff members I regularly reported to the psychiatrists so they were aware of the situation.
Following consultation with the psychiatrists, we made the decision to remove one of the staff
members from the direct care of the patient. The other staff member came to understand the
most effective means of interacting with the patient and this staff member eventually became a
proficient team member.
Desirable Selection Criteria
Tertiary qualifications in a health services profession
I am a qualified and registered Psychiatric Nurse, having completed my studies at the Wellington
Hospital Board School of Nursing, Porirua, in 1984. I hold current registration with AHPRA; my
registration number is NMW0001482012.
Knowledge and understanding of the Western Australian Mental Health Act 2014, and the
Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Defendants) Act 1996
In my role as a Psychiatric Liaison Nurse, I am responsible for the assessment and triage of all
mental health clients who present to the Emergency Department. As such, I am required to have
working knowledge of both the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Defendants) Act 1996, and the
Western Australian Mental Health Act 2014.
The Mental Health Act 2014 came into effect in late 2015. I received training from the Office of the
Chief Psychiatrist in the form of the ‘Mental Health Act 2014 Train the Trainers’ program. As a
result, I am qualified to train other staff in this Act and am required to hold an in-depth knowledge
of this piece of legislation.
Current knowledge of legislative obligations for Equal Opportunity, Disability Services and
Occupational Safety and Health, and how these impact on employment and service delivery
Equal Opportunity (EO) policy, specifically under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984, provides a
framework to ensure that workplaces are free from unlawful discrimination and harassment and
that there are programs in place to assist employees or potential employees who may belong to a
particular EO group. Under this policy, management, and staff supervisors have a duty of care and
responsibilities that include
– Providing employees with equal opportunity to apply for available jobs, training and
development, higher duties, and flexible working hours
– Taking steps to ensure that all work practices and behaviours are fair and free from all
forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment
– Ensuring selection processes are based on merit, transparent, and consistent
Probably the biggest impact I face on a daily basis relating to EO is to make sure that all mental
health presentations to the Emergency Department (ED) receive the same provision of care as
everyone else. There tends to be a negative perception of mental health patients as they do not
appear sick or injured; therefore, I am required to stand up for them to ensure they receive the
same level of care as other patients.
The other impact is contact with patients under Disability Services, either intellectual or mental
disabilities that a person has had since birth or through injury. In these cases, Disability Services is
generally involved and I liaise with the teams there to provide the required standard of care.
I am serious about my obligations under Occupational Health and Safety legislation and company
policy, and commit wholeheartedly to the associated principles and practices. I understand there
are general requirements that must be met by every workplace in order to protect the health,
safety and welfare of employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 set the
minimum requirements for specific hazards, work and administrative practices in relation to work
safety and health.
