Our Programs

Our Programs

Black Dog Institute Health Professional education is for GPs, psychologists, counsellors, social workers and mental health care workers looking to expand their knowledge and skills in the area of mental health. As a world leading translational research institute, our accredited programs draw on the most current research and clinical evidence. Our interactive, case-based workshops are led by expert clinician facilitators who inform theory with practical, real world examples.

Attend your workshops to:

  • update your clinical knowledge
  • practice skills that are directly transferable into practice
  • learn from expert facilitators and peers
  • network with fellow health professionals
  • gain CPD points

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Advanced Training in Suicide Prevention

Our new workshop aims to increase health professionals’ skill and confidence in taking a detailed suicide history and developing a collaborative management plan to increase the safety of people planning suicide. The workshop provides practical tools for health professionals managing the full spectrum of suicide risk presentations including the acute suicidal crisis, care after a suicide attempt and assisting families experiencing suicide bereavement.
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Bipolar Disorder: The essential psychological toolkit

This program provides a practical, skills based exploration of the psychological strategies most effective in supporting recovery and maintaining wellness in bipolar disorder. Using interactive learning via case studies and videos from clients and their carers, the workshop includes tools to aid in the accurate assessment, diagnosis and management of bipolar disorder I and II. Emphasis is placed on the importance of assessing the impact of bipolar disorder on the family unit and addressing the needs of carers and their crucial role in the management of bipolar disorder.
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Dealing with Adolescent Depression

The program aims to help general practitioners develop confidence in relating to teenagers, understanding their issues and distinguishing those who are experiencing normal adolescent difficulties from those with a clinical mood disorder. GPs will be provided with a comprehensive grounding in recognising, assessing and managing depression in adolescents. The program uses case based learning to demonstrate a practical clinically applicable approach to identifying and managing adolescent depression. The program details risk assessment in adolescence, comprehensive management planning and considerations involved in managing confidentiality, carer involvement and prescribing medication for this specific population.
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Dealing with Anxiety Disorders

This highly interactive workshop aims to provide GPs with a comprehensive theoretical understanding of anxiety disorders together with an extensive range of skills and strategies to better manage anxiety in their practices. Clinical scenarios form the basis of learning as participants explore how anxiety disorders arise, how they are maintained and the role general practitioners can play in addressing these effectively.   The program will assist GPs to gain further confidence and competence in the effective use of Focused Psychological Strategies (FPS).
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Dealing with Depression

Dealing with Depression is a highly interactive program that aims to provide general practitioners with a practical framework for diagnosing and managing depression. The program uses case based learning to explore key challenges GPs experience when caring for patients with depression. Cases will be examined and effective strategies will be devised to address these challenges.
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Dealing with Depression in Rural Australia

Depression is a common condition frequently managed in primary care. Identifying and managing depression in a rural context presents a unique set of challenges for health professionals providing mental health care in their communities. Dealing with Depression in Rural Australia is a highly interactive, multidisciplinary program developed specifically to address the needs of clinicians delivering health care for people presenting with depression in a rural setting. Using a case-based problem solving format, the program outlines a practical framework for assessment and management planning readily applicable to primary care.
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Depression Dilemmas

Despite improved awareness and education, there are still some presentations of depression that are highly challenging for clinicians to manage in the primary care setting. Depression Dilemmas is a new interactive workshop that tackles areas of treating mood disorders that clinicians can find particularly demanding. Using case studies as the platform for learning, the program explores strategies to tackle depression in the context of alcohol use disorder, late life depression and depression that is failing to remit despite seemingly adequate treatment. Open to both general practitioners and psychologists, this advanced workshop also provides an opportunity for the two professions to interact, share each other’s perspective and problem solve together.
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Expert Insights: Better Than Placebo? Managing depression in 2017.

Depression is a common mental illness, effecting around one million Australians in a 12 month period. As new treatment options for depression continue to emerge, it can be difficult for clinicians and people with lived experience alike to determine the effectiveness and safety of the array of treatments available and to formulate a management plan that is most likely to be of benefit to the individual person.
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Managing Bipolar Disorder

The diagnosis and management of bipolar disorder presents many challenges to primary care clinicians. Our six hour highly interactive program explores the key issues and difficulties in the detection and treatment of bipolar disorder, equipping the clinician with the knowledge and skills required to deliver an integrated pharmacological and psychological approach best suited to the needs of people living with bipolar disorder.
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Perinatal in Practice

This workshop aims to introduce health professionals to the current understanding of perinatal mood disorders and its management, using lecture, case studies and interactive exercises.
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REACH Facilitator Training

REACH facilitator training is conducted by Black Dog Institute for psychologists, counsellors, social workers and mental health clinicians. REACH facilitators run psycho-educational wellbeing programs for groups of 10 to 16 people who have a one-year diagnosis of depression or bipolar disorder. Group courses run for 9 weeks and are based on principles of Responsibility, Education, Acceptance, Connection and Hope. This 2-day training workshop builds on your group facilitation skills with peer learning in an evidence-based psycho-education framework. The training is immersive and experiential with quality educational manuals and resources to help you empower your clients to achieve and maintain wellness.
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Stepped Care and eMH in General Practice

In this 2 hour workshop participants will be introduced to the concept of stepped care in mental health, specifically in the context of the way mental health problems present and are managed in primary care. The history and thinking behind the development of the stepped care model will be discussed, as well as its advantages of the approach for the patient and the mental health system generally.   Current Black Dog Institute research around the implementation of the model will be discussed. Case examples will be used to demonstrate the development of a case formulation and its use in matching the intensity of treatment to severity of illness.   Simple psychological support strategies and cognitive behavioural therapy interventions which can be used in primary care will be discussed and several of those skills (mood charting, structured problem solving) will be demonstrated and practiced in role play.   An overview of the Australian evidence-based online resources available to support work with the mild to moderate end of the severity spectrum of mental illness will be given.  
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Targeting Anxiety in Youth

This program provides practitioners with an overview of the latest developments and techniques to accurately diagnose and manage treatment for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, focusing on young people aged 8 to 17. Anxiety disorders are the most common diagnosed psychiatric disorder in young people with significant impacts on the individual’s emerging sense of self, independence from parents’, academic achievement and development of peer relationships. Left untreated young people develop maladaptive coping mechanisms which can set up patterns for life including avoidance, self harm and substance abuse. Accurate diagnosis and management in the childhood years increases responsiveness to treatment and improves prognosis. The benefits of working collaboratively and best practice guidelines regarding psychological and pharmacological management are discussed. The workshop utilises case studies as a platform for an interactive learning experience.
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The ABC of CBT: Skills for GPs

This 20-hour program provides GPs with the knowledge and skills to use CBT effectively for a variety of clinical conditions. Together with teaching practical CBT strategies, the program specifically addresses the delivery of psychological services within the context of general practice. The program consists of 18-hours of face to face, interactive learning together with 2-hours of self-directed learning which is debriefed within the modules.
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Untangling Depression: Practical strategies for cases that challenge us

A clinically relevant program designed to help you manage chronic and relapsing cases of depression effectively in a climate of reduced funding and limited sessions. Based on our latest understanding of how depression develops and presents, the program provides a practical framework and evidence-based strategies to manage complex presentations of depression that require more than routine treatment. Knowing what to assess for, how to build a team approach and address treatment barriers will benefit both patients and clinicians by improving treatment response, and helping to ease strain, and ethical and practice dilemmas often faced by clinicians. In this highly interactive course, clinicians will have the opportunity to work on real case studies, reflect on their own experiences, and learn from peers. The program has been developed based on extensive consultation with Mental Health professionals to identify the issues and solutions for dealing with complex presentations of depression. It is run by highly experienced clinicians with advanced group facilitation skills.
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