Mental Health Practitioners initiative

Mental health practitioner scope of practice

Mental health practitioners (MHPs) report to the school principal (or their delegate) and work flexibly within the school’s existing wellbeing team across the 3 tiers of support. The MHP role includes:

• enhancing mental health promotion and prevention activities in the school by:
  • embedding mental health and wellbeing strategies and programs across the school
  • building the capability of teaching and school leadership staff to manage student health and wellbeing
  • contributing to whole school health and wellbeing plans
• providing early intervention supports for students with mild to moderate mental health needs, including counselling support for individual students and/or small groups
• coordinating supports for students with complex needs by proactively working with regional staff and other health professionals where required.

All MHPs are employed under the Victorian Government Schools Agreement (VGSA 2022) as a Mental Health Practitioner. MHPs must be a fully qualified:

• mental health nurse
• occupational therapist
• psychologist
• social worker, or
• counsellor of a prescribed class.

While some MHPs have the qualifications to complete tasks such as cognitive assessments or Disability Inclusion Profiles, these tasks are not part of the MHP role.

MHPs have an intentionally broad job description to ensure that they can meet the unique needs and priorities of their school community.

Schools must understand and uphold the boundaries of the MHP role. This is because schools don’t have the same clinical governance and risk management as clinical environments (for example, hospitals).

In scope MHP activities

This guidance lists what MHPs must do, can do and must not do in their role. MHPs and schools are strongly encouraged to speak with their regional mental health branch if they are unsure if an activity fits in the scope of practice.

MHPs must:

• comply with the Child Safe Standards
• comply with the Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes policy
• undertake mandatory reporting where needed
• conduct risk assessments and write safety plans for students
• report critical incidents where appropriate
• record activities on departmental reporting platforms, for example, supportED
• raise any concerns they have with their principal or line manager.

MHPs can:

• undertake time-limited direct counselling (approximately 6 to 8 sessions, depending on the needs of the student) for students presenting with mild to moderate mental health concerns support groups of students with key mental health and wellbeing topics, like exam stress or sleep hygiene
• build school staff capability on mental health and wellbeing issues
• contribute to a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing
• undertake mental health promotion activities
• facilitate referrals to internal and external services where needed.

Out of scope activities

Certain activities are out of scope for MHPs. These are:

• managing high-risk student presentations alone. Presentations are high-risk if they are assessed by the MHP as presenting risk or safety concerns or where the mental health concern is having a significant impact on the student
• counselling students who ‘drop in’ to the wellbeing space without providing informed consent
• providing specialised or tertiary level counselling to students with complex presentations. For example, complex trauma, victims of sexual abuse, treatment of eating disorders or psychosis treatment
• direct counselling support for school staff (school staff can access the Employee Wellbeing Support Services (EWSS) if required) or parents/carers
• discipline-specific functions that fall outside of the MHP role (for example, mobility assessments by occupational therapists or cognitive assessments by psychologists)
• observing classrooms without consent
• conducting home visits, transport to appointments or outreach sessions outside of the school
• conducting behaviour management
• completing funding applications, such as Disability Inclusion Profile assessments and reports
• leading the development of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or behaviour support plan
• leading Student Support Group (SSG) meetings
• leading teams of staff (for example, wellbeing coordinators)
• leading curriculum or independently supervising a class
• providing career advisory services
• providing professional supervision to other staff members
• undertaking prevention or promotion activities or providing direct individual or group therapy to primary school students.

Records management

MHPs and schools must use supportED for student referrals and school-level service delivery.

The supportED platform supports users to comply with the department’s Records Management policy for the creation, management, storage, and disposal of school records.

The platform offers a secure space for storing and managing all case information. Access is tailored to a school’s wellbeing team structure and its roles.

MHPs must comply with the department’s Digitisation Action Plan for MHP initiative records.

For more information on supportED, please go the guidance chapter Practice supports for Mental Health Practitioners or go to supportED – Home (staff login required)(opens in a new window).