Training for workers and organisations in the ACT

The Health Care Consumers’ Association of the ACT (HCCA) offers training that provides community workers with knowledge, skills and strategies to support the health literacy of service users – so that service users can access health services, make decisions and manage health issues effectively. The workshops also:

• Increase community workers’ knowledge of how the health system works in the ACT, and
• Increase community workers’ own health literacy skills and confidence.

The training package, A community worker’s guide to health care in the ACT – skills to support service users, covers:

• An introduction to heath literacy: Key concepts and tools for frontline workers
• Values: Personal values and past experiences influence health care interactions. Reflect on your own values and your organisation’s values to become a more effective advocate for people facing health literacy challenges.
• Action: Practical skills and strategies for frontline workers, and an introduction to organisational health literacy.
• Access: Learn about how the health system works, important health services in the ACT and strategies workers can use to help people overcome barriers to services and get the care they need.
• Communication: Support better communication between health professionals and service users and help workers communicate well with service users about health matters.
• Safety: Understand risks in health care (emotional, physical and financial), know what makes a health service safe, and learn strategies to help someone stay when using health services. Includes informed consent and safety before during and after a hospital admission.
• Information: This session introduces ways to help someone find, understand and act on health information, find reliable health information, and tips for managing health information.

HCCA can deliver these workshops as short sessions of 20 to 30 minutes or longer sessions of around 1-1.5 hours. We can also tailor the program and combine sessions to meet your organisation’s needs.

Please contact us on 02 6230 7800 or [email protected] to discuss your requirements.

Webinar recordings

You can watch recordings of previous training sessions on the HCCA Youtube channel. Some useful webinars are:

• Writing Health Information Everyone Can Understand
• How to Assess Your Organisational Health Literacy

Training outside of the ACT

The Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health offers online training in health literacy, plain language, cultural competence and more. You can see their courses on their website.