Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT IS REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS?
Real Skills Plus CAMHS is a competency framework for practitioners who work with infants, children and young people with significant mental health/AoD concerns, and their whanau. This framework has been developed by The Werry Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Workforce Development. The Ministry of Health, in conjunction with Te Pou, have concurrently developed a competency framework for people who work in mental health and addiction services (Let’s get real: Real skills for people working in mental health and addictions). The two frameworks have been developed so that they complement each other. Real Skills Plus CAMHS defines two levels for practitioners, Practitioner-Core and Practitioner-Specialist.
WHY DO WE NEED REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS ?
Infants, children and young people with mental health/AoD concerns have specific needs to consider when accessing mental health/AOD services.
These include:
- Developmental issues;
- Obtaining informed consent;
- Working with families/caregivers as partners;
- Managing issues of confidentiality;
- Working with multiple systems.
Whilst it was clear during the development of Let’s get real and Real Skills Plus CAMHS that there are similar concepts that underpin the frameworks, it was also apparent that the unique differences of working with infants, children and young people with mental health/AoD concerns require a complementary framework to that of adults.
WHO IS REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS FOR?
Real Skills Plus CAMHS is for all health practitioners who provide direct services to infants, children and young people with mental health/AoD difficulties, and their whānau. The term ‘health practitioner’ encompasses a broad range of people employed in practice roles in the non-government and the government sectors, (examples include Social Workers, Nurses, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Child Psychotherapists and Occupational Therapists). Real Skills Plus CAMHS is a framework which acknowledges the breadth of the workforce.
HOW DOES REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS RELATE TO LET’S GET REAL?
The Let’s get real framework provides a description of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by all people working in the mental health and addictions sector. People working in non-practice roles in infant, child and youth mental health/AoD services will meet the ‘Essential’ or ‘Leader’ levels of the Let’s get real framework. For example, a person in a support role in a CAMHS/AOD service will look at the Let’s get real ‘Essential skills’ and also the skills and associated principles in Real Skills Plus CAMHS. A manager of an infant, child or youth mental health/AoD service will look at the ‘Essential’ and ‘Leader’ levels of the Let’s get real framework and also the skills and associated principles in Real Skills Plus CAMHS.
A practitioner commencing work in an infant, child and youth mental heath/AoD service will be required to meet the ‘Essential’ and ‘Practitioner’ levels of the Let’s get real framework, and then will be required to work at one of the two progressive practitioner levels, ‘Practitioner-Core’ and ‘Practitioner-Specialist’ of the Real Skills Plus CAMHS competency framework. These levels provide the framework for practitioner knowledge and skill development. Other than people in specialist cultural roles, practitioners will have met the performance indicators at the practitioner-core level before progressing to the practitioner-specialist levels.
HOW WAS REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS DEVELOPED?
The Werry Centre project team and reference group commenced this work in October 2006. The process commenced with a review of developing and completed local and international competency frameworks for mental health, and infant, child and youth mental health and AoD. The first draft of Real Skills Plus CAMHS was developed from data collected from eight regional workshops which were held in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. Scenarios were developed which stimulated discussion regarding the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by the infant, child, youth and whānau mental health and AoD workforce. Consultation occurred with service-users, Māori, Pacific Peoples, the other mental health workforce programmes, the Ministry of Health and the broader sector via the Werry Centre website. The Pacific section of Real Skills Plus CAMHS has been informed by the Sei Tapu Pacific Mental Health and Addictions Cultural and Clinical Competencies Framework (Pulotu-Endemann et.al., 2007). A refined draft document was then presented to the sector via seven further regional workshops held in 2007, alongside presentations to special interest groups. The feedback from this process was then reviewed by the Werry Centre Reference Group and utilised to further refine the Real Skills Plus CAMHS competency framework.
WILL REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS REQUIRE ADDITIONAL TRAINING?
As for Let’s get real, your current skills will be recognised and validated. If further training is required, this will be phased in gradually as part of the overall implementation process.
WILL REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS BE LINKED TO PAY?
As for Let’s get real, pay arrangements are not part of the Real Skills Plus CAMHS project, but there is potential to link to pay in the future.
HOW DOES REAL SKILLS PLUS CAMHS RELATE TO OTHER PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES?
During the development of the Let’s get real framework, the Ministry of Health project team completed an environmental scan which included a review of all of the competency frameworks that are known to be in use in New Zealand. The development of the Let’s get real framework occurred in the context of these competency frameworks and their relevance to current practice. The Real Skills Plus CAMHS framework has also attempted to ensure that this framework holds relevancy to all practitioners currently working within their own discipline professional competency frameworks. Real Skills Plus CAMHS has been designed to complement rather then replace other frameworks.
Real Skills Plus CAMHS adds to discipline-specific competencies by providing specific descriptions of the knowledge, skills and attitudes for working with infant, children, young people with mental health and AOD concerns and their whānau.
Existing discipline specific discipline frameworks include:
- Child Psychotherapy: New Zealand Association of Child & Adolescent Psychotherapists Inc.
- Medicine: Good Medical Practice: A Guide for Doctors (Medical Council, 2004);
- Nursing: Competencies for the Registered Nurse Scope of Practice (Nursing Council of New Zealand, 2005);
- Occupational Therapy: Competencies for Registration as an Occupational Therapist (Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand, n.d.);
- Psychology: Core Competencies for the Practice of Psychology in New Zealand (New Zealand Psychologists Board, 2006); and
- Social Work: Entitlement to Registration: Competence (Social Workers Registration Board, 2004).
During the consultation for this framework, it was identified that further work is required to describe the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by youth consum
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