Image: Clinical Coach Fionn McKenzie mentoring Johannes Zuendel, social worker in Wellington CAMHS.
In June 2023 MHAIDS’ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) started a trial of a Clinical Coach role as part of the Mental Health and Addiction Change Programme.
The role aims to walk alongside new clinicians to familiarise them with the sector, build confidence, and support them to develop the requisite skills to be an effective CAMHS clinician.
Fionn McKenzie, Social Worker for CAMHS since 2015, stepped into the role, which sees them act as a mentor to provide guidance and identify learning needs to support staff new to the sector.
Fionn divides their time between the different Wellington Region CAMHS teams. A typical day supporting new staff might involve assisting staff to identify relevant internal and external trainings, taking a group out to visit services relevant to tāngata whaiora rangatahi, and delivering a group session on a particular service process as part of the broader induction programme.
Fionn also delivers more targeted 1:1 sessions, either face-to-face or via Zoom. “We might be talking about managing their caseload, troubleshooting processes, or expanding on e-Learning - talking through different scenarios and linking to specific examples, to help make it more understandable," they say.
Fionn also supports the external education needs of staff. Eeuwe Schuckard, Kaiwhakahaere / Team Leader of Kāpiti CAMHS, says: “As a Team Leader, knowing that Fionn has the skills and capacity to ascertain whether a course is going to be useful for new staff, having conversations about their capacity to manage the travel and time away, and then seeing through relevant applications and funding pathways, is hugely helpful.”
He adds that Fionn has also been instrumental in supporting a broader effort to integrate and structure orientation processes within MHAIDS. For example, they have been developing an orientation booklet for use by all teams, as currently approaches vary across the CAMHS teams.
Fionn has had positive feedback about the work they've been doing, with the fixed-term role now having been extended for another six months. "Team Leaders have said it's been good to have this support for new starters in addition to supervision, so things have been able to happen faster and more smoothly. And new starters appreciate having another person to go to.”
Eeuwe agrees, saying “Ultimately, the Clinical Coach role has dramatically improved the experience of joining a CAMHS team for new staff, reduced the workload of taking on new staff for both clinicians and Team Leaders, and has improved new staff’s awareness of partner agencies and their roles and processes.
“The Clinical Coach has ensured new staff are inducted in a manner that instils confidence, and has taken pressure off existing staff - who would otherwise have to juggle time pressures in order to provide orientation.”
