Collaborating for Impact
We are excited to announce a collaboration between Rural Focus Impact Group (RFIG) and Griffith Psychology, combining the multidisciplinary expertise of two passionate and skilled senior clinicians - Dr Jessica Griffith, Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and Nejla McFarlane, Senior Occupational Therapist.
Together, Jessica and Nejla bring decades of diverse experience across disability, forensic, mental health, education, government and therapeutic contexts.
To kick-start their collaboration, Jessica and Nejla have co-developed a suite of specialist, evidence-informed, and highly practical training and development offerings specifically designed for frontline psychosocial disability workers who interact with clients living with complex and overlapping mental illness and neurodevelopmental disability.
How this came about…
Through our own clinical work and interactions with stakeholders across multiple service sectors, we’ve noticed that frontline disability support workers are increasingly supporting clients living with co-occurring severe mental health and neurodevelopmental disability. These clients present with complex support needs, and many intersect with the criminal justice system.
We acknowledge that frontline support workers are the backbone of the disability sector - but too often they’re expected to manage complexity and risk without the tools, knowledge, or practice support they need.
Just as support workers providing high physical support require specialised training, so too do those working with complex psychosocial and neurodevelopmental needs. Yet, many frontline workers have not been equipped with the foundational knowledge, practical skills or a scaffolding of practice support to provide safe, effective, and trauma-informed support to their clients.
In response to this critical skills gap, we’ve developed a series of specialist training workshops designed to empower frontline workers with real-world strategies for their everyday practice.
Our approach
We deliver in-person training to small teams, ensuring that staff build a shared understanding of presentations, adopt consistent approaches, and operate within a cohesive, trauma-informed practice framework. By learning together, teams strengthen collaboration, improve communication, and reduce inconsistency.
Our approach fosters a culture of reflective practice, where team members are encouraged to reinforce each other’s learning, navigate challenges collaboratively, and co-create safe, responsive and empowering environments.
We follow up all training workshops with a one-hour reflective practice session to support the integration of learning into real-world practice.
Our workshops
Two-Day Foundational Training in Trauma-Informed Psychosocial Disability Support (for co-occurring borderline personality disorder and neurodevelopmental disability)
Co-Regulation Skills Training (practical skills to support clients through episodes of emotion dysregulation)
Managing Professional Boundaries (working with clients who display complex relational needs)
Understanding and Responding to Self-Harm
Introduction to Forensic Disability
We welcome all training inquiries to:
admin@rfig.com.au
Read more about our latest workshop that we were pleased to deliver in Bendigo, regional Victoria here
