Conrad Aikin Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Vic, Au

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Provide leadership in developing practice across Client Services, reporting to the Executive Director Client Services.

Melbourne, Australia

Provide leadership in supporting and developing Intensive Case Managers and other staff who provide direct services to clients who have had ongoing experiences of homelessness. As part of the Journey to Social Inclusion leadership team, build organisational capacity to respond to people who have complex sets of problems arising from severe social disadvantage, including severe childhood trauma, complex mental health and problems with substance use. Achievements include:-Deliver a program of Individual Practice SupervisionDeliver a program of regular Group Reflective PracticeLead a collaboration to develop Practice Development Principles encompassing ethical dimensions and considerations, trauma informed practice, and client centred approach.Build in accountability in practice development through regular reporting and process evaluationMajor contribution to trust and collaboration within J2SIMajor contribution to the professional development and well being of over 40 Intensive Case Managers, Economic Participation Workers and Peer Workers

Melbourne

Commencing in 1994 and providing psychology services in the areas of relationships, career issues, depression, anxiety, stress and recovery from trauma. The practice subsequently expanded to 3 days per week from 1996 to 2002 and came to include supervision for Provisional Psychologists and other mental health professionals. Since 2011 the practice has focused on consulting to organisations, providing clinical and casework supervision, and coaching and professional development in counselling and trauma recovery.ResponsibilitiesConduct psychological assessments and prepare assessment and treatment recommendation reports for individual clientsProvide counselling and psychotherapy to clients with a wide range of psychological problems and presentationsProvide debriefing and consultation on secondary trauma and practitioner well beingDesign and deliver supervision programs for Provisional Psychologists Provide individual and group supervision for psychologists and counsellorsDesign and deliver organisation wide programs of professional developmentAchievements• Established a successful practice before Medicare subsidies were introduced• Assisted thousands of adults and older adolescents to overcome and manage serious psychological problems • Successfully taught and supervised psychologists under the “4 + 2” registration process to point of qualifying as a psychologist (with input from other psychologists for specialised areas of psychological testing and work with children)

Melbourne, Australia

Helping Hand Mentoring connects young people from refugee backgrounds with volunteer mentors.Responsibilities Provide support, training and guidance to the mentorsIdentify and manage psychosocial riskProvide secondary Consultation to Program CoordinatorAdvise and provide recommendations to the board of directorsAchievements include Key role in establishing the programLed a process of building knowledge of the experiences and needs of participants to inform all aspects of the organisation's work

Melbourne, Australia

Responsibility for oversight of professional development activities and programs tailored for organisations, as part of Foundations House's work to develop the capacity of services to respond to people who have survived trauma and other traumatic events, Manage a team of trainer facilitators and the training coordinator.Achievements include:• Provided leadership and guidance through a major organisational restructure• Managed the delivery of a program of professional and organisational development, with delivery and budget targets met or exceeded• Leadership in developing Reflective Practice approach• Maintained and built partnerships with organisations in community service sector

Melbourne, Australia

The trainer-facilitator develops and delivers specialist professional development to build the capacity of organisations and service systems to respond to the needs of people who have experienced torture and other traumatic events.• Plan & deliver high quality professional and organisational development programs• Conduct professional development needs analyses & create professional practice development strategies and whole of organisation interventions• Provide advice regarding professional development & good practice in working with people from refugee backgroundsAchievements include:• Built the capacity of many hundreds of professionals to respond to the mental health and psychosocial needs of people who have survived torture and other traumatic events. • Co-designed Foundation House’s two courses; for Counsellors, and for Incidental Counsellor, programs that have formed the core of Foundation House’s overall professional development program for over 10 years.• Created & delivered a highly successful Community of Practice for Community Health Counsellors working with people in ongoing precarious situations such as asylum seekers, and presented this project at an international conference in 2013.• Delivered a 3 year program of reflective practice for managers working in the settlement and asylum seeking sector, making a major contribution to their capacity to lead and take care of themselves and the people working in their organisation.• Wrote the Unit; Psychosocial Impact of Torture and Other Traumatic Events, in the Monash University Masters of Nursing. This Unit has been used in the Masters of Nursing since 2012.• Led facilitators in a service wide program of Reflective Practice for a major Settlement & Asylum Seeker support organisation, designing and facilitating more than 100 reflective practice sessions, and training and mentoring facilitators within the organisation. Presented this project at an international conference in 2016.

Victoria, Australia

As part of a senior practice role I provided practice supervision to counsellor advocates, complementary therapy practitioners and community liaison workers.Achievements • Delivered high quality supervision ensuring quality of service provision to clients• Provided a very substantial contribution to the development of counsellors over more than 10 years and to the organisation’s capacity as a whole

The senior practitioner provides individual casework to people who have been subject to trauma and other traumatic events, with a focus on clients with severe and highly complex trauma, and practice supervision of other counsellor-advocates. NB Intitially engaged sessionally as a counsellor-advocate one day per week then commencing 4 days per week in 2002, promoted to Senior Practitioner in 2007. Since 2012 primary role of trainer facilitator, with practice supervision and secondary consultation .5 to one days per week.ResponsibilitiesDeliver group and individual practice supervisionRespond to emergency and crisis situations Monitor and provide secondary consultation on complex and high risk casesConduct initial intake and comprehensive psycho-social assessments and prepare reports on clients with highly complex presentations.Provide direct counselling and psychotherapy to, and advocacy on behalf of, Foundation House Clients with key focus on trauma recoveryRun psychosocial support and psycho-education groups for clientsAchievements include• Provided a very substantial contribution to the development of counsellors over more than 10 years and to the organisation’s capacity as a whole• Supported, as a supervisor, mentor and facilitator, people through several major organisational changes • Prepared over 100 reports that contributed to crucial official refugee determination decisions which meant people would not be returned to extreme danger• Helped many clients who commenced counselling with no meaningful connections to humanity, to recover from the effects of torture, rape and other extremes of violence• Successfully intervened on many occasions when clients were at risk of suicide• Worked with community leaders to improve access to psychosocial support and mental health services

Melbourne, Australia

Wombat Housing and Support Services assists People who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to attain and maintain suitable housing.Design and deliver the supervision and reflective practice program to all direct service practitioners in the organisation, to contribute to quality of service and sustainable practice.ResponsibilitiesRegular group supervision for practitioners working with clients with complex mental health needs, significant psychological trauma, high levels of risk and in vulnerable social situations Design and deliver a program of reflective practice for the organisationIndividual debriefing for staffSecondary consultation on complex and challenging casesReport and advise the CEO and management team on issues relating to best practice, professional development and staff well beingAchievements• Created and delivered “…an overall high level of satisfaction with the supervision program among direct service staff, those with supervisory responsibilities, and managers. The program was seen to be professional, well informed by both theory and experience, and engaging of a range of participants.” (Kim Webster of Social SenseMaking Services, who conducted an evaluation of the supervision program using individual interviews and focus groups with the supervisees and their managers, and a survey of stakeholders - please see link to Review Report)• Provided invaluable information to the CEO and management team regarding organisational culture, professional development needs and issues affecting the delivery of high quality of service, while maintaining confidentiality of participants• Successfully guided the practitioners, and the organisation as a whole, to become much more trauma informed, and far more aware of the importance of the worker-client relationship

Melbourne, Australia

Gaia Consulting Group provided training, coaching and organisational interventions to improve productivity by focusing on relationships and conversations.Provide coaching and training to managers and leaders in areas of leadership, communication, teamwork and well being.ResponsibilitiesDesign and deliver coaching and people development programsFacilitate workshops and on-going professional development groupsBuild and maintain relationships with key stakeholdersProvide debriefing and advice regarding critical incidents, and secondary and direct psychological traumaAchievements• Established Leadership Network Groups for managers and leaders across diverse organisations (Emergency Services, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Financial Services and Health Services)• A $70 million increase in profitability over 2 years for a client organisation: the contribution of the small team, that I was part of, focusing on how people work together, was acknowledged by the director of a large enterprise, as the key factor in this financial outcome for that organisation

Develop and implement service model and manage a team of Counsellors, reporting to the Director, Ampersand Learning. Ampersand Counselling Service was established to provide a low cost counselling service as part of a training program for practitioners.ResponsibilitiesDesign the service model, in consultation with Director and key stake-holdersSet up protocols and manage day to day operationsAchievements• Built and developed a service model based on a network of established practitioners• Provided the leadership to establish the service which enabled many people to have low cost access to therapy

Melbourne, Australia & Derbyshire Uk

DIRECT Line achievements include• Instrumental in establishing this service, as first counsellor appointed, making a major contribution to developing service policy and practice • Established robust evaluation protocols in a highly politicised context• Ensured that the service responded appropriately in regard to alcohol and other drug related violenceDerbyshire CC achievements include• Key contribution to child-centred and family sensitive practice• Sensitive and ethical response to a complex situation involving a colleague’s seriously negligent and harmful practice• De-escalated many dangerous situations, including when the adolescents were armedDSS Achievements include• Rolled out the Organisational Stress and Trauma Strategy, as part of small team• Trained “Stress Contact Officers” to successfully build the organisation’s capacity to manage and reduce occupational stress and trauma• Special contribution to moving the Unit culture from traditional welfare model to a service approach• Provided high quality and evidence based debriefing and counselling to staff affected by traumatic incidents in DSS officesCRS achievements include• Presented to 1993 CRS National Conference on The Language of Effective Assessment• Pioneered a psychosocial approach to pain management• Created links with community agencies, mental health services and Migration Resource Centres and managed key relationships with people from those organisations

Bachelor’S Degree, Psychology, Honours

Activities and Societies: Psychology Students Society & Amnesty InternationalCompleted a double major in psychology. Honours thesis.

Certificate Iv In Training And Assessment

Registered Supervising Psychologist, Psychology

Registered as Psychologist in 1990 (subsequently Supervising Psychologist) with the Psychology Board of Australia

Certificate In Drug And Alcohol Counselling

Certificate In Ontological Coaching; Mastering The Art Of Professional Coaching, Coaching

Ontological Coaching focuses on coaching on how people are (being) not just what they do.

Clinical Supervision Program

Body As Voice

Intensive 12 day program on somatic approach to psychotherapy with trauma survivors.