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Study community services & care online with University of New England through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

This course is ideal for those coming direct from school or interested in building on existing industry experience and vocational qualifications in welfare and community service work and healthcare.
The course explores the context of welfare and community service and health work and provides students with the foundational academic abilities and theoretical understandings necessary for a further qualification and career in health, social care and community service work.

Follow, or build upon, your natural urge to protect and nurture those around you. Develop skills that form the core of care professions. Gain a pathway into a degree in nursing, social work or community services.

Diploma in Community Welfare and Wellbeing

Interprofessional Practice in Health and Social Care

The Context of the Health and Community Services

Information and Evidence in Health and Social Care

Core concepts in health and social care, along with the perspectives of various stakeholders, shape the way in which health and community services are delivered. Studying this subject will help to equip you with an understanding of the context and role of health and community services in enhancing health and well-being outcomes for individuals and the community. With a focus on marginalised and disadvantaged individuals, groups, communities and regions, you will examine the structure and function of health and community service systems, and how these influence organisational roles, responsibilities and practices. Exploring the social determinants of health, your understanding of how these affect the outcomes of diverse groups, and how health and community services systems seek to address these issues, will be developed. You will also analyse the perspectives of a range of stakeholders in health and social care.

Come to understand how health and community services can help disadvantaged individuals, groups, communities and regions.

In modern health and social care, actions and advice must be based on reliable and up-to-date information and evidence. Studying this subject will equip you with foundational skills for using information and evidence in social care and health professional practice. With a focus on learning and decision making, you will identify sources of information and evidence for health and social care, analysing how research and evidence-based practice has improved outcomes for individuals and communities. Examining the strengths, limitations and challenges of using an evidence-based approach in health and social care, you will explore the evolution of information and evidence and its impact on the development of health professional education and practice.Using a structured approach to locate, collate and present information and evidence in contextually appropriate ways in a range of formats, the subject will also help you to develop your research skills.

Examine sources for knowledge and decision making in health and social care. Consider the strengths and challenges of using an evidence based approach in the industry. 

Health and social care professionals today work collaboratively with each other and with clients, families, carers and communities to achieve the best outcomes for overall health and well-being. In this subject, you will gain an introduction to the history and context of health professional practice, applying principles of interprofessional practice in contextually appropriate ways. With a focus on interprofessional practice in healthcare, you will explore the roles and functions of people working within health and community service organisations and how these people can work together to deliver health care. Examining ethical, moral, legal and professional standards, and processes for meeting these standards, you will reflect on and analyse factors that will shape the development of your own professional identity. The subject will also help you to identify career opportunities within health and social care.

Come to understand the history and context of health professional practice using the lens of your own profession. Look into ethical, legal and professional standards of practice.

Studying this subject will extend your community services case work skills, allowing you to more effectively help children and young people at risk. Integrating theoretical and practical foundations, you will hone your skills to identify, assess and provide appropriate services to vulnerable children and young people in a range of client contexts. From simpler to more complex needs, you will learn to match the provision of advocacy, representation and referral as appropriate. Considering your role as a community services case worker, you will examine your duty of care, and the ethical and legal considerations when working with children and young people. You will analyse, plan and evaluate strategies appropriate for working in group settings to identify issues and support group processes, as well as exploring options for providing group and individual client advocacy and representation. Analysing individual client or group information, you will also identify appropriate case work services.

Children and Young People at Risk

In this subject you will examine the history of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, using the notion of whiteness to understand dispossession, resistance, adaptation and survival of Aboriginal peoples in Australia. Models of community development and cultural awareness will enable you to develop strategies to equip you for working with Aboriginal people in a variety of professional practices. You will be challenged to examine and reflect on the self as a conscious personal and professional actor within the dynamic of ethnic interchanges. This subject is developed and taught by Oorala Aboriginal Centre staff.

Grow your cultural awareness for better working relationships with Aboriginal people and the community. Explore the dominant concept of whiteness and start to think about Aboriginal perspectives. Learn through both historical and self reflections.

Working with Aboriginal People

As Australia’s population ages and awareness of the types and impacts of disability increases, the ability to analyse and critique commonly held assumptions and perceptions about disability and ageing is of critical importance, particularly for people working in community services and social work settings. In this subject you will explore the foundational theoretical frameworks that underpin our understanding of traditional concepts of disability and ageing, and consider alternative perspectives. Reflecting on your personal experiences and examining the divergence and convergence of concepts of ageing and disability, you will have opportunities to enhance your reflective skills and ability to comprehend what disability and/or ageing might mean for individuals, groups and communities. Applying a social lens and person-centered framework to your practice, the subject will help you to understand social worker roles within different organisational contexts.

Challenge what you know about people who are ageing or have a disability. Pick apart traditional concepts and seek alternative perspectives. Think about what disability and ageing mean to the individual and community and reflect on your experiences.

Responding to Disability and Ageing

To meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, culturally safe healthcare is as important as clinically safe healthcare. Research has shown when people experience culturally unsafe care, they turn away from health services even when this has serious consequences for their health and wellbeing. Studying this subject online, you will develop valuable insights into the underlying causes of addictions and explore drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs from a culturally appropriate standpoint. Examining the complex interplay of biological, psychological, political and social factors that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing addiction, your understanding of culturally safe approaches to drug and alcohol addiction will be developed. You will also learn about the relevance of family versus community intervention.

Working with the impacts of Addiction on First Nation peoples, Families and Communities

Understanding the needs of families and communities within a culturally appropriate framework is of critical importance when addressing family and community violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts. Introducing you to the intergenerational causes and effects of violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, this subject will help to develop your understanding of culturally appropriate support and interventions. Throughout the subject, your learning will focus on how best to consider people’s needs as related to recovery from trauma. Studying this subject, fully online with UNE’s counselling experts, you will gain an awareness of the causes and impact of family and community violence. You will examine best practice pathways to recovery including theoretical, counselling and community development approaches. You will also explore the importance of community development work associated with violence, crisis intervention and prevention.

Working with the impact of Trans-generational Violence on our First Nations families and Communities

This subject introduces the essential knowledge and skills you will need to advance you career in community health and welfare, with opportunities for you to use self-reflective practice to develop personally and professionally for effective community sector case work. With an emphasis on the ethics, values and philosophies underpinning community health work, you will build theoretical foundations to apply when providing community services. Examining distinctions between private and public issues in community development work, you will learn to effectively plan, coordinate, deliver, evaluate and improve community service activities. You will also explore ways to optimise individual outcomes when working in socially and culturally diverse settings.

Get ready to work with socially and culturally diverse communities to improve their wellbeing. Get to know the boundaries between what’s private and public. Explore your own personal biases. Be ethical and equitable in your decisions and caring.

Foundations of Community Health Work

Individual clients are at the heart of health care and community services. For a career in this fast-growing sector, you need a strong theoretical foundation in client-centered community services delivery. Studying this subject, you will gain an introduction to applying individual, community and statutory considerations to identify and assess needs and deliver appropriate services to clients. You will evaluate frameworks for optimal service delivery, including appropriate referral to alternative providers or organisations. Examining the principles of effective community services case work in the context of a service organisation, you will learn about the relationship between individual case workers and clients. You will explore issues of cultural diversity and cultural awareness as they apply to case work practice and professional relationships between case workers and clients. You will also assess a range of client issues and appropriate referral protocols you may encounter professionally.

Prepare for case work with clients of community services including healthcare and welfare. Build your understanding of cultural diversity and see how it impacts case workers and clients. Learn to assess client issues and refer them for the best care.

Course results for University of New England Community services & care Short courses

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