Milestone Sleep and Settling Training Delivered for Victoria’s MCHN Workforce

By Kerrie Gottliebsen

Tweddle is thrilled to have passed a significant milestone in the delivery of Victoria’s Maternal and Child Health Nurse (MCHN) Workforce Sleep and Settling model of Training (the model). This important achievement included a swift transition to online training in response to the pandemic.

After being awarded the contract, Tweddle, together with the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, launched the compulsory training in February 2021. We developed 7 online modules and intended to follow up with face to face workshops, but needed to convert to online delivery along with a train the trainer component.

Tweddle CEO Ms Jacquie O’ Brien said that the training delivery had been an incredible demonstration of resilience, collaboration, and hard work. “Working in partnership with the Department of Health, the MCH Advisory body, the Centre of Excellence in Child and Family Welfare and Tweddle’s Sleep and Settling training project team has been a real privilege” she said. “We’ve seen a landmark delivery of training and the consolidation of sleep and settling knowledge and resources that will benefit babies, toddlers and their families for a long time to come.”

Since commencing the training, two thousand and nineteen Maternal and Child Health Nurses and Community Health workers working within the maternal and child health sector have undertaken the training. The program curriculum included the development of 28 Sleep and Settling videos, 50 full day workshops and a 60-page training manual.

The Victorian Government developed the new evidence-informed Sleep and Settling model in consultation with KPMG, MCH and other Advisory groups. The training reflected the model, which recognised the importance of sleep for a child’s long-term development and for the wellbeing of families.

At the completion of training, the feedback showed a significant change in the MCH workforce’s knowledge and confidence about the Sleep and Settling model of care. High completion rates also demonstrated that the entire Victorian MCH workforce were very engaged and in addition, Tweddle’s high-quality resources were well received.

Tweddle’s Sleep and Settling Training presenters, Beverley Allen and Le Ann Williams, who delivered all of the 50 workshops, strived to ensure that the evidence-based content was both interesting, engaging and adaptable to local communities.

So far, 779 respondents have completed participant surveys demonstrating consistent positive feedback regarding the Sleep and Settling Training project’s quality learning experiences.

Feedback provided to the training team included “Fantastic workshop, thank you. Helped to consolidate the knowledge gained from completing the online component of the course. It was great that it was so interactive.” and “The information was clear and comprehensive; I really enjoyed the video from the Aboriginal perspective as well as the Dad was giving his view. I enjoyed the conversation in the breakout groups to ensure that we share similar information.”

More recently in May, a total of 96 Victorian MCH sector representatives attended an all-day Train the Trainer session. In the future these representatives will support new MCH staff and graduates (who have not attended the workshop training provided this year) to successfully implement the Sleep and Settling Model of Care in their local community. These representatives are now considered to be the project’s Sleep and Settling champions.

Tweddle is grateful to everyone that participated in the development of the videos, workbooks, filming, program delivery and technical side of the training.

For more information about the Sleep and Settling training please contact Tweddle on (03) 9689 1577.