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The Dark Side Of Rehab 7 was held on the 24th of May 2024.
TAVRP Inc. would like to thank all those who attended and the sponsors & presenters involved in this very successful event.
8:55am – 9:00am
9:00am – 9:45am
OPTIMISING OUTCOMES FOLLOWING SPINAL SURGERY
Professor Richard Bittar: Precision Brain, Spine and Pain
9:50am – 10:05am
KEY LEARNINGS FROM THE IMPROVING INJURY OUTCOMES IN THE TASMANIAN STATE SERVICE PROJECT
Dr Alice Morris
10:10am – 10:25am
PHASES, STRESSORS AND FACILITATING FACTORS IN THE RTW PROCESS
Kelly Broughton, UTAS PhD Candidate
10:25am – 10:55am
10:55am – 11:00am
11:00am – 11:20am
HOW TO BRING PEOPLE BACK TO THEIR LIFE AFTER 68 WEEKS: THE CHALLENGES OF TAIL END CLAIMS
Megan Scott, Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation
11:30am – 1:00pm
THE BIG T: TIPS FOR TACKLING TRAUMA AS A REHABILITATION PROVIDER
Jessica Forward and Dr Emma Richardson, Clinical Psychologists, Well Minds Work
1:00pm – 2:00pm
2:00pm – 2:05pm
2:05pm – 2:20pm
HOW TO HELP WORKERS UNDERSTAND PAIN
Hailey Buchhorn, APM WorkCare
2:25pm – 3:55pm
INFLUENCING RECOVERY – CREATING A PATHWAY FOR SUCCESS
Dr Cassandra Zaina FACP GAICD, Hands Up For Health.
3:55pm – 4:00pm
4:00pm – 4:30pm
Download Resources:
Anne Marie Dean President TAVRP Inc.
Hon Madeleine Ogilvie BA LLB GCM MP
The Hon Madeleine Ogilvie MP, is the Minister for Small Business & Consumer Affairs, Corrections & Rehabilitation, Arts and Women & the Prevention of Family Violence. She is also the Liberal Member for Clark.
With an extensive career in the law and business Madeleine is passionate about growing Tasmania’s economy and tech sector. Madeleine has previously worked for Allens law firm, CSIRO, UNESCO, EY and Telstra Corporation where she held the role of General Manager Contracts and Commercial.
Having worked in France, Indonesia and Silicon Valley USA, Madeleine has broad international commercial experience. Madeleine has held numerous board positions and holds a barrister and solicitor’s practicing certificate, with particular expertise in intellectual property law. Passionate about technology, communications and our emerging Space industry, Madeleine has led the development of Tasmania’s engagement in the Space sector.
Madeleine holds degrees from the University of Melbourne in History and Classics, the University of Tasmania in Law and a Graduate Certificate of Management from the University of NSW. She lives in Hobart with her family, including her Scottish Terrier dog named Winsome.
Spinal surgery has evolved rapidly over the past decade, and whilst excellent outcomes can be achieved in well selected patients, poor outcomes occur not infrequently.
This talk reviews the current indications for spinal surgery, the range of surgical options available (including disc replacement), as well as relative contraindications.
Optimising outcomes following spinal surgery begins well before the procedure, and continues postoperatively with rehabilitation, pain management, and meticulous return to work planning and implementation. All these aspects will be discussed.
Professor Richard Bittar is an experienced Neurosurgeon and Spinal Surgeon who specialises in the treatment of spinal conditions, brain tumours, and movement disorders. Professor Bittar currently has performed more robotic spinal surgery procedures than any other surgeon in Victoria and runs the largest Psychosurgery service in Australasia.
He has published dozens of scientific articles, and has presented his work at numerous national and international meetings. He prides himself on treating patients with dignity and respect, continuously providing consultations, assessments and treatments of the highest standard.
Professor Bittar was the first surgeon in Victoria to perform:
This presentation will share key learnings from the WorkCover Tasmania Board funded Improving Injury Outcomes in the Tasmanian State Service (TSS) Project. The project focussed on opportunities to improve the experience and outcomes for TSS employees involved in the workers compensation process. Starting with a deep dive into the data about claims performance in the TSS, research was undertaken to better understand the issues involved.
In partnership with UTAS, interviews were conducted with TSS employees about their lived experience with claim and return to work processes. A literature review was also undertaken, and input was gathered from TSS agencies and unions. Based on these data sources, a set of recommendations that align with the ‘It Pays to Care’ model have been developed.
Dr Alice Morris is the Director of Policy and Projects for WorkSafe Tasmania and a key part of the
project team for the Improving Injury Outcomes in the TSS Project.
The RTW experience is highly individualised, dependent on injury or illness, work environment and factors including (but not limited to), workplace accommodations and supervisor competencies in handling RTW following injury or illness. The doctoral research conducted by Kelly Broughton aimed to explore employees’ experiences and generate insights and explorations of what it is people experience when returning to work, the nature of those experiences (both positive and challenging elements), the diversity of experiences had, the kinds of outcome resulting from
their experience and what kind of supports they have from stakeholders (such as their immediate supervisor, return to work coordinator, medical team, family, etc.).
Based on research findings, Kelly has been able to generate insights indicating that during the RTW process, individuals returning to work face several stressors in the RTW process, at varying stages in the RTW process.
The presentation from Kelly will discuss each of these phases identified in the doctoral research, the stressors that individuals may be exposed to or may experience during the RTW process, as well as facilitating factors identified within the research that can ease these stressors during the RTW process.
Kelly Broughton is with the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics at the University of Tasmania. Kelly holds subject matter expertise in Workplace Health and Safety. Kelly has research experience relating to physical and psychological injury or illness, with research projects focusing on workplace conditions, return to work experiences and overall return to work outcomes because of these experiences.
Kelly’s doctoral project focused on employee experience returning to work following physical and psychological injury and factors that can influence those experiences. Kelly has been working on other research projects that surround improving work and wellbeing. Her research projects have focused on improving return to work resources, understanding the experience the workers compensation system has on injured or ill workers and psychosocial hazard regulation.
Finally, Kelly has experience in research consultancy work, including the review of the Workplace Rehabilitation Provider Accreditation Process. As a result, Kelly holds sound understanding of research within the occupational rehabilitation space, as well as the workers’ compensation space.
For the last 24 years Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation has provided a contemporary community based approach to the treatment of those with a motor vehicle or work-related injury. Understanding the challenges of working within the compensable injury space, the team at Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation have developed a specialised skillset in supporting a broader whole-being health of the individual regardless of injury type.
Within Tasmania, this approach has been particularly needed as the delay from injury to referral has on average exceeded 68 weeks. Effective interviewing, goal setting, education and exercise/activity prescription lay at the core of these services – however the practical expertise of navigating a complex file is what provides the best opportunity for a successful recovery.
Megan Scott is a member of the national support and development team with Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation. She has worked across a number of state and territory schemes and currently provides treatment as part of the South Australian team. Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation’s approach to recovery places a high value on developing self efficacy, improving health literacy, and an ownership in their own recovery journey.
When working with an individual with a work-related injury, Megan strives to understand the broader barriers to the recovery process and provides quality guidance on how to navigate any clinical considerations, whilst offering a person centred support to the everyday psychosocial barriers.
Witnessing, investigating, or being exposed to traumatic events or material is a well-known psychosocial hazard that can have serious consequences for an employee’s psychological health and wellbeing. In this workshop, Well Minds Work will take a deep dive into what might lead an employee to experience an event as traumatic, how trauma symptoms might present, and how to work with someone who has been exposed to traumatic events or material.
Interactive activities will be included throughout in order to build confidence and competence in working with employees exposed to trauma.
Learning Outcomes:
Dr Emma Richardson co-founded Well Minds Work in 2020 and creates and delivers mental health tailored workshops for organisations across Australia as part of this business. Emma graduated with a PhD in Psychology from the University of Tasmania in 2017 and her main research interests involve exploring the links between physical illnesses and mental health.
Emma currently co-manages Well Minds Work, works as a Clinical Psychologist with individuals and couples in private practice at Eternal Women’s Health, works as a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Tasmania, and works as the Program Psychologist for the AFLPA in the Tackle Your Feelings Program.
Jessica Forward is a Clinical Psychologist, who completed her Masters in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tasmania in 2019. She co-founded Well Minds Work in 2020 and creates and delivers tailored mental health workshops for organisations across Australia as part of this business.
Jessica also currently works as a Clinical Psychologist with individuals in private practice at Salamanca Psychology and as a lecturer at the University of Tasmania. Jessica’s special interests and experiences are in the treatment of mental health disorders/issues including anxiety, substance dependence, complex-trauma, and return to work following mental health related leave.
APM WorkCare’s VR Empowered Pain Recovery Program has been designed to help any worker with pain. Many injured workers who struggle with chronic pain don’t respond to the pain education provided by clinical experts, seek invasive or passive interventions, and avoid recovery movement which exacerbates their pain experience. This program uses virtual reality modules developed in conjunction with Professor Lorimer Moseley, a Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Chronic Pain Expert as a fully immersive experience that demonstrates to workers what is happening with their body and uses this newfound understanding to provide them with the tools to promote their
recovery.
Injured workers are provided compelling educational experiences to understand pain and the principles of neuroplasticity, combined with psychosocial risk management and education. The program uses contemporary neuroscience techniques to optimise graded movement and loading. Altering sensory inputs during movement and loading to create and consolidate neural pathways can lead to less pain, promote recovery, and empower the injured worker to successfully return to work.
Hailey Buchhorn is a highly experienced Exercise Physiologist who has worked in clinical settings and has spent over eight years in personal injury insurance. Following her work in consulting and operational delivery, she has excelled in account management roles over the last four years, and has been responsible for identifying, implementing, and evaluating innovative products and services tailored to personal injury insurance customers.
Hailey is responsible for driving and managing the delivery of high-quality care and rehabilitation provider services to APM WorkCare’s customers nationally throughout its branch network. Hailey is also responsible for customer reporting including providing analysis of data, trends and outcomes and identifying ongoing continuous improvement initiatives.
During this session, we will look at establishing a pathway for success, identifying, and addressing risks and barriers, communication strategies, involving a range of stakeholders. Managing work injured clients requires many high level planning and communication skills and approaches that are often not learned during allied health and medical university degrees. In addition, most treaters only see a very small number of work-injured clients and don’t really understand the process, so are often ill-equipped for achieving the best outcomes.
For claims managers, rehabilitation providers and employers, there are a multitude of matters to manage and plan to ensure the best outcomes. Much of this is not covered during training or if it is, it may not facilitate practical application. And then… we need everyone to work together! How do we speak a language that is common to all parties involved in the process?
This will be an interactive workshop and you will be able to immediately integrate strategies, including objective tools, to your work.
Learning Outcomes
Cassandra is a Specialist Occupational Health Physiotherapist (as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapy in December 2010) and an APA Titled Musculoskeletal and Pain Physiotherapist. Cassandra has over 30 years of experience in private practice, working with individuals and companies across the globe.
Cassandra is the Physiotherapy Advisor at Return To Work SA and through this role she provides education and support to allied health and medical practitioners across South Australia to assist them to achieve the best outcomes for their work-injured clients.
Cassandra also delivers education sessions for work injury claims managers. Cassandra lectures on the Physiotherapy programs at Uni SA, Flinders and Adelaide Universities in addition to presenting a variety of courses and lectures for the Australian Physiotherapy Association.
