The project

The Chronic Condition Self-management project aims to enhance the understanding and capability of all psychiatrists to better work in collaboration with patients who have chronic mental illness and the patients' families and/or carers. The project was funded through the Commonwealth’s Australian Better Health Initiative Chronic Disease Self-management/Lifestyle and Risk Modification Grants Program.

The project working party

Members of the Chronic Condition Self-Management Working Party comprised experts in the field of chronic condition self-management, collaborative care and patient-centred care, representatives of consumer and carer organisations and individuals with experience in continuing professional development and education.

The learning resource

The Chronic Condition Self-management learning resource is made up of six modules and aims to strengthen the capacity of psychiatrists to support chronic condition self-management. By reading through the modules, viewing the video material, listening to the audio recordings and completing the reflection and writing tasks, psychiatrists will improve their knowledge, skills and attributes required for collaborative patient-centred care. This site provides copies of, and links to, a range of resources, tools and agencies to assist patients and carers with self-management and to assist psychiatrists in providing optimal self-management support.

Module titles

The resource has been divided into six learning modules under the following topic headings:

Module 1:    Optimising Wellness for Patients with Chronic Mental Health Conditions

Module 2:    Supporting Self-management

Module 3:    Self-management Care Planning

Module 4:    Patient and Carer Education for Self-management

Module 5:    Implementing Self-management Support in Your Practice

Module 6:    Psychiatrists' Self-care

A more detailed summary of the modules can be found on the Introduction to Modules page.