This project explored the reasons behind practitioner distress during a regulatory process. It has had a particular focus on cases where distress might lead to suicide or self-harm. The work involved three parts. The first were interviews with practitioners who were recently involved in either monitoring and compliance or a notification. The second were workshops with staff across three different work areas. The final piece involved in-depth reviews of known cases of suicide or self-harm predominantly occurring within 12 months of the practitioner’s involvement with an Ahpra process.

This paper reports on the first phase of the quality improvement work to better understand practitioner distress and consider further improvements to manage and mitigate that distress. The next phase of the work will involve co-producing recommendations by working with staff, National Boards and their committees, as well as external stakeholders.

It’s important to acknowledge the large body of work already underway within Ahpra and with boards to humanise the experience of practitioners involved in a regulatory process. There will be recommendations for internal changes at Ahpra, in part building on work already underway; this is likely to include processes, training and communication.