VMHPAA Responds to Victorian Department of Education on National Standards Concerns
- Shane Warren
- Jul 9
- 2 min read
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9 July 2025
The Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association of Australia (VMHPAA) acknowledges the recent response from the Victorian Department of Education - Sharon Barry, Executive Director for Inclusive Education; regarding our concerns about the Draft National Standards for Counsellors and Psychotherapists and their potential impact on counsellors working in schools.
We are encouraged that the Department recognises the significant workforce challenges facing schools in sourcing appropriately qualified and experienced staff to meet the growing mental health and wellbeing needs of students. We also note the Department’s commitment to flexibility at the school level, where principals may employ counsellors from a range of qualification levels in order to meet local needs.
However, VMHPAA remains deeply concerned that the Draft National Standards, if implemented as currently proposed, would restrict opportunities for thousands of diploma-qualified counsellors who have provided vital support in schools for decades. These practitioners play an essential role in delivering frontline “first responder” services, easing pressure on psychologists and social workers, and ensuring students have timely access to support that directly improves wellbeing, resilience, and academic outcomes.
“We value the Department’s acknowledgement of our concerns and the commitment to workforce flexibility,” said Shane Warren, Chair of VMHPAA. “But without clarity and recognition for vocationally trained counsellors in the Draft National Standards, schools risk losing a highly skilled and experienced workforce that has been central to student wellbeing, especially in rural and regional areas.”
VMHPAA will continue to advocate for an inclusive and balanced approach to workforce qualifications, ensuring that Australia’s mental health system, and its schools, are not weakened by the unnecessary exclusion of experienced vocational practitioners.
Media Contact:
Shane Warren, Chair
Susan Sandy, Secretary
Philip Armstrong, CEO
VMHPAA
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