Established in 2006, the Nursing and Midwifery Health Program Victoria (NMHPV) is a free, confidential and independent support service for Victorian nurses, midwives and students experiencing sensitive health issues. Our Service
NMHPV is a free, confidential and independent support service for Victorian nurses, midwives and students experiencing sensitive health issues related to their mental health, substance use, family violence or any issue impacting their health and wellbeing. NMHPV was designed by nurses and works within a recovery focused counselling framework, provided exclusively by experienced nurses and midwives. Confidentiality
NMHPV values participants confidentiality and unless compelled by law or with consent the names of participants are not divulged to anyone. The program complies with the privacy act and we conduct it with the utmost discretion. Anonymous enquiries are welcome and can be attended to without the requirement of the caller identifying themselves. Callers seeking urgent attention out of office hours with Substance Use issues, can phone DirectLine on 1800 888 236. For those with Mental Health issues, you can find your nearest mental health service here: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealthservices/
Our Background
NMHPV was established to ensure that a full time profession specific service is available to address the needs of nurses, midwives and students of nursing and midwives experiencing mental health concerns, substance use issues, family or domestic violence, or any other health issue. NMHPV (formally known as the Victorian Nurses Health Program) was an initiative of the Nurses Board of Victoria, the Australian Nursing Federation (Victoria Branch) and dedicated individual nurses. The organisation enjoys broad support from within the nursing and midwifery professions and health sector. Although NMHPV is funded through the former Nurses Board of Victoria, it is a fully independent legal entity with a five member Board of Directors. NMHPV provides a service to all Victorian nurses, midwives and nursing/midwifery students as well as advice and support to managers and HR staff facing the challenge of managing these issues in the workplace. View our Vision and Mission. The Challenge
The practice of nursing offers no protection from illness, including alcohol and other drug (AOD), mental health and family violence issues. The community can be sensitive towards these types of health concerns among nurses and midwives and there is often reluctance by the health professional to admit to these kinds of issues. Colleagues also inform us that they can be uncomfortable in the role of health service user and these factors can contribute to late presentation for treatment or worse still, no presentation for treatment at all. NMHPV wishes to meet the challenge of encouraging our colleagues to come forward to receive help. We are willing to receive anonymous calls, attend workplaces to inform staff about the program, and work with managers and HR to develop supportive practices for handling these sensitive health issues.
