About the Certificate IV of MH Peer Work

Hi @Blackcloud

As you know i'm doing the Cert IV at the moment, it's mostly online. I've keep fully up to date with all assignments and completely everything before i needed to. Mainly because I hate feeling like i need to catch up with anything. Does it take up most of my time during the week? No, not even close. My assignment on trauma-informed care was 30 pages. So it's not like i'm putting in a bare minimum effort. I get sighs from my lecturer when I ask "is this too long?" but i am enjoying it and learning a lot from it. But it hasn't been like a full time job time commitment wise.

So i guess my answer would be it's just up to you and how much time you want to devote to study. We've talked a bit now and I feel like you could handle it as far as being able to do the work, it's just being honest with yourself about how much time you want to devote to study every week. If you enjoy it and you don't have much else taking up your time then maybe doing the 2 classes is a good use of your time. You could always defer or cut back if it becomes a bit too much. But just don't jump in without asking yourself those questions first?

Obviously the work placement does add to the time quite a bit and may conflict. My 80 hours will be spread out over a term and consists of 2 days a week. So obviously that is something to consider when the work placement is scheduled and how flexible it is with your other study.

@MJG017 Thanks, I appreciate your answer and advice. It’s great to hear that doing the course doesn’t feel overwhelming from your experience, and even doing it online as well. ❤️

@Blackcloud

I'm finding it really interesting and enjoying it. The online format does make it very flexible time wise, especially with no need to travel, but i do miss the social aspect. We do have assessment days and online and face to face optional study hubs so i do enjoy getting time to spend with the other students. Look at me... getting all social in my old age! 😁

@MJG017 for the placements, can I ask what you guys generally do during or for placements really? From what I'm seeing, it's pretty like a work experience or work trial type of thing - where you guys get to 'work' in a particular setting that's related to the course you're doing and you're basically talking to clients during your placement period - I dont know if thats true. But please feel free to correct me and/or confirm what you guys do during your placement periods 🙂

@Blackcloud

I think ours is a bit unique (i could be wrong) but our training organization does a simulated workplace we attend 2 days a week during term 3. You can organise your own placement if you wish, but we havent really been told much more about it yet.

@MJG017 Fair enough, I actually thought the placement thing goes for the whole entire course - as in, taking place within each terms lol!

@MJG017 I just got an update from the university that the course is no longer accepting the August intakes as its already full 😄 but there is a Certificate IV in Mental Health (different from Cert IV in Mental Health Peer Work) which does June intakes - both those cert iv's are different but they complement each other really well. I was also told that that certificate (in Mental Health) is moreso for the students that are also undertaking the undergraduate/bachelor degree (in psychology) which I've found interesting.

I'm just now waiting for more info to be given to me by the advisor that I've spoken to on the live chat just an hour ago. But at the same time, I don't think I'm able to do the Cert IV and the bachelor at the same time - so I'd be better off with just sticking onto the bachelor degree in that case 🙂

@Blackcloud

I think there's a lot of overlap. I our class we have some students doing Mental Health and some of are doing the Mental Health Peer Work. We split off later in the year for some subjects. And obviously the work placement is different. So you mymay just need to find out what the different units are so you're not doubling up. A lot of the core units are the same i believe.

Any updates about what you are going to do? @Blackcloud

So good to hear from you. You probably only need one or the other - cert 4 in MH or cert 4 in peer work.

All the best with whatever you decide.

Hope to hear from you soon.

@tyme I have a feeling now that I’m gonna just stick onto doing the bachelors degree - without needing to feel like I should do both the bachelor and the cert at the same time…cause you know.

but I am still waiting for the advisor to get back to me with some answers that they get from the staff of the Cert IV in Mental Health course (not the MH Peer Work one).

I am gonna start my self-paced training for the lifeline volunteer role next month though so that’s exciting!