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Psychology and Wellbeing support (PAWS) at St John WA consist of mental health professionals who provide psychological support, wellbeing services, and post‑incident care to St John WA staff, volunteers, and their families. The PAWS team provides 24/7 urgent mental health confidential support, psychoeducation around mental health, and referral to External Providers (EP).
The Wellbeing Operational Support Officer (WOSO) role aims to provide timely wellbeing support statewide. Additionally, WOSO can provide in-person support to SCC team members and leads particularly following challenging incidents. This role forms part of the early intervention strategy, to extend wrap-around care for team members who may have experienced working in a significantly difficult situation.
A Regional PAWS Coordinator is part of the PAWS team who supports volunteers and staff in remote and regional areas. They help make wellbeing services more accessible outside the metro region, provide support consistent with what metro team members receive, and build local connections so support can be delivered in ways that suit each community. They offer things like psychoeducation, follow‑ups, and 1:1 check‑ins to ensure regional team members get the right support when they need it.
PAWS provides confidential 24/7 support through the wellbeing line, supported by regular site visits, seminars, and presentations to maintain service awareness. They work with Clinical Governance to refine post‑incident management and debriefing processes and share practical tools like distress and conversation cards across the organisation.
Frontline workers receive annual mental health literacy training, and all team members can access a dedicated reflection and private discussion space at the Belmont headquarters. PAWS also offers clear pathways for contacting Wellbeing and Support and delivers ongoing mental health education in Belmont and across all six regions.
PAWS have a dedicated 24/7 line for St John WA team members to contact for support. This line would provide confidential phone support towards any St John WA team members, volunteers, and family members in need of emergency mental health support or is in a mental health crisis.
All St John WA staff members and volunteers are eligible to access PAWS and our EP program along with their eligible family. Eligible family members are defined as anybody living under the same roof as the staff member or volunteer.