Our workforce, our future sets out the collective knowledge, skills and ways of working for the mental health and wellbeing workforce in Victoria.
Implementing the capability framework into practice will help strengthen the workforce.
It will ensure they are well-equipped to continue providing high-quality care to consumers, families, carers and supporters.
A range of resources have been developed to help organisations and workers implement the framework.
Implementation guide
This is a guide to support the sector in embedding the principles and capabilities of Our workforce, our future. This guide can help you align your workforce development practices with the framework’s vision. It provides practical steps and strategies, as well as tools and resources to adopt the framework.
Pathways tool
The Our workforce, our future pathways tool has been developed to help the mental health workforce explore and deepen their understanding of the 15 capabilities outlined in the Our workforce, our future capability framework. It's been designed to assist workers in the mental health sector to assess their capabilities in delivering mental health and wellbeing services, identify areas for growth, and uplift your workforce to deliver better outcomes for consumers, carers, families and supporters.
The learning journey for each capability incorporates three components:
- A series of micro learning videos where people can learn more and hear from practitioners, mental health professionals, Lived and Living Experience workers and consumers and carers.
- A skills-gap analysis to rate their level of confidence in a capability or skill, and the level they would like to reach.
- Access to curated resources to further develop their knowledge and skills of each capability.
The tool can be accessed on the MHPOD .
Ask AI about Our workforce, our future
The Ask AI tool makes it easier to access and understand the capabilities and skills needed to provide best-practice mental healthcare.
It’s capable of answering a number of questions, ranging from “How do I adapt my practice to be culturally safe?” to “How do I recognise and respond to trauma effectively?”
All responses are drawn from the Our workforce, our future capability framework, and include references to resources for users to delve into.
Explore example questions and answers by selecting the ‘Getting Started’ at Ask AI, to see how the new tool can support your practice.
Organisational Assessment Tool
The Organisational Assessment Tool can help mental health and AOD organisations to evaluate how well they are set up to support workforce development.
The tool can be used to identify strengths, gaps and opportunities across key areas of practice and includes a suite of practical resources.
It also includes a step-by-step guide to help teams choose the most relevant resources, based on their role and the priorities of their health service.
The Organisation Assessment Tool ensures organisations can build their workforce’s capability in a targeted, sustainable and meaningful way.
Supporting people experiencing a mental health issue who are justice involved
This companion guide supports the mental health and wellbeing workforce to provide safe, effective and compassionate care to people who are justice-involved or at risk of offending.
Developed by Forensicare, it can be used by people across a range of roles - from frontline practitioners to service leaders. It outlines the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to respond to the complex needs of this population.
The guide is a practical tool to help build workforce capability, reduce stigma, and improve outcomes for some of Victoria’s most marginalised and vulnerable consumers.
The Infant, Child, Youth and Family Companion Guide
This guide offers tailored support for people working with infants, children, young people and families across Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing system.
Developed by Mindful at the University of Melbourne, it identifies the specific skills, knowledge and approaches needed to work effectively with people up to 26 years old.
It’s a practical resource for clinicians, educators, leaders and support staff to help them deliver appropriate, inclusive and compassionate care.
Reviewed 28 October 2025