July 1 is getting closer and closer! Understandably, many aged and home care organisations preparing for the strengthened standards feel the pressure to ‘get across the line’, and that’s completely valid.

But it’s also worth pausing for a second because this moment is more than just meeting minimum standards.

It’s also an opportunity — a real chance to lay the foundations for something much bigger: a thriving, capable, and supported workforce.

Two key ideas are at the heart of that opportunity: psychological safety and trauma-informed care. They’re not just ‘nice to haves’ or extra compliance activities. They are the building blocks of workforce capability. They are the glue that holds workforce capability together.

1. Psychological Safety

In April 2023, changes to Commonwealth Work Health and Safety laws made it crystal clear that protecting workers’ psychological health is no longer optional.

It’s a legal requirement reflected in numerous outcomes in the strengthened standards (2.2 - 2.8 - 5.5 - 7.1) and possible audit evidence items.

Psychosocial risks are, sadly, the everyday realities that the healthcare workforce already knows too well. They’re things like:

• Unrealistic workloads
• Poor support from managers
• Workplace bullying
• Role confusion
• Exposure to aggression or physical violence.
  

Psychological safety is not just about identifying, mitigating and reviewing psychosocial hazards. It’s about creating a workplace where people feel safe to:

• Speak up
• Share concerns
• Offer ideas
• Admit mistakes without fear of punishment.
  

When psychological safety exists, actual feedback loops form. People communicate, practice safely, and innovate.

Without it, workforce capability stalls. People keep their heads down. Learning stops. Our staff may not feel comfortable enough to speak up, offer new ways of thinking, or contribute to continuous improvements.

While I’m sure that, as people leaders, you’ve heard and read a lot about psychological safety, what I’ve appreciated recently is that it’s undoubtedly not a buzzword.

It’s not a checklist item or something we put on a growing to-do list. It genuinely lays the foundation for us to build workforce capability.

2. A Trauma-Informed Approach

Trauma-informed care (TIC) might feel like a new concept for some, but for many in mental health or acute care, it’s a familiar (and welcome) shift.

At its heart, trauma-informed care is built on a simple truth:

Trauma is defined by the impact on the person, not the event itself.

We can't always know who has experienced trauma — so we take a universal approach, treating everyone with:

• Sensitivity
• Respect
• An awareness that invisible wounds exist.
  

The roots of trauma-informed care go way back to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study in the 1990s, which showed a clear link between childhood trauma and long-term adverse health outcomes — not just mental health but physical health, too.

It was a game-changer in understanding just how deeply trauma impacts people's lives. The concept is now embedded in the Strengthened Standards (Outcomes 1.1 - 2.9 - 3.2), not just for the people we support but also for our teams. We now have direct training and audit requirements in the standards for incorporating a trauma-informed approach to the care of individuals and need to be able to demonstrate this during an audit.

Trauma-informed care also matters in the context of workforce capability because it reminds us that people bring their whole selves to work.

We all have histories, struggles, and strengths. Recognising this doesn’t mean lowering standards - it means creating an environment where growth, trust, and capability can take root.

How Trauma-Informed Approaches Come to Life at Work

Embedding trauma-informed care doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. At its core, it’s about everyday leadership behaviours.

Here's how the six principles show up practically.

Core Principle	What it Means	Example
Safety	Psychological and physical safety are non-negotiables.	Practice active listening. Sometimes, people don’t need a fix; they just need to feel heard.
Trustworthiness and Transparency	Be clear, especially when things go wrong.	After an incident, practise open disclosure — reflect, support, learn. Practice open disclosure.
Peer Support	Encourage informal networks and lived experience.	Incorporate actual staff or individual stories in training sessions.
Collaboration	Level the playing field — decisions aren't made in a vacuum.	Be mindful of body language. In as many interactions as possible, where culturally safe, sit at eye level. Invite ideas. Share decision-making where you can.
Empowerment	Focus on strengths.	Celebrate small wins loudly. Be the cheerleader!
Humility and Responsiveness	Encourage and practise self-reflection.	Recognise personal biases and stay open to learning.

Aiming for the Gold Standard

Right now, there’s a natural tension between "what I have to do" and "what I want to do."

We need to meet compliance requirements. Doing the minimum may be all we can manage. And that’s okay. The strengthened standards are demanding, and everyone’s time and resources are stretched.

But we also need to keep sight of a bigger vision: a workplace where people feel safe, seen, and supported to grow. Psychological safety and trauma-informed care aren't burdens.

They’re the foundations of a stronger, more capable workforce.

The new standards aren’t about ticking boxes but building workplaces where people want to stay, where they can grow, lead, and provide the high-quality care we would like and expect for ourselves and our families.

We don’t have to get it perfect overnight, and it won’t all be “done” by July 1. There’s a long game at play. This is your invitation to think bigger - not to do everything all at once, but to hold a vision for where you want to go.

Our role at Ausmed is to partner with you to take small steps toward that goal, step-by-step, over time.

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