Training - Social Inclusion

We help our colleagues across the HSE to strengthen our response to vulnerable groups. One way of doing this is by developing a set of training programmes that helps staff to respond sensitively and effectively to people who experience social exclusion.

Intercultural Awareness eLearning programme

The Intercultural Awareness eLearning programme supports staff to be aware and respectful of ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of people who use our services. The main aim of this programme is to reduce the potential harm that unconscious bias may cause.

The programme contains four modules and is live on www.HSELand.ie

  • Inclusive Practices and Intercultural Awareness (30 minutes) will support you to be respectful of the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of service users, in order to provide an effective, high quality responsive service.
  • Working with Others (30 minutes) will enhance your ability to provide a culturally sensitive service by using techniques that have been shown to reduce the potential harm that unconscious bias may have on our service users. 
  • Refugees, Protection Applicants and Trauma (45 minutes) will support you to work with refugees and protection applicants so as to improve their health outcomes. It will also help you to recognise trauma reactions and take some steps to avoid triggering or re-traumatising service users.
  • Understanding migrant mental health (30 minutes) will increase your awareness of what shapes mental health and wellbeing and to understand the unique challenges that people from migrant communities experience in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.

Modules 1-3 were developed by the HSE National Social Inclusion Office and Social Inclusion South East Community Healthcare (SECH) and is an adaptation of the classroom situated-train the trainer Intercultural Health programme. Module 4 was commissioned and developed through a partnership between the National Social Inclusion Office (HSE) and Health & Wellbeing (HSE).  The eLearning programme was developed in line the HSE’s Second National Intercultural Health Strategy 2018-2023.

This eLearning Programme has been approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) for Continuing Education Units (CEUs): Modules 1 , 2 and 4 (1 CEU each) and Module 3 (3.5 CEUs).

 For queries please contact socialinclusion@hse.ie

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Training

We are developing a national training strategy to help frontline HSE staff. This programme will be developed in 2023.

This training strategy will help our staff to develop skills so they can recognise and respond to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) in vulnerable or at-risk communities.

This is in line with a number of HSE obligations under the cross-government Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2022-2026 and its implementation plan.

SAOR© Training in Screening and Brief Intervention for Alcohol and Substance Use

We deliver the HSE National Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) Project for Alcohol and Substance Use under our Primary Care Division.

The agreed HSE national model for training in Screening and Brief Intervention for Alcohol and Substance Use is the SAOR© (Support, Ask and Assess, Offer Assistance and Referral) model (O’Shea and Goff, 2009).

Since 2012, the SBI project has coordinated the national roll out of a one-day SAOR© screening and brief intervention training programme for alcohol and substance use in partnership with the National Addiction Training Programme.

We set up the National Addiction Training Programme (NATP) in 2007. We formed it to meet the training needs of staff within drug and alcohol services. Through the programme we aim to:

  • provide training using evidence-based practices;
  • prioritise training programmes to meet current and emerging service needs; and
  • make sure there is adequate and appropriate validation for training.

Information and resources on SAOR training

National Drug Rehabilitation Framework

Developing training

We are in consultation with relevant stakeholders and are developing training on the National Drug Rehabilitation Framework (NDRF).

The aim of NDRF training is to use a blended learning approach, to enable those taking part to put in place the NDRF in their work and in their organisations.

By the end of the eLearning course, those taking part will be able to:

  • outline the National Drug Rehabilitation Framework;
  • explain the key protocols of the National Drug Rehabilitation Framework;
  • identify and explain key ways the Framework works, assesses people, and makes referrals;
  • identify and explain the ways care is planned;
  • identify and explain how cases are managed; and
  • identify what the service needs to have in place to work under the NDRF.

Local workshops

The plan is to develop and deliver workshops locally. The workshops will be based on local need and they will demonstrate the processes covered in the eLearning course. The resources section of the eLearning course will act as a portal for the sharing of existing resources and toolkits which local services can use to develop skill-based workshops.

Read further information on NDRF training