St John of God Health Care launches allied health graduate program

31 May 2023

Offered to current caregivers across the organisation’s hospitals and community services in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, the one-year Pathways to Practice program offers graduates the benefits of a structured program, including;

• exposure to a range of clinical rotations and diverse pathways to practice
• a comprehensive orientation program
• in-person mentorship, and
• small group coaching, and more.

St John of God Health Care Manager Allied Health Rachel Resuggan said the program supports graduates in their transition from student to allied health professional.

“While St John of God Health Care has long recruited allied health graduates, the added structure this program provides means our graduates feel even more supported and have a much greater understanding of the career development opportunities available to them,” Rachel said.

“We support and prepare our graduate allied health professionals for working life beyond their graduate programs, fostering a life-long learning approach and ensuring each graduate feels confident in their skills and eager to continue working for us.

“We are excited to be able to offer our current allied health caregivers this opportunity.”

St John of God Health Care Learning and Development Manager (Graduates and Students) Amanda Sale said the future plan was to recruit for the program alongside the organisation’s well-regarded graduate nursing and midwifery programs.

“After the initial pilot, a full evaluation will take place which will represent an opportunity for improvement and an opportunity to offer the program more widely, as an extension of our graduate nursing and midwifery programs,” Amanda said.

“Our graduate nursing and midwifery programs have grown year-on-year, with a record number of graduate nurses and midwives recruited in 2022, which puts the allied health graduate program in good stead for the future.”

Our allied health caregivers work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to enable integrated and well-coordinated care for patients across a variety of settings, including inpatient and outpatient services, mental health, rehabilitation and disability services.

The pilot program was offered to current early-career allied health professionals in the following disciplines:

• Physiotherapists
• Occupational therapists
• Exercise physiologists
• Social workers
• Dietitians
• Speech pathologists
• Podiatrists
• Music therapists 
• Art therapists.