Overview
Join Karin Heartwell for a powerful 2-hour webinar designed to uncover how ableism shows up in everyday mental health practice—often unnoticed.
This interactive session will guide you through recognizing hidden barriers, understanding the impact of language, and making meaningful changes to create safer, more inclusive environments.
This webinar will cover a range of essential topics, including:
- an introduction to ableism and its subtle influence on mental health practice,
- the impact of prioritising profit over inclusion,
- the challenges of limited knowledge paired with elevated expectations,
- the importance of inclusive language,
- practical strategies for using respectful, supportive language,
- addressing internalised ableism, and
- recognising the nuances of identity-first vs. person-first language.
It will also challenge you to reflect on your own privilege, confront fear-based narratives, and engage in the ongoing work of decolonising disabilities and your mindset. Through storytelling and practical tools, this webinar supports your lasting personal and professional growth to explore internalised ableism, support decolonising disabilities, and enhance your service delivery.
Whether you are a psychologist, other mental health professional, or in a supporting role, this webinar aims to help you build awareness, shift perspectives, and foster more equitable care.
Target audience
This activity is suitable for: Psychologists, psychology students, general practitioners, allied health professionals, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, and human resource professionals.
Level of learning
Foundational. This activity is targeted to those new to the topic.
Professional competencies for psychology
The Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) have updated the Professional competencies for psychology which come into effect on 1 December 2025.
This activity addresses the following PsyBA Professional competencies for psychology: 2, 3, 6, and 7.
Duration of access
This webinar will be recorded and made available to participants of the live event for a period of two weeks after the conclusion of the webinar.
APS CPD-Approved
This activity has been assessed against the APS Standards for CPD activities and approved for its education quality. Learn more about the APS CPD Approval process.