Frequently Asked Questions

All workshops are available for registration via our Training homepage.

To register:

1. Select ‘Read More’ on the event that you would like to attend.
2. After reading the event description to confirm you are eligible for the training and it meets your learning requirements, select ‘Register Online’.
3. You will be taken through to the University of Melbourne’s e-commerce store, where you can follow the prompts to purchase your training place.
4. Once you have filled out the form on the e-commerce store and clicked ‘enrol’, you must go to the Cart icon in the top right corner to check out, even if your place is free and requires no payment.

Once you have successfully registered you will receive two confirmation emails – ‘Your University of Melbourne order confirmation’ and ‘Invoice for your University of Melbourne order’.

If you have successfully completed all checkout steps and not received a confirmation email, first check your spam folder. If you do not receive your confirmation email within 24 hours, please contact us for assistance.

Our calendar is released each half year at the same time as registrations open: in December for January – June workshops, and in April for July – December workshops.

No.  Our workshops are delivered as live webinars and are not recorded. 
This is due to the interactive/clinical component and use of volunteer client videos.

If you practice overseas, please contact us prior to booking online.  If your registration is approved, your costs may include additional international shipping expenses for licenced training materials (if required).  All costs must be paid prior to the workshop.

No, all participants must individually register and pay for a place in workshops. 

Yes, it is okay for a small group (3 max) to be in one room for training if necessary BUT each participant must have booked their own place in the workshop. Please contact us if you intend to have 2 or 3 people joining from the one computer for approval.

We recommend using individual devices as it can be difficult to pick up sound from multiple participants at a distance unless there is a good quality external microphone.  It is important for all participants to be able to ask questions during the workshop and to take part in the breakout room learning activities.

Mindful is required by the Victorian Government to reserve places for the public mental health workforce in our training. If places are not filled 2 weeks prior to the workshop, further spots may open. If you work in a Victorian public mental health service (ICYMHS/AMHS), please contact us to see if you are eligible for these reserved places.

If there is a workshop you are interested in that is sold out, please contact us to be added to the waiting list. You will be notified if/when further places open.

As Mindful’s workshops are funded by the Victorian Government, we prioritise and offer subsidised places to publicly employed Victorian mental health clinicians (ICYMHS/AMHS).  We welcome clinicians from other sectors including private practice to register on a first come first served basis. Places are held for Victorian clinicians until two weeks before a workshop. If these places are not taken up in that timeframe, they will be offered to our waiting list.

Mindful offers subsidised costs to the below groups thanks to support from the Victorian Government:

• Victorian Infant, Child, & Youth Mental Health Services (CYMHS/CAMHS/ICYMHS)
• Orygen Victoria
• Children’s Health and Wellbeing Locals (Victoria only service)
• headspace Victoria
• Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation/Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHO/ACCHS)
• Berry Street’s Take Two Program - Victoria
• Victorian Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS)
• Forensicare Victoria

Please check each workshop to confirm your subsidy eligibility.

Beyond this, Mindful does not offer discounts on registration costs for individuals or groups. We provide training at the lowest price possible to ensure accessibility to a range of participants.

Please note we are unable to take AMEX payments.

Common fixes for this issue include:

• Checking for errors in your card details (number, name, etc)
• Clearing your browser history
• Opening an ‘incognito’ browser window to pay
• Paying at home or via mobile if you are attempting to pay via a work computer (to avoid workplace security blocks on payment)
• Making sure your payment card has funds available
• Checking your banking app for any required confirmation/security verification notifications

If you have tried all the above steps and are still unable to make a payment, please contact us for further assistance.

Individual participants are welcome to pay via our e-commerce store. Please see individual workshops for the link to book. We note most workplaces now have corporate credit cards and/or a process for staff to claim back work expenses they have incurred.

If your organisation is interested in booking more than 2 places, please contact us to discuss. We will make a time for you to speak with our Statewide Autism Coordinator to discuss the training needs of your staff.

When an organisational training request is approved, we can then arrange an invoice to your organisation.

Our training is designed for medical and allied health professionals who work with children and adolescents aged 0-18. Some workshops will focus on a more targeted age range (primary school, adolescent, late high school, etc.).  
We also run select workshops with an adult focus (clients aged 18+).
Please check each workshop description to confirm the target audience is right for you.

• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Speech Pathologists
• headspace clinicians
• Occupational Therapists
• Paediatric fellows
• Psychiatry trainees
• Doctors/General Practitioners (GPs)
• Nurses/Mental Health Nurses
• Social Workers
• Early intervention workers
• Teachers

We are unable to advise individuals on continuing professional development (CPD) hours as each profession has their own CPD requirements. It is up to participants to ensure any training undertaken that is to count towards their CPD matches the requirements of their profession.

We will issue a post-completion certificate which contains the duration of your workshop in hours.

ADOS-2 users should have prior education, training and experience in conducting individually administered test batteries and should have a background and experience in the assessment of ASD.  Some examples of clinicians who make use of the ADOS-2 in their daily work are clinical and school psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists.

Please refer to the Autism CRC Australian National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism in Australia. It is essential for all Australian clinicians to be familiar with this document as it outlines components of an Autism diagnostic assessment and professions involved.

Additionally, to be eligible for the ADOS-2 Introductory and ADI-R workshops at Mindful you must complete the pre-requisite training:

• For child and adolescent clinicians: Autism Assessment Fundamentals and Co-occurring Conditions
• For adult clinicians: Adult Autism Introductory + Adult Autism Advanced

At Mindful, our training is supported by the Victorian Government. Our mandate is to provide high quality autism training that is accessible and affordable for clinicians, particularly those working in Victorian CAMHS/CYMHS/ICYMHS.  

As our training is designed for mental health clinicians working with complex clients, we have made the Autism Assessment Fundamentals and Co-occurring Conditions a prerequisite to our advanced assessment workshops as it covers all components of a comprehensive ASD assessment. This includes a comprehensive developmental history, consideration of collateral information and issues of co-occurrence, differential diagnoses, and formulation. The ADOS-2 and ADI-R are just one component of an ASD assessment, and we would like to ensure that all clinicians attending have a broad understanding of the complexities of ASD assessment.

Participants must complete ADOS-2 Introductory before signing up to our ADOS-2 Toddler, ADOS-2 Advanced, or ADOS-2 Coding & Reliability workshops. If you have completed ADOS-2 training elsewhere, please contact us before booking to provide proof of completion.

Participants must complete Adult Autism Introductory before signing up to our Adult Autism Advanced training. Adult Autism Introductory is an online on demand module that takes approx. 3 hours to complete.

We do not provide exemptions from prerequisite training.
We are a very small organisation with limited capacity to assess every individual’s previous training and experience. Completing the prerequisite training ensures that all participants arrive with the same comprehensive knowledge base, regardless of previous experience.

Resources are sent 1 week prior to your training.

If you have not received any course information 1 week prior to the workshop we first recommend checking your spam/junk folder.  If Mindful emails are not found in your spam/junk folder, check your confirmation email to ensure you registered with the correct email address. If you are still unsure, please contact us.

If you have registered for any ADOS-2 or ADI-R workshops you will receive an email two weeks before the training, and the licensed materials through the post one week before the training.  If you have not received these materials, please contact us.

We cannot send our slide handouts in any other format due to copyright restrictions.  We provide participants with editable PDFs which do not need to be printed.  We recommend opening these handouts using a PDF Reader and using the ‘zoom in’ function to easily access the text and information.

Please note you may not be able to edit or zoom in/out on ‘safe’ versions of the document.  You may need to request an ‘unsafe’ version of the document to view.

Majority of our training is held online via Zoom.
Select workshops will be held at the Mindful Training Centre in Travancore, Victoria. These workshops will be marked as face-to-face. In-person training is held at the Mindful Centre in Building C, 50 Flemington Street, Travancore, Victoria 3032. Participants will be given comprehensive location details 2 weeks prior to each workshop.
Please see individual workshops for location information.

The content in our training remains the same between online or in-person (face to face). Some workshops are only available in person (e.g. ADOS-2 Advanced) due to the participatory content required.

You will need a Zoom account and a computer with a working camera and microphone. A camera and microphone are needed to participate in our live webinars due to the interactive elements, including break out rooms on Zoom.

We ask that participants keep their cameras on to verify their presence. It is also important for the interactive elements of the training.

Having your camera on is essential for certified training in advanced assessment (ADOS-2/ADI-R) as we need to verify your attendance and participation over the course of the training.

We use breakout rooms in online training to facilitate peer learning and foster connections. Participants are expected to keep their camera and microphone on during breakout rooms. Take a moment to introduce yourself to the group and nominate a speaker for your return to the main room.

During the main portion of our workshops, participants are to keep their microphone on mute.
During breakout room activities, it is expected that participants will speak to their group (2-8 people approx.)
Some participants may be called to speak to the main group to report back their findings after a breakout room activity. In this instance, you will have nominated a speaker from your breakout room to report back.

Catering is provided for all in person trainings. Dietary requirements are collected upon registration. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us for assistance.

We welcome interstate participants to join our in-person training in Melbourne. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation.

To determine if you are eligible to assess and diagnose autism, please refer to the Autism CRC Australian National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism in Australia.

It is essential for all Australian clinicians to be familiar with this document as it outlines components of an Autism diagnostic assessment and professions involved.

Once you have completed ADOS-2 Introductory training you are able to apply these assessments in your workplace. Please note that the ADOS-2 is only one part of a comprehensive assessment and cannot diagnose autism alone.

All required forms for training will be sent via Express Post to the participant prior to the workshop.

All ADOS-2 and ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised) workshops are certified training delivered by certified trainer Deborah Sweeney.  Protocol booklets are copyrighted and strictly controlled by external parties.  They cannot be reproduced electronically or photocopied.

These licenced protocol booklets are integral to the training as each participant uses them to practice their coding during the workshop.  Without the forms, participants cannot complete the workshop and the "hands on" coding.

The ADOS-2 Introductory Workshop (2 days) introduces the ADOS-2 as an assessment tool.  The trainer takes participants through each element of the four modules.  Videos of each module are watched by participants and coded.  This is the first step in the process for establishing reliability. 

You can undertake ADOS-2 assessments once you have completed this workshop. We encourage all participants to engage in supervision with a clinician experienced in ADOS-2 administration. When you purchase an ADOS-2 kit the supplier may request a copy of your certification of the Introductory ADOS-2 training. 

The Introductory workshop does not include the Toddler Module.  This is a separate one-day workshop as this is a newer module and not included in the original Introductory ADOS-2 Workshop.

The ADOS-2 Advanced Workshop (2.5 days) is for a small number of participants to increase their knowledge of the ADOS-2 and their coding skills.  A key component of this training is participating in administering part of the ADOS-2 face-to-face with a range of volunteer clients covering assessment Modules 1-4.  This workshop is highly recommended for those wishing to advance their clinical skills.

Mindful also offers half day ADOS-2 Coding and Reliability Workshops for participants who have completed ADOS-2 training.  In this workshop, new video material is shared for participants to code two modules moderated by the Trainer, Deborah Sweeney.

The ADOS-2 Introductory workshop takes place over two days and uses a lecture format to introduce people to the basic principles of administering and scoring Modules 1-4 of the ADOS-2. This training is for professionals seeking an introduction to the ADOS-2, including those who intend to use the ADOS-2 for clinical purposes. It is also a required first step in the process of establishing research reliability.

Individuals planning to use the ADOS-2 in clinical or school settings are strongly encouraged to attend an ADOS-2 Introduction workshop before using the instrument. Note that in all cases, simple attendance at the workshop is not sufficient to ensure competent use of the ADOS-2.

ADOS-2 Advanced training follows the Introductory course and focuses on bringing attendees’ administration and scoring skills to a higher level of inter-rater agreement with the scoring practices of skilled examiners. The heightened level of accuracy is needed to ensure that item-level coding is comparable at different workplaces in different parts of the world where research is being conducted. Role play and live administration, coding practice, and discussion in small groups under the direction of an experienced trainer is a significant component of this workshop.

If you plan to use the ADOS-2 for research purposes, you will need to establish reliability on the instrument before you begin collecting data. Establishing and maintaining reliability is crucial to maintaining consistency and comparability across research studies on autism.

If you plan to use the ADOS-2 for clinical purposes only, you are welcome, but not required to, establish research reliability on the instrument.

For further information on establishing research reliability, please contact us.

There are a limited number of places for interstate or international clinicians for these workshops as Mindful is funded by the Victorian Department of Health and many of our workshops are specifically designed to skill up the Victorian mental health workforce.
 

Deborah Sweeney regularly offers training in NZ (online and face-to-face when possible). Autism New Zealand offers workshops in ADOS-2 and ADI-R training that is equivalent to Mindful’s training.  You can visit Autism New Zealand’s website for more information.

Organisations can book a maximum of two staff into any of our ADOS-2 training workshops.

If your organisation is interested in booking more than 2 places, please contact us to discuss. We will make a time for you to speak with our Statewide Autism Coordinator to discuss the training needs of your staff.

As our training is funded by the Victorian Government, we have capped the number of places booked by individual services to ensure there are places also available to Victorian clinicians.

See Autism Training Terms and Conditions