The Office of the Senior Practitioner - Finalist for the 2019 Chief Minister's Inslusion Awards

The Office of the Senior Practitioner is a finalist for the Excellence in Championing Human Rights and Equality award at the 2019 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards!

The Office of the Senior Practitioner operationalises the Senior Practitioner Act 2018 providing independent oversight to Disability, Education and Child Protection Services. The Senior Practitioner Act 2018 provides a formal framework for the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices by service providers in the ACT, and enshrines the principle that providers should only use restrictive practices in very limited circumstances – as a last resort, in the least restrictive way and for the shortest period possible in the circumstances.

Mandy Donley is the ACT’s inaugural Senior Practitioner. The Office has held many information sessions and an ongoing Seminar Series, and is driving the development of resources and tools informed by the perspectives of people with lived experience of restrictive practices. This includes collaborating on a story telling video project to promote better understanding across the disability sector of the need to reduce and eliminate the use of restrictive practices.