Trainer Mel Brown, who has a decade of experience in child protection, will lead the online First Nations Women in Leadership Workshop from 25 — 26 May. Photo: Supplied.
First Nations Women in Leadership Workshop
Date: 25 — 26 May
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Key strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders to achieve personal, professional, and community success.
- Understand and align your cultural and corporate responsibilities.
- Infuse cultural values into your corporate role.
- Enhance self-awareness and lead with resilience.
- Learn how to handle setbacks constructively.
Trainer Mel Brown, a Ngunnawal woman now living in the Northern Rivers Bundjalung Nation, holds a master’s degree in Indigenous Healing and Trauma. With a decade of experience in child protection, including managing the Aboriginal Child Protection Unit in the ACT, she has a deep expertise in the field.
Currently, Mel serves as the director of Spirit Dreaming Pty Ltd. As an experienced Aboriginal cultural trainer and lateral violence expert, she designs and delivers workshops for government agencies, non-government organisations, and corporate businesses.
Psychological Safety Toolkit for Managers & Leaders
Date: 26 May
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Prioritising wellbeing with a practical guide for managers and leaders on navigating psychosocial risks.
- Understand a leader’s role in ensuring a safe and healthy work environment.
- Identify psychosocial hazards, red flags, and warning signs within your teams and organisation.
- Discover the direct correlation between professional success and mental health.
- Learn actionable strategies to enhance performance by prioritising team wellbeing.
Trainer Kevin St Mart is a workplace mental health expert with more than 23 years of experience in work health and safety. He is a consultant for the Opus Centre for Psychosocial Risk and holds qualifications in business, injury management, and training and assessment. Kevin previously served as a workplace engagement manager at Beyond Blue and led mental health programs at Comcare.
He has extensive experience delivering training, presentations and projects, and has contributed to initiatives such as the People at Work risk assessment tool and the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance.
Public Sector Mental Health & Resilience for Personal Wellbeing & Performance
Date: 26 May
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Psychological skills training for professionals and teams.
- Understand the psychology of change, and how you respond to uncertainty in the public sector.
- Explore its ongoing impact on the workplace, and in your personal life.
- Understand the five key domains that influence your behaviour in social situations.
- Establish a regular self-care routine for yourself, both at and away from work.
Trainer Melissa Harries is a psychologist and specialist in developing proactive interventions to enhance employee wellbeing. She draws on more than a decade of experience working with the Australian Army, where she ran a military mental health unit supporting 1200 soldiers.
As the founder of the Parramatta Psychology Clinic, established in 2012, she provides EAP counselling with a focus on managing mental health in the workplace and fostering adaptability.
Operational AI: Workflow, Prompt & Ethics
Date: 26 May
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Streamline workflows, automate routine tasks, and optimise your productivity.
- Understand the key tools that can enhance productivity.
- Automate meeting minutes, emails, and data entry.
- Structure clear prompts for tools to improve your workflow.
- Manage privacy risks and identify bias when using AI tools.
Trainer Rabia Khan is a public health and data specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in the global health sector, spanning Australia, New Zealand and Europe. She excels in leveraging data and evidence to enhance health outcomes and reduce disparities.
Rabia empowers individuals to drive positive change, make informed decisions, and amplify their impact through effective leadership, data utilisation, and evidence-based strategies.
PowerPoint Presentation Skills Workshop
Date: 26 May
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Transform your presentation skills and create impactful visual stories that captivate your audience.
- Master essential PowerPoint features to create polished and professional presentations.
- Enhance your design capabilities with advanced layouts, themes and graphics.
- Engage your audience using effective animation and transition techniques.
- Manage and share presentations for seamless collaboration.
- Use Copilot to boost creativity, speed and idea generation.
From more than three decades at the forefront of technology training to leading transformative change initiatives across diverse sectors, trainer Mandy Vyner brings deep expertise in helping people build confidence and capability in the digital workplace.
Specialising in Microsoft Office solutions, she has worked closely with organisations to design precise, high-impact learning experiences that support both individual growth and enterprise-wide change. With strengths spanning instructional design, coaching, mentoring and change leadership, Mandy translates complex systems into practical skills that drive measurable results.
Engaging with First Nations Communities Workshop for APS 4 — 6 Levels
Date: 27 May
Time: 9:30 am — 4 pm
Duration: One 6.5-hour face-to-face session
Location: ACT
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This face-to-face workshop will build your capability in engagement and partnerships with First Nations communities and organisations. The content supports participants to learn through practitioner-led, peer-to-peer interactions and conversations, and is co-facilitated by a First Nations APS staff representative and an APS Academy lead practitioner.
The workshop will cover various topics, including the National Agreement on Closing the Gap Priority Reforms, the Charter of Partnerships and Engagement, traditional ownership, authenticity, authority, power, and shared decisions; it will also include a discussion of scenarios and challenging mindsets, reflections on practice and a commitment to ongoing learning, and the importance of creating networks and sharing information.
This learning experience has been provided by the APS Academy, and the content is suitable for APS 4 — APS 6.
The Mandarin Live: Future-Ready Public Service — Queensland
Date: 27 — 29 May
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: In-person and online | Rydges South Bank Brisbane
Email: [email protected]
Building a future-ready public service demands more than policy ambition; it requires resilient systems, trusted institutions, and leaders who can deliver under sustained pressure.
This summit brings together Queensland’s senior public sector leaders to examine how government must evolve to meet growing citizen expectations, manage intersecting crises, and deliver at scale in the lead-up to 2032 and beyond.
Through ministerial insight, executive keynotes, and peer-level discussions, the program focuses on the realities of whole-of-government delivery, strengthening integrity and trust, lifting workforce and digital capabilities, and accelerating infrastructure and service outcomes without compromising governance.
Featured speakers include:
- Integrity Commissioner Linda Waugh
- Queensland Ombudsman and Inspector of Detention Services Anthony Reilly
- Queensland Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak CEO Phillip Brooks
- The Mandarin editor-in-chief Peter Gearin
- Public Trustee of Queensland Samay Zhouand
- Queensland Health Deputy Director-General, System Policy & Planning, Peta Bryant
- Deputy Director-General, Olympic & Paralympic Games Office, Department of Sport, Racing, & Olympic & Paralympic Games, Eugenie Buckley.
Engaging with First Nations Communities Workshop for EL 1 and EL 2
Date: 28 May
Time: 9:30 am — 4 pm
Duration: One 6.5-hour face-to-face session
Location: ACT
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This face-to-face workshop will build your capability in engagement and partnerships with First Nations communities and organisations. The content supports participants to learn through practitioner-led, peer-to-peer interactions and conversations, and is co-facilitated by a First Nations APS staff representative and an APS Academy lead practitioner.
The workshop will cover various topics, including the National Agreement on Closing the Gap Priority Reforms, the Charter of Partnerships and Engagement, traditional ownership, authenticity, authority, power, and shared decisions. It will also include a discussion of scenarios and challenging mindsets, reflections on practice and a commitment to ongoing learning, and the importance of creating networks and sharing information.
This learning experience has been provided by the APS Academy, and the content is suitable for EL 1 — EL 2.
Embedding Risk Management into your Entity’s DNA
Date: 28 May — 23 June
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Duration: Two 7.5-hour face-to-face sessions
Location: ACT
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
Embedding risk management into your entity’s DNA is designed for Commonwealth officials who are preparing for, or currently work in, a role where they are responsible for implementing their entity’s approach to managing risk. Typically, you have the responsibility for establishing your entity’s risk management frameworks and systems and building its risk management capability.
If this is not your role, we suggest you register for the Practical Risk Management course. This course will build your understanding of the concepts of managing risk and provide you with the tools to manage risk at a program or project level.
This learning experience has been provided by the Department of Finance, and the content is suitable for APS 4 — EL 2 APS officials responsible for establishing risk management frameworks and systems and building the risk management capability in their entity.
APS Leadership Edge Network
Date: 1 June, 2026 — 31 May, 2027
Duration: Registration includes access for 12 months. The minimum expected time of involvement on the platform is two hours a month.
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
The Leadership Edge Network provides past Leadership Edge participants with a hub to continue developing leadership skills.
The community will help members sustain leadership communication and collaboration, strengthen cross-agency networks, enable real-time peer problem-solving, and deliver up-to-date, APS-relevant news and insights.
This content has been provided by the APS Academy, and is suitable for EL2s and EL1s who previously registered for APS Leadership Edge.
