What is the Development Needs Analysis (DNA)
With the Department of Health’s support, the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing is undertaking a Development Needs Analysis of Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing workforce.
The DNA is a statewide project to understand the strengths, gaps and future needs of the workforce. What we learn will directly shape the Collaborative Centre and the Department of Health's workforce development priorities.
This work is grounded in collaboration, Lived and Living Experience leadership, and respect for the expertise held across the system. It is designed to ensure workforce development is guided by the people who live it every day.
Next steps for the DNA - focus groups!
The Workforce Development Needs Analysis survey closed on March 13 2026.
Thank you to the 1370 mental health workforce members who contributed your insights and experiences. We are now analysing the survey data and preparing for Stage 2 of the project.
We will be building on our learnings from the survey through a series of focus groups in April, May and June 2026.
The DNA focus groups will be delivered in two phases:
- Phase 1 — Workforce
- Phase 2 — Consumers, families and carers
What to expect:
- focus group will take place online over MS Teams,
- each group will include 6–7 participants from a similar role to yours, and
- sessions will run for approximately 60 minutes.
Recruiting now, workforce focus groups
Workforce participants please register your interest now!
We're looking for people who work in a Victorian publicly funded mental health program in one of the following areas:
- Service delivery — e.g. peer workers, clinicians, psychosocial support workers
- Leadership — e.g. managers and team leaders supporting those in service delivery roles
- Education and capability development — e.g. practice leads, trainers, and others whose primary role includes developing workforce capability
All interested participants:
- read the Information for Workforce Participants document.
- complete the workforce participants expression of interest form online.
How the DNA was designed
The design of the Development Needs Analysis was shaped with advice from representatives from more than 40 organisations across the sector, including:
- Statewide training providers
- Peak organisations, including Lived and Living Experience peaks
- Area Mental Health and Wellbeing services
- Community mental health organisations
- Local mental health and wellbeing services
- Unions and professional associations
- The Department of Health
This input helped ensure the approach reflects the diversity, complexity and reality of working in Victoria’s mental health and wellbeing system.
Based on this advice, the DNA uses a mixed-methods, sequential design. This means the project will run in two connected phases, with what we learn in the first phase shaping the focus and questions of the second. This allows us to go beyond surface-level trends and explore what is really driving workforce strengths, pressures and gaps.