What We Do
We operate a 24/7 helpline to provide advice to medical practitioners and students facing difficulties. The advice is often in relation to stress and mental health difficulties, workplace concerns and difficulties, alcohol and substance problems, personal or financial crises.
We also provide health promotion and education about doctors’ health through our website with links to relevant resources.
Seminars and education events are held throughout the year in conjunction with our partners, including Australian Doctors’ Health Network (ADHN) and Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ).
DHQ is active in providing educational, support and advocacy activities. It supports research to improve the safety, security and wellbeing of health practitioners.
Help is only a call away
Call 07 3833 4352
For doctors and medical students only – Independent and Confidential advice
THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY SERVICE
FOR ANY EMERGENCY PLEASE CALL 000
Services
DHQ has four key aspects
Helpline
We operate a 24/7 helpline to provide advice to medical practitioners and students facing difficulties. The advice is often in relation to stress and mental health difficulties, personal or financial crises. Read more about how it works.
Advocacy, Promotion & Support
We actively promote our organisation to ensure that all doctors and students are aware of our services and provide advocacy around doctors’ health issues throughout the health services. We support other organisations working in this area, by providing access to resources and evidence to support their work.
Education
View our current and past education sessions here.
Our education sessions focus on a breadth of issues including maintaining our health and wellbeing, caring for the doctors as patients, understanding medicolegal and workplace stress and transforming workplaces to be healthy workplaces. We run regular educational seminars and events throughout the year, partnering with other organisations to broaden the impact of our work.
Doctors’ Health in Queensland can provide education on a range of doctors’ health topics including but not limited to:
- Why doctors’ health matters and what it means for you
- Doctor self-care
- Burnout, compassion fatigue & vicarious trauma
- Being a doctor to a doctor-patient
- Bullying & harassment
- Workplace wellbeing – creating mentally healthy workplaces
Our education sessions can be delivered face to face, as webinars or workshops.
If you would like DHQ to speak at your workplace, contact admin@dhq.org.au.
Research
We are engaged in research with a number of universities and other health organisations to enhance the evidence-base that underpins our understanding of doctors’ health.
Our website provides links to relevant resources.
DHQ is a member of the Australian Doctors’ Health Network (ADHN) enabling our service to proactively engage with other doctors’ health services across Australia and New Zealand to support our work in this field. We have worked with these organisations to convene the Australasian Doctors’ Health Conference every two years which alternates with the International Physician Health Conferences. The first two national doctors’ health conferences were held in Brisbane in 1999 and 2001.
Who do we help?
DHQ provides support for doctors and medical students.
Medical practitioners, this specifically includes general practitioners, medical specialists, junior medical officers, rural practitioners, international medical graduates, doctors in training and medical students.
Family members of these practitioners may contact us with concerns.
Our service does not provide assistance to members of the public.
What We Don’t Do
We don’t provide a service for members of the general public. We encourage community members in difficulty to seek help via the methods below.
- Call 000 in an emergency
- Call Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
- Visit your local general practitioner
- Call Lifeline 13 11 14
- or visit their website at www.lifeline.org.au
- Call beyondblue 1300 22 4636
- or visit their website at www.beyondblue.org.au
- Call Mensline Australia 1300 789 978
- Call Kids Helpline (5-25 years) 1800 551 800
We do not provide our service to Dental Practitioners. If you would like to speak to someone, call 1800 377 700. If you want to know a bit more about their service before getting in contact, find out more at www.dpsupport.org.au.
