ANZAHPE ONLINE MASTER CLASS
Learning, Caring, and Belonging: Fostering Psychological Safety in Health Professions Education
Presenter: Julie Loveny
Psychological safety is essential for thriving workplaces and learning environments and the psychosocial conditions we experience and create as educators are intertwined with those of our students. When staff are overloaded, undermined or working in unsafe conditions, it becomes significantly more difficult to model the curiosity, openness and professional behaviours we expect of students. Learners, in turn may remain silent rather than to seek help, acknowledge uncertainty or name harm. Psychosocial risks and increasing stress erode wellbeing, trust and the overall quality of learning.
Without a shared understanding, clear expectations and intentional modelling and design, it is challenging to identify and address psychosocial risks and foster psychological safety.
This masterclass will explore how staff and student experiences sit within broader workplace wellbeing, legal responsibilities and professional standards, and how building positive workplace and learning environments where people feel seen, heard and valued is a shared responsibility.
By the end of this masterclass, participants will be able to:
- Explain how psychosocial conditions in workplaces and learning environments shape staff and student capacity to engage, learn and provide safe care and services.
- Distinguish between psychosocial safety and psychological safety and describe how they intersect for staff and learners.
- Recognise key psychosocial risks affecting educators and learners in their own contexts.
- Identify practical strategies to design and facilitate learning environments that foster psychological safety for both educators and students.
ABOUT OUR PRESENTER:
Julie Loveny is a social worker, academic at the University of Western Australia, and organisational development practitioner specialising in leadership, workplace wellbeing, psychosocial risk and psychological safety. She works at the intersection of research and practice, partnering with leaders and teams to translate evidence into everyday practices and behaviours that make work safer and more human.
As a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, grounded in Brené Brown’s research on courage and vulnerability, Julie is particularly interested in how everyday moments of curiosity and care can build trust and psychological safety, especially in clinical and educational settings. Her recent work includes the Leading Thriving Workplaces project, a multi year initiative with health professions partner organisations funded through the WA Mentally Healthy Workplaces Grant Program, combining qualitative research, survey data and capability building workshops to strengthen positive workplace practices.
Julie’s interests span staff–student wellbeing interconnections in universities and the critical role leaders play in enabling speaking up cultures, managing psychosocial hazards and modelling positive workplace practices. She believes people matter, and that workplaces must intentionally foster psychological safety, so that everyone has the conditions they need to thrive.
This event is FREE for ANZAHPE members. Non-members are welcome to join this discussion for a small fee.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Kind Regards,
Kathryn Fitzgerald
Professional Development Portfolio
ANZAHPE
A recording of this session will be made available to all ANZAHPE members following the session.
