Supporting the Supporters: How evidence-based training can help community workers navigate today's complex landscape

Australia's community sector workforce is under unprecedented pressure. While these dedicated professionals continue to lead with purpose and pride, the reality is stark: emotional fatigue is rising, staff burnout has reached crisis levels at 76%, and workers are increasingly struggling with under-resourcing, complex regulatory demands, and the challenge of balancing client needs against system constraints (HESTA, 2025).

The latest workforce research paints a concerning picture. In disability and community services alone, workers report declining energy levels, with only 41% of disability services employees and 37% of community services employees feeling energised in their workplace—drops of 8% and 5% respectively since 2022 (HESTA, 2025). Under-resourcing, workplace stress, and inadequate salary remain the top three pain points, creating a perfect storm that threatens the sustainability of this vital sector.

Community sector professionals navigate a uniquely complex environment. They operate at the intersection of multiple jurisdictions, manage ever-changing regulatory requirements under schemes like the NDIS, and work with families experiencing significant challenges—all while facing their own burnout and compassion fatigue.

Yet despite these pressures, community workers remain deeply connected to the purpose of their work, with 78% in disability services and 77% in community services reporting strong industry pride (HESTA, 2025). This commitment to care is the sector's greatest strength—and exactly what employers and organisations must protect through meaningful, evidence-based support.

Evidence-based tools that make a real difference

At Parentshop, we've developed specialist training designed specifically to equip community sector workers with practical, research-backed strategies they can implement immediately. Our online courses for professionals address the real challenges workers face when supporting families dealing with anxiety, behavioural issues, and parenting difficulties, created and delivered by experienced sector professionals.

Anxiety Coach, provides workers with a structured, parent-mediated approach to address childhood anxiety. Research demonstrates the program significantly reduces family accommodation behaviours — in which parents inadvertently reinforce anxious avoidance—empowering families to implement healthier coping strategies (Freeman & Collins, 2021). Similarly, an evaluation of Anxiety Coach, conducted by Hilton Education Consulting as part of The Anxiety Project (TAP) showed statistically significant reductions in parental accommodation (p < .05), helping establish common language and messages across teachers, children, and parents (TAP Final Report, 2025).

For workers supporting families with behavioural challenges, our 1-2-3 Magic & Emotion Coaching program has been the backbone of our community programs and is backed by multiple randomised controlled trials and evaluations across diverse settings. Research by Porzig-Drummond et al. (2014) demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing child problem behaviours and dysfunctional parenting, while evaluations in Australian child protection settings (Flaherty & Cooper, 2010) and community contexts (King, 2012) confirm its real-world applicability.

To support sector workers engaged with teens, our Engaging Adolescents program addresses the critical transition from late childhood to early adolescence—a period when anxiety prevalence jumps from 7% at age 11 to 32% in the 16-24 age group. While this brief parent-training program showed small to medium effect sizes in preliminary evaluation, it demonstrated promise in reducing key risk factors associated with teenage behavioural and emotional problems (Rienecker, 2015; Be You, 2021).

Our specialist training courses offer practical support and proven tools that help community workers navigate complexity with confidence while maintaining the sense of purpose that drew them to this vital work in the first place.

Explore our evidence-based training for community sector professionals at parentshop.com.au/for-professionals

References

Be You. (2021). Engaging adolescents. https://beyou.edu.au/resources/implementation-tools/programs-directory/e/engaging-adolescents

Flaherty, R., & Cooper, R. (2010). Piloting a parenting skills program in an Australian rural child protection setting. Children Australia, 35(3).

Freeman, N., & Collins, T. (2021). No Scaredy Cats: An exploratory study of the effectiveness of a parent-mediated anxiety intervention for children. Faculty of Education, Monash University.

HESTA. (2025). Disability and community services: Purpose-led but under pressure. HESTA Workforce Report 2024-2025.

King, P. (2012). Evaluation of the 1-2-3 Magic and Emotion Coaching parenting program delivered in an Australian community setting [Professional Doctorate]. School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.

Porzig-Drummond, R., Stevenson, R. J., & Stevenson, C. (2014). The 1-2-3 Magic parenting program and its effect on child problem behaviors and dysfunctional parenting: A randomized controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy.

Rienecker, K. (2015). An evaluation of Engaging Adolescents: A brief parent-training program for parents of teenagers [Honours thesis]. University of Southern Queensland.

The Anxiety Project: Cohort 1 final report 2023-2024. (2025).