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Date
24 September 2025
Organised by
RANZCP EducationThis 2-part session includes updates from Dr Greg Spencer, Chair of the Committee for Training, and Dr Alan Faulkner, Chair New Zealand Training Committee, on the recent changes to the OCA/IOCA rating scale and revised scoring guide, and practical advice from Dr Nick Bendit, Hunter New England Mental Health Psychiatry Training Program (HNET), on conducting detailed clinical interviews and developing a strong formulation.
About this webinar
In this session, we explore the key differences between OCAs and IOCAs, discuss implementation and eligibility requirements and unveil the new 5-point rating scale and revised scoring descriptors.
Specialist clinical educator Dr Nick Bendit then lead an informal education session on conducting clinical interviews to support formulation development and presentation.
Key topics:
Part 1: IOCA process and requirements
- Eligibility requirements for Stage 3 IOCAs
- Overview of 5-point rating scale and updated scoring guide
- Responsibilities for requesting and arranging an IOCA
Part 2: Practical guidance for success
- High yield questions to ask patients in relation to developmental history
- Formulation
- Practical tips for preparing and presenting vivas.
For more information please visit the IOCA webpage and FAQs.
Presenters
Dr Alan Faulkner
Dr Alan Faulkner was awarded RANZCP Fellowship in 1995 and has worked as a General Adult Psychiatrist in Christchurch, New Zealand, since then. Clinically, his areas of interest have been Emergency Psychiatry and GP Liaison work.
Dr Faulkner has had a longstanding interest in supervising trainees and took on the role of Director of Training for the Christchurch Psychiatric Registrar Training Program in 2013 and the role of Chair of the RANZCP New Zealand Training Committee in 2020.
Dr Alan Faulkner was awarded RANZCP Fellowship in 1995 and has worked as a General Adult Psychiatrist in Christchurch, New Zealand, since then. Clinically, his areas of interest have been Emergency Psychiatry and GP Liaison work.
Dr Faulkner has had a longstanding interest in supervising trainees and took on the role of Director of Training for the Christchurch Psychiatric Registrar Training Program in 2013 and the role of Chair of the RANZCP New Zealand Training Committee in 2020.
Dr Gregory Spencer
Dr Spencer is an Adult Psychiatrist working in Wellington, New Zealand. He has been one of the Directors of Training for the Lower and Central North Island Psychiatry Training Programme for over 15 years.
He also holds a position as Clinical Senior Lecturer at Te Tari Whakaora Hinengaro Tangata, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago.
Greg has previously been an examiner and supervisor with the college and is the current Chair of the RANZCP Committee for Training.
Dr Spencer is an Adult Psychiatrist working in Wellington, New Zealand. He has been one of the Directors of Training for the Lower and Central North Island Psychiatry Training Programme for over 15 years.
He also holds a position as Clinical Senior Lecturer at Te Tari Whakaora Hinengaro Tangata, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago.
Greg has previously been an examiner and supervisor with the college and is the current Chair of the RANZCP Committee for Training.
Dr Nick Bendit
Dr Nick Bendit is a staff specialist psychiatrist working at the Centre for Psychotherapy (Newcastle), an outpatient public psychotherapy unit offering long-term psychotherapy for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and eating disorders. He treats patients with BPD using the Conversational Model and DBT, as well as supervising mental health clinicians in the management of patients with BPD. He is the current Director of Training of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists (ANZAP).
He has published articles on mechanisms of change in psychotherapy, reviewing the effectiveness of DBT in borderline personality disorder, and mechanisms of chronic suicidal thoughts in patients with borderline personality disorder. He has been a co-author on the most recent Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines on deliberate self-harm in borderline personality disorder (RANZCP, 2016). He is the co-author of the third-largest randomised clinical trial of the effectiveness of psychotherapy in BPD, comparing DBT and the Conversational Model (Walton et al, 2020).
Dr Nick Bendit is a staff specialist psychiatrist working at the Centre for Psychotherapy (Newcastle), an outpatient public psychotherapy unit offering long-term psychotherapy for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and eating disorders. He treats patients with BPD using the Conversational Model and DBT, as well as supervising mental health clinicians in the management of patients with BPD. He is the current Director of Training of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists (ANZAP).
He has published articles on mechanisms of change in psychotherapy, reviewing the effectiveness of DBT in borderline personality disorder, and mechanisms of chronic suicidal thoughts in patients with borderline personality disorder. He has been a co-author on the most recent Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines on deliberate self-harm in borderline personality disorder (RANZCP, 2016). He is the co-author of the third-largest randomised clinical trial of the effectiveness of psychotherapy in BPD, comparing DBT and the Conversational Model (Walton et al, 2020).
