Referral to the WHIN Coordinator program

On this page

1. Eligibility criteria
2. Referral pathways
3. Accepting or declining a referral

Students and their family members are referred to the WHIN Coordinator program for assistance in identifying and understanding their health and wellbeing needs and accessing appropriate supports and services.

Eligibility criteria

The WHIN Coordinator program can accept the referrals for:

• any student enrolled in a school with an allocated wellbeing nurse
• immediate family members of a student enrolled in a school with an allocated wellbeing nurse
• children and young people enrolled to commence at the school with an allocated wellbeing nurse.

Students and their immediate family members can be referred to the WHIN Coordinator program for care coordination and care navigation for the following:

• behavioural, neurodevelopmental and learning disorders
• mental and emotional health concerns
• growth and development concerns
• vision, hearing and dental health concerns
• sexual health and gender diversity concerns
• risk taking behaviour e.g. alcohol and drugs use/misuse, vaping, smoking, excessive or problematic gaming, sexualised behaviours
• personal safety concerns such as domestic violence and homelessness
• family and peer relationships issues
• pregnancy and parenting support
• accessing National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) support
• accessing additional support if required when returning to school following an acute hospital admission.

The following falls outside the scope of the program

• administration of medications
• provision of therapeutic intervention or medical procedures such as tube feeding, tracheotomy suctioning, diabetes management
• provision of immunisations
• provision of clinical counselling for mental health or behavioural concerns
• provision of vision, hearing, dental or growth assessments or screening.

Referral pathways

Referrals to the WHIN Coordinator program can be made using the Wellbeing Nurse Referral Form (Appendix 3). Students and their family members can be referred to the WHIN Coordinator program through two referral paths (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Referral pathways

Direct or self referral

Any child or young person attending a school with a wellbeing nurse can be referred to the program by their parent, carer or guardian. Students 14 years and older can refer themselves to the program. The referral can be made directly to the wellbeing nurse in person, by email, telephone or videoconference. If a student under the age of 14 years self refers to the program, the wellbeing nurse obtains parental consent prior to accepting the referral. Further guidance is provided in the Consent section of the Guideline.

Indirect or school referral

The school learning and support and wellbeing team, school principal or school staff can refer a student of any age at the school to the WHIN Coordinator program. Parents/carers/guardian can ask the school learning and support and wellbeing team to refer their child to the program. Students aged 14 years and over can also ask the learning and support team to refer them to the program. The school learning and support and wellbeing team determines when a referral by this team to the WHIN Coordinator program is appropriate.

NSW Health services may refer students enrolled at the school to receive assistance to engage with health and community services for any additional follow-up treatment

Accepting or declining a referral

The wellbeing nurse assesses each referral and determines if the referral meets the eligibility criteria and notifies the referrer whether they have accepted or declined the referral. If the referral is declined, the wellbeing nurse provides a reason for declining the referral and suggests alternative care pathways, if appropriate.

The wellbeing nurse informs the school learning and support and wellbeing team, school principal or school executive as required when a student referral has been accepted and documents the referral in the school’s centralised record system. Further guidance on documenting a student’s referral in the school's centralised record system is provided in the Documentation section of the Guideline.