08/10/2026
Another 16 young people have now completed the STATIM Microcredentialing Program — but this cohort marks something different for us.
This is our second cohort overall, and the first delivered as part of the Australian Government’s Local Jobs, Local People Grant, which will see STATIM support 50 participants through the program.
That is a big deal for us.
Not simply because of the funding, but because it backs something we have believed for some time: if we want to address healthcare workforce shortages, we need to start building the workforce earlier.
The Toowoomba Region Health Industry Environmental Scan and Workforce Development Plan, developed by Merrilyn Strohfeldt and Megan O’Shannessy in late 2025, identified the need for exactly this type of approach — stronger links between education, industry and training, and a greater focus on growing our own workforce.
We now have a model that has been piloted, funded, expanded and is being delivered at scale — and we’re already talking with other schools about the 2027 program.
The workforce pressures facing the Darling Downs are not unique, which is why we believe this can go much further.
If you are a school, hospital, aged care provider, health service, workforce organisation or government body looking at how to build a future healthcare workforce, we’d genuinely love to talk.
We don’t need to keep competing for the same shrinking pool of people.
We can help create the next one.
A huge thank you to Fairholme College, Darling Downs Health, St Vincent’s Care Toowoomba, MaryMacKillopCatholicCollege, St Joseph’s College Toowoomba, everyone behind the scenes at STATIM, and the Australian Government Workforce Australia for trusting us to deliver.
We’re incredibly proud of where this is heading.
