STEP helps schools build clearer, safer and more sustainable wellbeing, inclusion and workforce capacity — without overwhelming the staff you already have.
Schools are asked to deliver more wellbeing, inclusion and engagement with the same workforce. As student complexity rises, teams get pulled into reactive crisis response — and the preventative work quietly disappears.
Staff keep saying “we’re at capacity” — and they mean it.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 prevention work is being squeezed out by crisis.
Roles, supervision and escalation are often informal or held in people’s heads, rather than set out clearly.
So much capability sits with a few experienced people that a single departure would leave a real gap.
It’s the moment student support demand exceeds the sustainable capacity of your workforce, supervision and governance structures. Adding another initiative doesn’t lift the ceiling — it just adds load.
STEP is a wellbeing, inclusion and workforce governance framework. It strengthens the structures around wellbeing work — roles, supervision, escalation and rhythm — so capacity is held by the school, not by individual goodwill alone.
A large part of the new capacity STEP helps build comes from supervised university placement students — pre-service allied health and wellbeing professionals on placement in your school.
This isn’t a workaround or unpaid labour. Under STEP, placement students work within clear scope, supervision and escalation — adding genuine Tier 1 and Tier 2 preventative capacity while getting a high-quality, well-supported placement. STEP is the governance structure that makes that safe, ethical and actually valuable.
Real added capacity for prevention and early support — without adding headcount you can’t fund.
A structured, genuinely supervised placement that builds the future wellbeing workforce.
Start wherever your school is. Each step stands on its own — and each one builds toward wellbeing capacity your school can hold for the long term.
A focused diagnostic of where your wellbeing system is under pressure — capacity, risk, role clarity and supervision — with a prioritised roadmap of next steps.
“Where is our wellbeing system under pressure?”
A guided 12-month rollout of the STEP Workforce Capacity Model — leadership alignment, role and task design, supervision setup, and access to STEP resources throughout.
“We’re ready to build the model properly.”
A post-implementation annual partnership that keeps STEP current, governed and capacity-aligned — with updates, governance reviews and STEP Network participation.
“How do we keep this safe and current over time?”
Complementary annual support for wellbeing and inclusion leaders and teams — role clarity, leadership alignment, prevention thinking and sustainable practice.
“Our leaders and team need ongoing support.”
The 12-month Implementation Partnership comes in three levels. Every level builds the same STEP Workforce Capacity Model and includes the full pathway — what changes is how hands-on the support is and how far it scales, from a light-touch Starter setup to a high-touch, multi-team Enhanced rollout.
Scroll the table sideways to compare →
| Starter Light-touch Smaller or focused schools establishing STEP foundations | Core Standard support Standard secondary schools building a whole-school rollout | Enhanced High-touch Larger or complex schools, multiple supervisors or cohorts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the levels differ | |||
| Hands-on implementation support | Light-touch setup | Guided, end-to-end | Intensive & embedded |
| Implementation sessions | Streamlined core set | Full session sequence | Full, repeated & deepened |
| Breadth of rollout | Focused / foundational | Whole-school | Multi-team & cohort |
| WPS model scale | Small — ~1 at a time | Standard — up to ~3 | Multi-cohort — 3–6+ |
| Task Supervisors supported | One | Multiple | Multiple, across teams |
| Leadership & team alignment | Wellbeing lead focus | Leadership + wider team | Executive & whole-system |
| Included at every level | |||
| 12-month guided implementation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Full six-phase STEP pathway | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supervised WPS workforce design | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supervision & governance setup (scope, escalation, role cards) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| University interface & placement narrative | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Access to STEP resources, playbooks & tools | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Staff buy-in, onboarding & operating rhythm setup | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Book a Fit Call | Book a Fit Call | Book a Fit Call | |
Every Implementation Partnership is preceded by a Capacity Review, and can transition into an annual Operating Partnership. Not sure which level fits? Take the readiness audit.
Five quick questions about your wellbeing practice. No email required to see your result — you’ll get a readiness snapshot across four areas, plus the most logical next step for where your school is right now.
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What this step includes
We’ll email your result and a couple of times to talk it through. No obligation.
We’ll be in touch shortly with a couple of times for your free 15-minute STEP Fit Call.
More students reached through stronger Tier 1 and Tier 2 preventative and early-intervention support.
Clearer supervision, boundaries and escalation make support safer and more defensible.
Reduced pressure on experienced staff and future workforce pathways where relevant.
STEP Wellbeing was founded by Lachlan Marchant — a wellbeing-in-education leader who has spent years inside school executive teams as a dedicated wellbeing leader, not a classroom teacher. He has designed and built whole-school wellbeing placement programs and personally supervised many placement students, so he knows first-hand what it takes to make supervised capacity work, week to week.
His experience spans the whole system. In regional Mental Health & Wellbeing leadership with the Department of Education, he supported and consulted to schools on their wellbeing systems, approaches and programs. As a university field educator, he also supervises placements from the provider side — few people have seen school wellbeing from this many angles.
With a Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) and postgraduate study in Leadership & Strategy, that perspective is what makes STEP credible: a model built and tested in real schools, by someone who understands placement supervision, risk and whole-school systems from the inside.
A short, no-obligation conversation to understand your school’s context and identify the most logical next step. Run the audit first if you’d like a head start.
lachlan@stepwellbeing.com.au · stepwellbeing.com.au