ATDP has a responsibility to provide its graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide high quality advocacy services to serving and former members of the ADF and their dependents.

Advocates work in a complex and ever changing social, government, statutory and policy environment.  Consequently, what they learn as they journey through any Course in Military Advocacy can quickly become out-of-date.  If this happens, they can’t give those who seek help the assistance they deserve or ATDP’s stakeholders expect. 

The CPD program is designed to achieve a number of outcomes:

• To help reinforce the knowledge gained during normal training;
• To help keep abreast of changes in the working environment;
• To help Advocates grow their professional knowledge;
• To be flexible in meeting the needs of advocates;
• To help ensure that Advocates are covered for professional indemnity insurance under VITA; and
• To be an important part of ATDP’s quality assurance and quality control programs.

Another very important part of the CPD program is called Self-directed Learning or SDL.  This is what an Advocate does every time they read a Factsheet, check the latest version of the Act, look for something on the internet or ask a colleague for help.  Its something every competent Advocate does all the time – on every case.

CPD and SDL work together to make better advocates – better able to help those who rely on Advocates.

Download CPD Help File

The ATDP Team has established CPD with a view to encouraging and assisting ATDP qualified advocates to remain in current practice while assisting our veterans.  The information here is to assist you in using the CPD Portal.

You should check if an activity, seminar or forum is approved for CPD points before undertaking it if you wish CPD points to be credited.  If the program is not listed as Pre-Approved or in the Activity Details - Upcoming Events please ask the event organiser to apply for registration and approval of the event well before the event date.

After you click on “Go to CPD Portal” (below) you will see a menu on the LEFT:

CPD Home:  Shows a summary of your CPD status and some general information.

CPD Workspace:  Has a number of activities for which CPD points may be granted.  Some exercises allocate CPD points automatically on completion but others will require you to upload a completion Certificate.

Attendance at an ATDP approved seminar or CoP forum (7) requires the forum organiser to have applied for recognition as an approved CPD activity before the event.  The application form can be found at the foot of the ATDP homepage.  On conclusion of the event CPD points will generally be allocated in accordance with an attendance sheet uploaded by the organiser but in some cases you may need to upload proof of attendance.

Pre-Approved CPD Programs (8) include such programs a First Aid, Mental Health programs and the ATDP Mentoring Workshop.  Attendance Registration and Completion Certificate upload are at the foot of the Pre-Approved CPD Programs page.

CPD Activities:  Is a summary of the CPD activities you have undertaken in the current CPD year.