Building a Mentally Healthy and Resilient Workforce
As Australia’s largest employment sector, small to medium enterprises are an important setting for a focus on mental health and well-being. As a result, managers and leaders within this sector are uniquely placed to play an important role in supporting the growth of a mentally healthy and resilient workforce. We know that more than 4 million people experience mental ill-health each year and almost half the population has experienced a mental illness at some time in their life.
With untreated mental health conditions costing the Australian economy more than $12 billion per year, it has never been more important to learn how to communicate, discuss, support and improve mental health and well-being in the workplace.
This expert led webinar will support managers and leaders to increase their understanding of the key concepts of mental health, while also learning supportive strategies and best practice in recognising, addressing and supporting those experiencing mental ill-health in the workplace.
As a leader it can be tempting to focus time and attention to day to day operations of a small to medium enterprise, but one of the most important resources within that operation is actually you and your staff. The healthier and more resilient you and your team are, the healthier a business has the chance to be.
COURSE FORMAT:
Podcast – available on demand – 30 minutes
Week 1 – Mental Health and Well-being (30 min bump in, 30 minute webinar, plus 30 minute chat room participation)
- Introduce participants to the concepts of mental health and well-being
- Provide a neuro-biological framework for understanding mental ill-health in the workplace
- Identify and discuss the differences between mental health and well-being, mental ill-health and mental disorders
- Identify the main signs and symptoms of mental ill-health
- Identify the different impacts of mental ill-health on individuals
- Identify protective and preventive factors for mental health
- Identify the main factors of a neuro-biological framework for mental health and well-being.
Week 2 – Safe communication Around Mental Ill-health and Suicide (30 minute webinar plus 30 minute chat room participation)
- Focus on safe and sensitive communication about mental ill-health and suicide
- Develop and in-depth understanding of the issues behind problematic language and the potential impact it may have on perpetuating stigma and inhibiting help-seeking behaviour
- Identify and employ safe language when communicating about mental ill-health or suicide
- Identify language that can be stigmatising when referring mental illness
- Identify areas of stigma relating to mental illness, specifically how stigma impacts on people with mental ill-health
- How to communicate about mental ill-health and suicide.
Week 3 – How to Communicate About Mental Ill-health and Suicide (30 minute webinar plus 30 minute chat room participation)
- Continues the focus on effective communication with people experiencing mental ill-health or suicidal behaviour
- Identify effective strategies for communicating with a person who may be experiencing mental ill-health
- Confidently incorporate appropriate help-seeking information and support pathways in relevant communications
Week 4 – Maintaining Mental Health and Well-being in the Workplace (30 minute webinar plus 30 minute chat room participation)
- Focus on self-care and maintaining mental health and well-being
- Identify why implementing self-care strategies is important
- Develop coping strategies to implement self-care and positive mental health
- Identify some coping skills that people with mental ill-health may find helpful
- Identify workplace strategies to enhance mental health
INSTRUCTOR BIOS:
Associate Professor Carmel Loughland has an extensive career which includes national and international mental health research expertise. A senior registered psychologist, Associate Professor Loughland brings a breadth of research insight and practical knowledge on strategies for supporting mental health and well-being and applications across institutions. She currently fulfills roles at multiple sites including as the Lead for Allied Health Research within Hunter New England Mental Health Service as well as positions in Translational Mental Health Research and for the NSW Ministry of Health and Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle under the Priority Research Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research.
Acting Program Manager Sara Bartlett has more than 11 years’ experience in delivering evidence-informed training designed to improve mental health literacy, build the capacity of audiences around language and stigma and impart strategies to support audiences to take action around their own mental health and well-being and the communities that they serve. She has provided strategic expert support and guidance for a diverse set of industries in best practice communications of suicide and mental ill-health and was instrumental in the development of a framework for the promotion of mental health and well-being and the prevention of mental ill-health and suicide.
Dr Sally Fitzpatrick oversees a range of projects including Ahead for Business, a digital hub supporting the mental health and well-being of small business owners and those that support them. Dr Fitzpatrick is a clinical psychologist and researcher who is passionate about understanding the factors that contribute to the mental health and well-being of all Australians. She is particularly passionate about translating this knowledge into evidence-based programs that enhance the mental health and well-being of our communities. She holds a Master of Clinical Psychology and a PhD, and is a conjoint Senior Lecturer at The University of Newcastle and holds an Honorary Postdoctoral Fellowship with Macquarie University.
About Everymind
We are a national institute dedicated to the prevention of mental ill-health and suicide through best practice programs and translational research. We pride ourselves on delivering world-class programs across diverse sectors, industry and community in order to contribute towards prevention. These programs are fit-for-purpose, evidence-driven and are informed by translational research, collaboration and leadership. As an institute, we contribute to delivering a unified approach to the prevention of mental ill-health and suicide nationally through innovation, best practice and co-design.
We are determined to deliver outcomes that contribute to a world where all people and communities are mentally healthy and live well. Our specific experience and expertise in partnering with leaders will allow us to work successfully with the Goal Group to achieve the outcomes of the training program. Visit: www.everymind.org.au for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @EverymindAU.