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At any one point, a third of working-aged Australians are either struggling with a mental illness, or symptoms of mental illness. Leaders are considering not only how this affects their business, but how the organisation itself is impacting the wellbeing of their employees.  

Some estimates see workplace stress causing as much as 50% of voluntary employee turnover and 60% of absenteeism. An understanding of contributing factors towards workplace stress, known as psychosocial hazards, is something Dan Hunt, and the team at Mental Health Movement, are passionate about addressing. 

Why is mental health education in workplaces important? 

Why is Mental Health education in workplaces important?

Though some psychosocial hazards might be seen as a common aspect to a role, such as the emotional toll on first responders in an emergency, they still require risk-management and mitigation within the organisation.  

Less obvious but common psychosocial hazards in the workplace include under-utilisation of employee skills, low role clarity, high noise levels and a lack of training to support job performance. Understanding your organisation’s psychosocial hazards is a crucial step towards developing an effective mental health strategy.  

Mental Health Movement surveyed 5,700 working Australians to gain a better understanding of the factors leading to poor mental health, the barriers to seeking support and the general state of mental health understanding and stigma. From this they developed their Mental Health Blueprint, covering four stages of Awareness, Education, Training and Resources.    

Through their work with over 100 Australian companies, Mental Health Movement have noticed the power that personal story has on employee’s attitudes towards mental health and seeking support. When leaders share their own vulnerabilities, it gives employees permission to show theirs, influencing a more connected work culture with reduced stigma.  

So when developing your organisation’s mental health framework, don't under-value the impact leadership will have on its success. A supportive workplace environment will not only empower and assist staff, but will also positively impact productivity and company goals. 

Dan also shared some amazing insight and advice with us on continuing your own mental health education.  

Dan offers some takeaway advice

In partnership with Mental Health Movement we have curated a Talking About Mental Health playlist specifically to showcase content that will assist you in developing the mental health blueprint in your organisation.  

The playlist includes learning content from Mental Health Movement, as well as other mental health providers. If you are already a Go1 customer, you can recreate this playlist in your own LMS or Go1 Platform. If you are not yet a customer but interested in the Go1 Content Hub for your organisation's wellbeing and L&D goals, please get in touch with the team today. 

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We chat with Dan Hunt, from the Mental Health Movement, about psychosocial hazards, best practice, and the power of personal story.

Why is mental health education in workplaces important?

While Australians are feeling the mental and emotional toll of lockdowns, isolation and uncertainty, workplaces are emerging as instrumental in supporting and empowering their team’s mental health.

Organisations that prioritise mental health awareness can have a crucial effect on not only their employees' ability to recognise signs of mental illness, but also for supporting those who need that extra support and treatment.

A special message from Dan Hunt

A 2021 Allianz study has shown that while workplace mental health injuries are increasing, there remains a lack of mental health related discussions in the workplace. Organisations have an opportunity to not only support those who are struggling with their mental health but also create an educated and empowered environment that proactively increases the mental resilience of their entire teams.  

We spoke to Dan Hunt, Founding Director of Mental Health Movement for this year's R U OK? Day, about building a mental health blueprint for workplaces that not only reduces stigma associated with mental health and illness, but also establishes pathways for stronger overall wellbeing.  

Tell us about a conversation or moment when someone asked you ‘R U OK?’  

Tell us about a conversation or moment when someone asked  R U OK?

When going through a stage of heightened or prolonged struggle, it can be difficult to recognise the signs of dips in our mental health. As Dan experienced, having supportive managers and family who genuinely asked him, ‘are you ok?’ meant he was able to take that first step backwards to recognise his struggle.  

The act of checking in on someone has the potential to powerfully alter someone’s path and change a life. Initiatives such as R U OK? Day are an informative way to cultivate that ideal work environment where everyone feels confident and safe to ask such a simple yet impactful question.  

A workplace that has not addressed mental health stigma sufficiently can be a significant barrier to employees accessing treatment. For each genuine conversation around mental health within a workplace or team, an environment is encouraged that helps people take proactive steps towards support. 

Why do you start workplaces with awareness and stigma reduction?  

Why do you start workplaces with awareness and stigma reduction?

Actively working to decrease mental health stigma in the workplace can be seen as the foundation of building a mentally healthy workplace.

Stigma reduction not only improves knowledge and supportive behaviours within the entire team, but also increases preventative efforts from struggling employees during the early stages of mental illness. 

When looking at the sustainability of a workplace’s mental health framework, awareness is only the first, foundational step. Building on top of this, organisation’s have the opportunity to develop mentally supportive environments through ongoing education, application and training.

What is the importance of ongoing education for people at work?

There’s no doubt employees are feeling the added pressures of working during a pandemic, with 40% feeling the pressure to work longer hours and a staggering 77% clocking that overtime to complete their tasks.  

Within the context of social isolation and uncertainty, it is no surprise that more Australians are reaching out for support than ever before.  

Considering this widespread struggle, it is concerning to note that 69% of Australian employees have not had a discussion with their employers regarding mental health since the pandemic began.  

Dan Hunt and the team at Mental Health Movement have focused on discovering these pressure points, as well as psychosocial hazards, to create a proactive blueprint for mentally healthy workplaces.

Partnering with Mental Health Movement over the years has included developing high quality wellbeing resources for the Go1 Content Hub. 

This R U OK? Day, we have curated a Talking About Mental Health playlist specifically to showcase content that will assist you in developing the mental health blueprint for your organisation. The playlist includes learning content from Mental Health Movement, as well as other mental health providers. 

If you are already a Go1 customer, you can recreate this playlist in your own LMS or Go1 Platform.  

If you are not yet a customer but interested in the Go1 Content Hub for your organisation's wellbeing and L&D goals, please get in touch with the team today. 

We speak to Dan Hunt, Founding Director of Mental Health Movement, about implementing a stronger wellbeing framework in the workplace.

How do we make 'R U OK?' last in the workplace?

We speak to Dan Hunt, Founding Director of Mental Health Movement, about implementing a stronger wellbeing framework in the workplace. 

With millions of Australians facing extended lockdowns and restrictions, the isolation has made it harder to not only check in with the people in our world, but also to recognise the early signs of someone struggling. 

As we approach R U OK? Day on Thursday 9th September, we are encouraged to genuinely focus on checking in on one another and asking, ‘are they really ok?’  

At any one point, 1 in 6 working age Australians will be suffering from a diagnosed mental illness, and a further 1 in 6 will be struggling with symptoms of poor mental health, such as fatigue, worry and sleep issues. With the added pressures of the past two years, many employees are showing up to work carrying the weight of struggling mental health. 

Within a workplace, it’s important to develop a culture where everyone can feel confident asking and answering the simple yet impactful question, ‘R U OK?’ Besides the legal responsibility of providing a safe and healthy workplace, regardless of whether in an office or remote, these conversations can make a real difference to anyone going through a challenging time. 

So how can we empower our team to comfortably check in on each other?  

Knowledge is particularly powerful when creating a mentally healthy workplace. By including mental health awareness training as a part of your organisation’s ongoing L&D program, you can empower not only those struggling but their peers as well to recognise the early signs of low mental health. 

Mental health issues can affect anyone, regardless of background, age, gender or income, and symptoms often look different from person to person. Providing education to your teams around not only the normalcy of mental health struggles, but the simple signs to look out for in each other, has the potential to change someone’s life.  

Make it as easy as possible for employees to reach out for extra support when needed. Consider this pathway as crucial as your team knowing where the fire exits are in an office building. Knowing the pathway to support can make an impactful difference, particularly when someone is in a crisis situation. 

Employee EAP and Mental Health Counselling programs are an amazing way to provide wellbeing support to employees. If not available, ensure you have implemented clear promotion for and education around accessible community support options such as those listed below.

Lifeline 13 11 14 
Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 
The Suicide Callback Service 1300 659 467 
MensLine 1300 78 99 78 
Kids Help Line 1800 55 1800  

With a solid foundation of mental health education, and clear pathways to extra support for anyone struggling, you have already made beneficial steps to creating a mentally healthy workplace. As the year goes on, make time to remind and refresh your teams. Days like R U OK? Day are purposefully developed to help foster an environment within your workplace for conversations around mental health, suicide and suicide prevention.  

In partnership with Go1, R U OK? have masterfully developed the online course below, helping your teams learn when and how to ask 'R U OK?' at work. The course is free and accessible, ready to be integrated into your R U OK? Day plans.  

In addition, make sure you check out the other amazing workplace resources from RUOK?, including Workplace Champion packs and registration for their R U OK? Day webinar on Thursday 9th September 2021.

Looking for comprehensive Mental Health and Wellbeing training?  

Go1 has over 2,000 training modules and resources developed specifically to educate and increase the health and wellbeing of your team. Speak to your Go1 Customer Success Manager today about curating a playlist built to educate and empower.  

Please remember, if you are experiencing significant distress, you can reach out to Lifeline 131 114 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 for immediate support. If you, or anyone you know, is feeling suicidal call the Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 for immediate support. 

With the added pressures of the past two years, many employees are showing up to work carrying the weight of struggling mental health. So how can we empower our team to comfortably check in on each other?

Empower your workplace this RU OK? Day

With the added pressures of the past two years, many employees are showing up to work carrying the weight of struggling mental health. So how can we empower our team to comfortably check in on each other?

It's a question that constantly plagues us, especially as we work from home more and more.

There's a lot of pressure on organizations at the moment to do something to minimize the challenges this can have on their employees.

We teamed up with leading experts AP Psychology & Consulting Services to look at the important role that training can play in supporting people in this new landscape.

What do we mean when we say employees are 'thriving'? 

AP Psychology & Consulting Services defines thriving at work as the following: 

Employees are happy, healthy and highly productive. 

They feel safe to express themselves and their opinions and raise concerns. 

There are policies and procedures that promote the mental health, wellbeing and safety of individuals and everyone around them. 

eLearning isn't a magic bullet, but well-timed education can make a world of difference.

Here are some points to consider, to help you get the most out of your online training:

eLearning works best when paired with clear policies, procedures, and workplace actions that support it.

It requires a clear statement from the workplace and leaders that protect and promote appropriate behaviors in the workplace.

It is greatly improved with context, either through videos or messages from the workplace, to demonstrate how that learning can be applied and how important it is to the workplace.

We need to learn in a variety of forms. Often people need to hear the same thing from multiple sources and in multiple ways and a large library of eLearning is ideal for this.

Online learning is highly effective when paired with blended solutions like workshops or virtual meetings guided by experts.

L&D professionals are often hamstrung by competing priorities. There may be support for an initiative, but no funds. Or there are funds, but no time. Or often, neither funds nor time feels available.

If you are stuck for a place to start, AP Psychology & Consulting Services recommends taking the following steps: 

There's a system of building blocks that allow people to thrive at work.

The first is creating a psychologically safe environment, which is a fundamental responsibility of every workplace.

The next is providing education and support for people's mental health.

The last is providing the tools and space for people to manage their own wellbeing in the way that works best for them.

An ideal workplace program might look like:

Leaders set the standard and lead by example. If we educate them, support them, and help them to thrive at work, they'll set the standard for the rest of the workplace.

Give your leaders access to the resources they need to learn more about what it takes to be a psychologically safe leader. And give them time to learn and practice those skills.

Complement this with policies and procedures for your workplace.

Give people a clear and obvious place to point to to know what is expected of them and what is and isn't okay at work.

Make sure your employees have training resources that they can use to skill themselves up. Ongoing education is a fundamental aspect of thriving at work.

MHA have a full Mental Health Month toolkit you can download, as well as policy and procedure links and advice on their website.

For our local Salt Lake City residents, MHU has set up a fantastic new suite of programs and films that they're launching this May.

💡 A tip from us: work with experts - don't try and take on everything yourself. We're excited to be working with AP Psychology & Consulting Services to help guide us on our own journey.

Visit the Go1 Content Insider - April Edition to learn more about what's available in the Go1 Content Hub

Go1 customers can access guides and six new playlists that have been developed in collaboration with AP Psychology & Consulting Services to help you roll out a program like this. Just ask your CSM or get in touch.

L&D professionals are often hamstrung by competing priorities. There may be support for an initiative, but no funds. Or there are funds, but no time. Or often, neither funds nor time feels available. If you are stuck for a place to start, there's a system of building blocks that allow people to thrive at work. 

Running a small business has always required hard work. There’s the long hours, the people management, the administrative duties, and the stress that goes along with balancing these aspects. In fact, one in three small business owners report high levels of psychological distress.

However, the impact of COVID-19 over the last nine months has presented small business owners with challenges they couldn’t have seen coming. Unfortunately, this has had an adverse effect on their mental health and wellbeing. 

What issues are small business owners facing?

Depending on the sector, these challenges are as varied as they are difficult. Many small business owners have to reduce the amount of hours that staff work, or stand employees down entirely. Others have been forced to close businesses, then re-open, then close again. 

There’s dotting the Is and crossing the Ts for JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments, keeping up staff morale and communicating all of the above to workers as transparently as possible.  

These, combined with the regular challenges facing small business owners, can generate a huge amount of stress and contribute to poor mental health and wellbeing. 

What does this mean for small business advisers?

When small business owners are under the pump, they naturally turn to small business advisers for support. Yet due to COVID-19, small business advisers have also been affected, with the ability to provide in-person support compromised by physical distancing. However, there are still ways they can assist.

There are several signs advisers should keep an eye out when it comes to their clients. These can range from a change in behaviour, such as being unusually quiet, to business-specific problems like poor cash flow. 

In light of these trying circumstances, Mental wellbeing: support yourself and small businesses online training course for small business advisers was created. 

Freely available through Go1, this collaboration between Beyond Blue and Xero provides business advisers with the tools to support the mental health and wellbeing of small business owners during these unprecedented times.  

This course was developed in consultation with small business advisers to ensure it included the most accurate, up-to-date information. There was also a conscious effort to design the resource to be as straightforward as possible to apply in practice.  

A key contributor in this area was Tim Hoopmann, a Beyond Blue speaker who also runs Spinn Business Solutions, a venture that helps businesses increase efficiency and reduce stress. 

Tim believes one of the major advantages of the course is that it helps educate small business advisers about what to look out for, and offers the tools and confidence to approach these conversations.

“Working closely with small business owners in any capacity comes with great responsibility and during the COVID-19 pandemic, many have required additional support,” he says. 

The course is also something that advisers can continually refer back to, which is key given that each small business owner’s situation will be unique. 

“It's been important for advisers to be mindful of the fact that everyone's experiences are different, approaching every situation with care,” says Tim.

Regardless of these differences, Tim maintains the importance of small business owners prioritising themselves. This rings true for small business advisers too. 

"Taking care of your wellness and mental health is the first step towards better business. When we take care of ourselves, it puts us in the best position to operate our business and take care of those around us – our teams, our customers and our suppliers,” says Tim.

“This is a must do course for anyone who deals with the small business community. It has great takeaways for helping build confidence in how to navigate these very important conversations with clients.  In addition, the principles will provide benefit to your day to day life."

This course is freely available nationwide thanks to our partnership with Beyond Blue. 

See how our collaboration with Beyond Blue is providing business advisers with the tools to support the mental health and wellbeing of small business owners during these unprecedented times.  

Challenges facing small business owners and how to combat them

Whether you’re struggling to find your keys, need a second pair of eyes on a piece of writing, or you’re searching for ‘how to’ videos on YouTube, we all need a little support sometimes. Mental health is no different. There’s nothing worse than struggling alone, so when things get tough, a helping hand, a supportive ear, or a shoulder to cry on can be just what we need. This is why it’s so important to reach out and offer support to friends, loved ones, or colleagues who may be going through a difficult time. 

However, this can be easier said than done. It’s often difficult to identify who actually needs support, and even more challenging to figure out how to offer support in a constructive, non-judgmental way. That’s why we’ve put together this helpful guide to providing social support in times of need. We cover the importance of a strong support network, how to identify the signs, practical ways to offer support, and how to care for your own mental wellbeing in the process. 

Before we get started, it’s important to note that supporting others should not come at the expense of your own wellbeing. It’s essential to strike a balance between being supportive, and not overloading yourself. This may mean not biting off more than you can chew when another, more qualified person may be able to offer support, ensuring you don’t dedicate so much time to others that you leave none for yourself, and ensuring that any situations where you are offering support are not mentally, physically, or emotionally triggering. 

For more tips on striking this balance, be sure to check out our blog post about Developing your mental health self care plan. 

What is a social support network (and why is it important)? 

Put simply, a social support network is a group of people who you can turn to for support in times of need — particularly if you are experiencing a mental health crisis. This network may include family, friends, colleagues, or even online communities. 

Building your social support network can be as simple as identifying the people in your life who you feel comfortable sharing important thoughts and feelings with. 

It is also important to note that you shouldn’t feel pressured to include someone in your support network if you don’t feel comfortable sharing with them — no matter how ‘close’ you are in other areas of life. If someone doesn’t quite understand what you are going through, or offers unnecessary judgment, turning to them for support can be counterproductive.

According to Very Well, some of the key benefits of social support include increased motivation, healthier choices, and reduced stress. They add, “Psychologists and other mental health professionals often talk about the importance of having a strong social support network. When trying to reach our goals or deal with a crisis, experts frequently implore people to lean on their friends and family for support. Research has also demonstrated the link between social relationships and many different aspects of health and wellness.”

Due to COVID-19, offering social support in person is more difficult than usual, leading many to seek online alternatives. A few helpful resources for online social support include Beyond Blue’s forum, the Australian Government’s Head to Health website, as well as Facebook communities such as Blokes vs Black Dog. 

In order to offer social support, it is important to be able to recognise common warning signs.

The number one rule is simple: a change is worth a check in. In essence, if you notice a change in a friend or loved one’s behaviour — particularly if they start behaving more erratically — it’s worth checking in. It rarely hurts to ask “are you okay?”. Ideally, the change may have a simple explanation, but it’s usually worth asking, just in case. 

Additionally, the American Psychiatric Association lists a number of common signs that someone may be experiencing mental health issues, including: 

Drop in functioning at work, school, or socially

Beyond Blue also offers several common warning signs, such as: 

Withdrawing from close family and friends

Avoidance of situations that result in anxiety

If you’re worried a friend or loved one is exhibiting some of these signs, a good first step before reaching out can be completing this checklist. While the K10 checklist should not be substituted for a professional diagnosis, it is a quick and confidential way to attain further insight, and serves as a good guideline. 

Finally, it’s important to remember everyone will exhibit different signs in different ways, so the above lists are by no means comprehensive. Instead, remember the number one rule: a change is worth a check in. 

According to Health Behaviour and Health Education, there are four types of social support: 

Emotional support is defined as “expressions of empathy, love, trust, and caring”. An example of this type of support may be a friend offering a kind, empathetic ear during a difficult time. 

Instrumental support means offering “tangible aid and service”. An example of this type of support may be parents offering to assist with childcare while you are recovering from a broken leg. 

Informational support includes offering “advice, suggestions, and information”. An example of this type of support may be a friend offering information and advice about a similar situation they experienced recently. 

Finally, Appraisal support is “information that is useful for self-evaluation“. An example of this type of support may be reminding a friend of all their positive qualities when they are feeling particularly down, to help them realise they are capable of overcoming a stressful situation. 

Obviously, different types of support are appropriate in different situations, so it is important to take individual context into consideration when reaching out to offer support. Generally, you will know the person you are offering support to well enough to ascertain what will best suit their needs in that moment. 

It may also help to make a support plan in advance, to ensure you don’t become overwhelmed while offering support, and are able to stay calm in the moment.

Above all else, lending a kind, compassionate, and non-judgmental ear to ensure a loved one’s problems don’t remain bottled up can often be all the support someone needs. For more information on starting these important conversations, check out our article There’s more to say after R U OK?: Keeping the conversation going. 