When it comes to raising awareness around mental health and wellbeing at work, it can be difficult to know where to start. That’s why we’ve prepared a calendar of important mental health and wellbeing dates, along with strategies to help HR managers plan for the year ahead.

Start early – choose your focus

There are events and opportunities to raise awareness to suit every workplace – from brain health to mindfulness, suicide prevention to safety at work. Take some time to brainstorm what you’d like to achieve in raising awareness around mental health and choose events you think will resonate in your workplace.

Curate a calendar of events

Once you’ve chosen the mental health and wellbeing topics you’d like to focus on this year, think about how these could best be promoted at work. Depending on your workforce – are they shift workers, remote or office based? – you may need to devise a range of ways to engage with different groups.

Here are some practical ideas to guide you:

• A morning or afternoon tea at work can bring staff together and help to spark informal conversations
• Include links to videos, interviews and articles in your newsletters to engage colleagues in topics ahead of key activities
• Use resources provided by mental health organisations like RU OK? to create visual cues in the workplace, reminding colleagues of the topic you wish to promote. You can adopt new email signatures or display posters at work.
• Invite your colleagues to attend a Workforce Wellness Seminar. We provide specialist facilitators onsite to deliver 1-2 hour and half-day workshops on:
  • Resilience
  • Mindfulness
  • Grief and loss
  • Stress-less
  • Work life balance
  • Nutrition and diet
  • Exercise for wellbeing
  • Understanding mental illness in the workplace
  • Alcohol and other drugs (AOD).

These tend to book out early for popular days like World Mental Health Day and RU OK? Day. Contact us if you’d like to find out more.

Provide next steps for anyone who needs support

Raising awareness around mental health and wellbeing issues in the workplace is a significant step in creating a culture of care in the workplace. But it’s also important to provide next steps for those who may need support, at work or at home.

While promoting your mental health and wellbeing events remind colleagues they can reach out for support at anytime through our EAP. You might also like to distribute the Caraniche at Work referral cards during these events, which can be ordered by emailing work@caraniche.com.au