The owners, leaders and managers of Newcastle and Hunter businesses and organisations have the opportunity to hear from two experts in creating mentally healthy workplaces at a free workshop in March.
Leading Hunter based registered training organisation, Forsythes Training, is hosting the breakfast workshop in Merewether on 13 March. The guest speakers are Caddie Marshall and Craig Hamilton.
Forsythes Training Director, Julie Carroll, said mental health in the workplace is often overlooked or misunderstood.
Julie said with mental illness costing Australian business $11 billion per year in lost productivity and compensation, it is imperative that employers, managers and supervisors have a sound understanding of mental health relative to the workplace.
“Creating mentally healthy workplaces makes good business sense – it can boost productivity as well as reduce absenteeism, presenteeism, risk and liability,” Julie said.
“Caddie and Craig will provide practical and effective tips for managers and leaders to be able to make their organisations more resilient and to help their people deal with mental health issues within and outside the workplace,” she said.
Caddie Marshall is a registered mental health nurse who has been training in mental health for more than a decade across several states. She has lectured in postgraduate and undergraduate programs in business and nursing (including mental health literacy and first aid) at the University of Newcastle.
Craig Hamilton is a sought-after speaker on mental health, lifestyle and wellbeing. The former coal miner, turned ABC radio broadcaster and author, lives with bi-polar disorder. He shares his lived experience in battling and overcoming the challenges of living and working with mental illness.
Research shows that around 45 per cent of Australians aged between 16 and 85 will experience a mental illness at some point in their life, while one in five Australian adults will experience a mental illness in any given year.
A report prepared for Beyond Blue found that mentally healthy workplaces are as important to Australian employees as physically safe workplaces, however workplaces are not meeting their expectations.
It found that mentally unhealthy workplaces impact negatively on employee behaviour.
91 per cent believe mental health in the workplace is important (88 per cent believe physical safety is important). Only 52 per cent of employees believe their workplace is mentally healthy compared to 76 per cent for physical safety.
Only five in ten (56 per cent) believe their most senior leader values mental health.
One in five Australians (21 per cent) take time off work each 12 months because they felt stressed, anxious, depressed or mentally unhealthy – this statistic is more than twice as high (46 per cent) among those who consider their workplace mentally unhealthy.
Employees who believe their workplace is mentally unhealthy are unlikely to disclose within their workplace if they are experiencing a mental health condition.
The Forsythes Training workshop will cover the following areas;
- the risks and costs of not addressing mental health in the workplace organisations’ and managers’ obligations under workplace safety legislation,
- the signs and symptoms of mental illnesses, and
- promoting a compassionate, empathetic workplace environment creating a workplace culture that promotes, encourages and supports early help seeking behaviour.
The free event will be hosted at Townson Oval Green Room in Merewether on Friday, 13 March.
IMAGE | Free workshop on offer to deliver mental health advice to local businesses.
