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Showing posts from 2016
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Over 1000 reasons to celebrate the future of workforce mental health... (And the Ambassadors (pictures throughout) and organisations ahead of their time who helped us figure it out) This week marked the close of Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in – a world first initiative combining an online mental health profile and Medibio’s wearable technology.   The result saw over 1000 Australians sign up in under 4 weeks – all of them receiving an individualised program designed to improve or help future-proof, their mental health.   Ambassadors: Dr Neale Fong, Vin Gleeson and Dr Kate Hadwen The Check-in team and I watched as people all around the country opened their reports at the same time – symbolising that we are all in this together and mental health checks should be no more stigma-inducing than having a physical health check up.   The e-traffic in the next hours was awesome: “No one is ever going to tell you the state of your mental health, it is up to you.

What I didn't predict from the first 2 weeks of Australia's Biggest Mental Health Check-in...

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Night and day since we launched Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in, hundreds of completed reports gently buzz through for review on our screens. It is week 3 and the momentum has started to spread as more organisations join individuals all over Australia to see how they are tracking.   Impressive leadership has been shown by organisations such as HBF, PwC, Wesfarmers, CBH, Broadspectrum, Integro, and Intework to name a few – recognising that mental health is everyone’s business and making the Check-in free to employees who wish to take it.   We had predicted that some people would check in because life feels hard, but they hadn’t yet done themselves the honour of figuring out what to do about it.   We also predicted that others would take the opportunity to be curious about their profiles and take a psychological selfie incorporating Medibio’s game changing technology. What we didn’t predict was such positive feedback about what it was like for people to give th

Australia's Biggest Mental Health Check-in opens Oct 10th, but it's changed me already.

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It’ s Time  to Check-in Australia – Let’s do it together…  Today marks the start of Mental Health Week in Australia.   There are some amazing initiatives, opportunities to connect, and concrete ways to increase awareness to the issue of mental health.   We are better at talking about it, there is no doubt.   Yet statistically, we are doing little to change it with most of us continuing to avoid paying attention to our own or others’ mental health until we have no choice. Almost every mood or mental health issue impacting on Australians has a pretty significant lead-in time where we can make some conscious changes to prevent or reduce psychological distress. If we could measure mental health   with a clear and holistic dashboard, we would be better equipped to change it.   We think it is time we did just that. Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in launches today, October 10.   But as its creator, it has changed me already.   Since we decided to do something

A moment in time, I hope, will make a real difference in mental health for Australians

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There are moments in life that you know will remain earmarked pages of your story long after they have passed.   Professionally and personally, last week was one of those for me, as I was joined by 18 inspiring business and community leaders at the Ambassador’s Briefing for the launch of Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in .  Each of these amazing people remind us that we can all play a role in changing the face of mental health.   Check-in 2016 Ambassadors. Australians don’t currently undertake mental health assessments unless we end up in a GP or Psychologist’s office. It perpetuates the myth that mental health is ok, until it is not ok.  As a Psychologist, I have lost count of the number of people that have wished they’d made life easier for themselves by talking about their own mental health earlier. Society has achieved a lot from increased awareness of mental health – but we are not making much ground in changing mental health, with up to 33% of the population in

A moment in time, I hope, will make a real difference in mental health for Australians

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There are moments in life that you know will remain earmarked pages of your story long after they have passed.   Professionally and personally, last week was one of those for me, as I was joined by 18 inspiring business and community leaders at the Ambassador’s Briefing for the launch of Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in .  Each of these amazing people remind us that we can all play a role in changing the face of mental health.   Check-in 2016 Ambassadors. Australians don’t currently undertake mental health assessments unless we end up in a GP or Psychologist’s office. It perpetuates the myth that mental health is ok, until it is not ok.  As a Psychologist, I have lost count of the number of people that have wished they’d made life easier for themselves by talking about their own mental health earlier. Society has achieved a lot from increased awareness of mental health – but we are not making much ground in changing mental health, with up to 33% of the population in