We have established that successfully preventing mental health and wellness issues in an organisation or on a project requires an integrated approach to committed and constructive leadership, culture and connection and participation and engagement.
Most organisations have a central ‘library’ of resources to support the training and development of their people. These courses often include things like induction training, safety and compliance, systems training etc.
While in its own right, training and development on mental health is more reactive than preventative, when integrated into a broader strategy, it can play a powerful role in shifting language and mindset. It is therefore helpful to include a resource list for Mental Health and Wellness in your central library.
Here are a couple of examples:
The Laing O’Rourke Webpage
Next Gear is also open to public access and is an example of ways to educate staff at all levels on some simple strategies to proactively manage mental health. Please note these are educative and do not constitute a preventative approach in isolation.
Mental Health Action Plan
The development of a mental health action plan can be built to support the integrated approach employed across the project or organisation and can provide a user-friendly guide on where to find resources and how to ensure these are offered to employees to access regularly.
Here is a good example from John Holland.
Resilience Mentoring
Learning from the best in the business is another way to help cascade the right behaviours and culture through the organisation. Here is an example of the Wellness In Infrastructure Resilience Mentoring program designed to offer cross-industry mentoring.
There are also a number of online resources and apps to support mental health. Here are a few examples:
This Way Up
Head to Health
Smiling Mind
Black Dog Institute
Beyond Blue