beyondblue has acted on evidence suggesting that health professionals are at a greater risk of experiencing depression, anxiety and suicide, to produce a guide for health services in developing a workplace mental health strategy.

There are a number of benefits for health services that focus on creating mentally healthy workplaces. Research suggests that:

• Patient experiences are better when staff feel they have a good working environment, low emotional exhaustion, and support from their co-workers and manager
• Workplaces will, on average, receive a positive return on investment of $2.30 for every $1 spent on creating a mentally healthy workplace
• Employers who sustain a ‘great place to work’ attract and keep the best workers
• When a staff is engaged, they are more willing to extend an extra hand or discretionary effort to assist others. The result is improved performance, productivity and quality

There are practical actions every health service can take to create a mentally healthy workplace. Given the unique nature of the work environment in health service, beyondblue is developing a practical, step-by-step guide for health services on how to develop and implement a tailored mental health and wellbeing strategy for their staff.

Developing a workplace mental health and wellbeing strategy, there are few main practical steps that needs to be considered:

• Gain leadership support
  o    Build your business case
  o    Identify champions and establish governance
  o    Commit financial, human, and other resources

• Analyze your situation
  o    Identify existing policies, programs, supports and practices
  o    Review and analyze existing data and research
  o    Consult with staff and other stakeholders to identify issues and seek feedback on the current approach

• Establish your action plan
  o    Establish desired outcomes and set goals
  o    Identify need for collaborations/ external expertise
  o    Develop a realistic, achievable action plan
  o    Implement actions

• Monitor, review and improve
  o    Monitor implementation and uptake of initiatives
  o    Seek feedback from staff on implementation and effectiveness
  o    Collect data to compare with your baseline and measure progress against goals
  o    Review strategy and programs against baseline and goals
  o    Amend and adjust strategy and actions where required

Click here to access beyondblue’s Developing a workplace mental health strategy: A how-to guide for health services.

Lifeline

• 13 11 14
• www.lifeline.org.au

Suicide Call Back Service

• 1300 659 467
• www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au

Image: David Wallace – flickr