In Australia, mental illness accounts for 14% of disease burden but receives only 8% of the health budget. If ‘mental health is everyone’s business’, commercial organisations have a significant role to play in creating a mentally healthy Australia, especially in the current economic climate of restricted government budgets.

Chevron Australia entered into a partnership with Mentally Healthy WA in 2014 as a way of addressing their key focus area of health (especially in the area of mental health), and a sense of community, i.e., contribute to community vibrancy and increase participation in community events and activities.

Mentally Healthy WA operates the community-based mental health promotion program Act-Belong-Commit in Western Australia (and elsewhere). Act-Belong-Commit aims to strengthen mental health, build resilience, and prevent or minimise the severity of mental disorders. Results indicate that the campaign also reduces stigma associated with mental illness, which facilitates early help seeking behaviours, and thus contribute to cost savings for the treatment of mental health problems.

This paper showcases the partnership between Chevron Australia and Mentally Healthy WA to improve mental health in Western Australia by deepening the reach of Act-Belong-Commit to three target communities: schools, Aboriginal communities and the Pilbara region.

The presence of stress means we are alive! Many people struggle to manage work related stress. Stress can be positive. It supports alertness and energy, to meet challenging situations, achieve goals and maintain an effective practice.
Ongoing negative stress can have a harmful impact on health and wellbeing. The Stress and Wellbeing in Australia Survey (20013) found almost three-quarters of Australians (73%) felt stress was impacting on their health and quality of life.
Working with people with complex needs and mental health challenges can be stressful. Unresolved stress can result in occupational burn out, rust out and compassion fatigue. As workers we need to recognise events, triggers and responses to stress and learn how manage them.
This paper will identify warning signs of stress which if not addressed canresult in a state of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion combined with doubts about personal competency and resilience. The impact of burnout, compassion fatigue and PTSD will be discussed.
Stress reduction strategies and tools are presented to enable workers to effectively manage stress both in their personal and professional lives. Stress reduction accentuates the positive, eliminates the negative, and maximises our total quality of life experience.

The Optimal Health Program (OHP) has been developed over the last 15 years as a wellbeing program specifically based in mental health. In the last 5 years it has transitioned to a wider audience enabling a holistic conversation about mental wellbeing no matter what the forum. This breaks down barriers, promotes early intervention and normalises conversation about emotional wellbeing.

This presentation will share the results of a series of e-health forums held in 2015 that addressed challenges and strategies around engaging and motivating people in the manual based program called OHP. It will look at the development of creative resources which aim to inspire self-efficacy and promote conversation about wellbeing and growth. Artwork and stories are used to explain health concepts in a way which is accessible to people with different levels of literacy, experience and learning styles. A variety of visual resources will be introduced including videos, storyboards, digital images, workbooks, posters and inspirational cards.

The introduction of colour into OHP has added a new dimension to our psycho-social educational program. We look forward to sharing our vision of hope and growth with you.

Mothering in the context of recovering from mental illness brings unique challenges. Around one million Australian children have a parent living with mental illness. However, research demonstrates that mental health clinicians feel uneducated and inexperienced when supporting mothers. The aim of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the experience of recovering from mental illness from the perspective of women concurrently mothering. Learning directly from mothers who are recovering from mental illness will lead to more relevant support and ultimately better outcomes for these families. Mothers recovering from mental illness shared their experiences during in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using constant comparative analysis. Whilst there is a growing understanding of recovery needs and processes for the overall population of people living with mental illness, the results of this study provide mental health workers with insights needed to adopt recovery-oriented practices when working with mothers. Mothering is a valued social role that brings meaning to the lives of many women living with mental illness. Summary: the results of this study provide mental health clinicians with a deeper understanding of the unique recovery journeys mothers engage in and what best supports their recovery.