7 Day wellness challenge with CEO Marion Short

“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candour, and more unashamed conversation.” – Glenn Close

As not just the IAP2 Australasian CEO, but also as a mother, mentor, sister, daughter, wife and friend; I feel compelled to join the many leaders across the world who are initiating and encouraging conversations on mental health and well-being in the workplace.

I’m joining as I have and continue to walk alongside people I care about as they struggle with their personal well-being and resilience.  It comes from saying goodbyes to past colleagues, friends and more recently the son of my darling friend.  All of whom were very much loved.

So we need more sunlight, more candour and more unashamed conversations.

Brad Banducci, CEO of Woolworths, also recently spoke about the need to have unashamed conversations around mental health, “We’re on a journey like everyone else in terms of mental health. My view is it that it’s as important as physical health in the whole context of wellbeing… It’s why we want to talk about it. We’re all in this journey together.”

There is no doubt that engagement practitioners face a significant amount of stress, and at IAP2 we are often asked to address the subject of burnout, personal wellbeing and resilience as a topic.

You may recall that in recent months, IAP2 has held two Local Networking events on this very topic.  At our conference in October, Rebecca Spencer spoke about strategies to buffer burnout amongst practitioners, while Joel Levin discussed how we can close the gap between what needs to be said and what is safe to say – these are  “real” and “unashamed” conversations.

We’re very interested in your thoughts on mental health and well-being, and have included a section on ‘Practitioner Mental health and Wellbeing’ in the 2019 IAP2A Community Survey, which closes Monday 25 November 2019.

Question 11, Practitioner Mental health and Wellbeing

“Mental health and wellbeing is an important issue for the community, workplace and individual. IAP2 is keen to understand whether members feel it has a role to play in supporting practitioner overall wellbeing.  We are asking the following four questions to develop a baseline and understanding of what support practitioners may require. “

We would really appreciate you taking the time to complete the survey as this is an important topic for consideration by IAP2.

As a practice it is important that we support each other, as well as ourselves, and recognise that the work we do and the situations we face, can be on the high end of the stress spectrum.

Please encourage more unashamed conversations in your workplace, with management, with colleagues and team members, or organise an IAP2 Local Network event in your area on this topic.

Please make your own mental health and well-being a priority by following self-care practices that work for you – whether that is meditation, time in nature, a walk – a run, a chat with a friend, or simply time to do nothing at all.  Get more sunshine, have more unashamed conversations.

And so, I’d like to challenge you to join me in 7 Days of Mental Wellness.  Because, looking after others starts with looking after yourself. You can start anytime – why not make today the first day?  Drop me a line after 7 days and let me know how it went or what you learned. marion@iap2.org.au

Be well

Marion

• If you or someone you know are experiencing mental health issues or well-being issues there is immediate support available, Australian Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Organisations and NZ Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Services

7 Day Wellness Challenge