Bodyography has provided significant financial support to Beyond Blue, as the recognised leader in the fight to treat depression and anxiety.
Almost half (around 45 per cent) of the Australian population will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. One million Australians live with depression and two million live with anxiety, making them the most common mental health conditions. Millions more are struggling. Life stresses – financial pressures, tough times at work or home, and problems in relationships – are keeping many people below their best.
Our vision for the future
A new mum Googles, ‘Why don’t I love my baby’, in the middle of the night. Exhausted and scared, she logs on to the Beyond Blue website and finds an online tool encouraging her to call our support service. She makes the call and gets some short-term help. Then she leaves us.
But we could do so much more. Currently, we don’t have the capacity to follow up once she’s gone. Or to seamlessly connect her with our other services that could provide additional support. Our vision is to transform our systems so we can build lasting relationships with the people who contact us. We want their journey with Beyond Blue to be more than a one-off interaction. We want it to be an ongoing experience tailor-made for their unique needs, supporting them in every aspect of their life.
For this young mum, that could mean that we connect her to our online forums or a New Access coach in her area, or other services and tools. When she’s recovered from her postnatal depression, she may want to volunteer or join Blue Voices –our online reference group. After she returns to work she might want her company to become a mentally healthy workplace, or run a fundraiser with her colleagues. As her child grows and starts kindergarten, she could help them be part of our Be You initiative for early learning centres and schools.
To provide the best mental health and suicide prevention support, we have to see the person’s whole life, not just the problem with which they present. When they contact Beyond Blue, we want it to be the first step in a relationship where we support them, on their terms, for years to come.
One of things that makes a big impact is actually talking about mental health and sharing stories. It can really help breakdown the assumptions and barriers (like shame and stigma) that stop people from reaching out for support. Talking about mental health also lets people know that it’s okay and normal to struggle with mental health when things are tough.
We have a range of articles and pieces as part of Personal Best initiative to help with this. The articles take a strength-based approach to mental health and provide tips, advice and strategies on improving mental well-being as well personal stories. We also have a conversation kits for people on talking about their own mental health as well as talking with someone they’re worried about. I’ve shared these myself with friends and through my network. We also have a dedicated program called Head Up that provides business and organisations with resources, information and advice on mental health in the workplace. This includes resources for managers and executive as well as employees.