Helping your team recognise, respond and refer—safely and confidently. A practical, WHS-aware approach to early support and psychologically safe work.
Overview
Mental health is now a core pillar of workplace safety. With new psychosocial risk duties across Australia, every organisation must ensure its people know how to recognise distress, respond appropriately, and refer to help—without crossing professional boundaries.
The Workplace Mental Health & MHFA Playbook from Thomas Walker Consulting (TWC) gives leaders and teams the knowledge and confidence to act early, reduce stigma and strengthen psychologically safe culture.
You’ll learn how to embed Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) as part of your organisation’s compliance, wellbeing and leadership strategy.
Why It Matters
🧠 1 in 5 Australians (≈4.3 million) experience a mental disorder in any 12-month period.
💬 Only 51 % feel safe discussing mental health at work.
💼 Mental-health conditions account for 9 % of serious compensation claims.
💡 Early, supportive conversations help people seek help sooner and prevent escalation.
Creating a mentally healthy workplace is both a human responsibility and a WHS requirement. MHFA bridges the gap between awareness and action.
What You’ll Learn
This playbook outlines how MHFA supports teams to:
✅ Recognise early signs of mental distress.
✅ Respond calmly, safely and without judgement.
✅ Refer to appropriate professional and organisational supports.
✅ Embed psychological safety and reduce stigma at every level.
✅ Align mental-health practice with Model WHS Code and ISO 45003 obligations.
Inside the Playbook
📊 Australian Data Snapshot: prevalence, compensation trends and burnout rates.
💬 Why MHFA Matters: mental health as the new frontier of workplace safety.
🧩 Topics Covered: depression, anxiety, psychosis, substance use, trauma, self-injury and crisis response.
🧠 Self-Assessment Tools: burnout self-check, team wellbeing quiz, self-care pillars worksheet.
💻 Delivery Options: face-to-face, blended or fully online formats for organisations of any size.
⚙️ Leadership Integration: how MHFA links to psychosocial safety, culture and WHS compliance.
Who It’s For
HR & WHS Leaders: embedding MHFA into wellbeing and compliance frameworks.
Executives & Founders: leading a culture where help-seeking is normalised.
People Managers & Team Leaders: recognising signs early and supporting staff safely.
Peer Supporters & Champions: building trust and early-intervention capacity across teams.
Next Steps
💬 Awareness: Share the playbook and start the mental-health conversation with your team.
🧠 Assessment: Complete the self-checks and identify areas for growth.
⚙️ Action: Partner with TWC to deliver MHFA training or leader labs tailored to your workplace.
About TWC
At Thomas Walker Consulting, we integrate training, coaching psychology and counselling to advance workplace mental health and leadership resilience. We partner with organisations to translate research into practice—creating safer, healthier and higher-performing workplaces.
📞 0437 272 142 🌐 www.thomaswalkerconsulting.com.au