IN a series of strategic moves, Beyond Blue, Australia’s leading mental health organisation, has announced several initiatives to provide comprehensive mental health support to Australians.

Beyond Blue has welcomed a $456.7 million five-year funding package from the Australian Government that includes funding for Beyond Blue and other organisations like 13 Yarn, Lifeline, and Kids Helpline.

These services are available for all Australians to call anytime for immediate mental health support and are especially powerful in rural areas where in person mental healthcare is harder to access.

This will enable the organisation to continue delivering its well-known free, national support services and develop new digital innovations.

Chief executive, Georgie Harman said the funding provides certainty they can continue in their services and evolve their offerings in line with digital innovation.

In a significant development, Lifeline and Beyond Blue have announced a partnership to streamline mental health and crisis support for Australians. The partnership aims to reduce fragmentation within the mental health sector and provide more clarity for help seekers.

Under the agreement, Lifeline will focus on crisis support and suicide prevention, while Beyond Blue will concentrate on prevention and earlier intervention. The partnership will enable both organizations to share resources and connect people with the information, advice, and support that suits them best.

Beyond Blue chair and former prime minister, Julia Gillard said, “Australia’s mental health and suicide prevention systems are too often crisis-driven”.

“People often only get support when they’re at breaking point,” she said.

“Now, in a deliberate step, Beyond Blue will sharpen our focus so we’re supporting people early on – helping people to feel better sooner, to get well and to stay well.”

Beyond Blue has also been selected as the beneficiary of the 2024 Hope Prize, an international writing competition themed about hope, courage, and resilience.

An anthology comprised of submissions to The Hope Prize will be published and royalties will be donated to Beyond Blue.

The donation will support Beyond Blue’s services, which receive on average 900 contacts a day from people across Australia.

“We know that storytelling and creative expression can be effective ways to protect and enhance our mental health. Stories can inspire, break down barriers and bring people closer together,” Ms Harman said.

Relationships critical for mental health

Bringing people closer together is a key focus for retired school principal, Ross Dean.

He spoke to The Spectator about how important cultivating positive relationship behaviours in workplaces, schools and families is for mental health.

Mr Dean moved to Hamilton recently after retiring five years ago to Casterton; before that he trained first-time principals for positions in the south-west.

He said his focus was impressing upon these new community leaders that positive relationships are at the centre of all successful communities.

The strategy he recommends is the five-step Developmental Relationships Framework by American academic centre, Search Institute.

The elements are: Show me that I matter to you; Push me to keep getting better; Help me complete tasks and achieve goals; Treat me with respect and give me a say; and Connect me with people and places that broaden my world. These habits can be implemented anywhere; whether in a parent-child context, teacher-student context, workplace, team, friendship circle or otherwise.

“My life has been dominated by the desire to support the lives of other people,” he said.

“Initially this unfolded in my role as a teacher and principal and later as a father and the carer of my aged mother.”

Mr Dean said he knows even when two partners are doing their best to support others, internal relationship dynamics can still break down, so strong communication implemented early is critical.

He himself had a marriage breakdown during a period of life where he was running after-school support groups in his capacity as a teacher, and his wife was a police officer in witness protection – a highly secretive role where she often couldn’t be in communication for months.

“We rely on the strength of human relationships to survive and thrive,” he said.

“Relationships are a cornerstone of happiness and living a full life. This is because they come with a wide array of rewards. Relationships provide us with friends and family to share our lives with and people who can help us out in tough times. They tend to bring us plenty of laughs and as a result lots of joy.”

In his experience, community-wide initiatives that bridge schools, workplaces, council efforts and local organisations prove to be the strongest in building resilience, improving mental health outcomes and encouraging strong relationships.

He believes “together we can”.