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The AccessEAP 2024 Wellbeing Calendar and Quarter 3 Pack has launched! Ensuring a good night's sleep is an essential part of a healthy body and mind and we believe the best way to improve our sleep is to understand more about it. That's why we've developed our Sleep resources pack.
Download the Quarter 3 Pack - Sleep
Access the calendar and the Q3 Pack (Poster, Infographic & Activity) via the Employee Portal - https://www.accesseap.com.au/employees/index.php
Q3 Pack + Suggested Training & Services
The calendar along with leader resources and suggested training & services is available via the Employer Portal- https://www.accesseap.com.au/employers/index.php
Upcoming key awareness days in this quarter includes:
If you have any questions, call AccessEAP on 1800 818 728 or reach out to your AccessEAP Main Contact. As always, our people are here to help support you and your people be their best in life and work.
Traumatic events impact lives physically and psychologically, creating intense emotional distress for individuals, families, and whole communities. Organisations play a vital and valuable role in assisting and supporting their employees and their families in the immediate aftermath and in the days, weeks and months following tragic events.
The immediate focus is to ensure that everyone is safe. At this present time, particularly with intense media coverage and access to information on the internet, it’s important to acknowledge that this is a heightened state of emotion for everyone involved. It’s important to be aware that everyone will respond differently, and everyone’s needs will be different, initially and over time. Being prepared to provide initial and long-term support for people will enhance and promote their own personal coping strategies and resilience.
An incident of this nature has the power to entirely consume those involved, especially when it has an impact on one’s feeling of safety and one’s family. As leaders and managers, it is within our control to provide support, reassurance, and care.
For further guidance download 'After a Traumatic Event' pdf brochure, which can be shared with your people.
Manager Support is available on 1800 818 728
Positive psychology research has proven creativity is good for your wellbeing.
So why not sprinkle more creativity into your life?
Be curious
Don’t let your inner voice whisper you are not good enough. You don’t need to be an expert. Try something new, dance, paint, sing, write. Try anything, everything, it’s up to you.
Be loud
Do whatever you need to get in the zone. Put your favourite music on and have some fun.
Be committed
Find time in your schedule where you won’t be interrupted and lock it in. It’s important to always make time for you.
Humans are herd animals. We like to hang out together, share our experiences and talk through our decisions. Spending time with others can enrich how we view the world, build our confidence, provide emotional support, and can just be plain fun!
Yes, there are certainly lots of individual differences in how much time we like to be with others. But, overall, if we become socially isolated and feel lonely, it has a detrimental impact on our mental health.
The importance to us of enjoying positive relationship is acknowledged by Positive Psychology, where constructive relationships is one of the six elements that support a happy, flourishing life. These six elements, represented by the letters PERMAH (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment and Health) are taught around the world to help people lead satisfying meaningful lives.
The six attributes that support a flourishing life don’t just happen by themselves. The integration of them into the way we live can take effort and an ongoing commitment until they become second nature to us to cultivate them on a daily basis.
This is certainly true of friendships. Friendships, indeed any positive relationships at work or outside of it, take time and effort to cultivate. If, in the busyness of life, we continually ignore others or give them minimal attention, don’t make time for positive interactions, and keep to ourselves, then it’s much less likely we will experience positive relationships. On the other hand if we take a moment to greet others, check in with them, share something of ourselves and listen empathetically we are creating the foundations of a strong supportive network.
The AccessEAP 2024 Wellbeing Calendar and Quarter 1 Pack has launched! Making time for self-care within our personal and professional lives can be tricky so we have created the Quarter 1 Pack to help get you started.
The theme for Quarter 1 is Self-Care, highlighting the following key awareness days:
Download the Quarter 1 Pack - Self-care
Access the calendar and the Q1 Pack (Poster, Infographic & Activity) via the Employee Portal - https://www.accesseap.com.au/employees/index.php
Q1 Pack + Suggested Training & Services
The calendar along with leader resources and suggested training & services is available via the Employer Portal- https://www.accesseap.com.au/employers/index.php
If you have any questions, call AccessEAP on 1800 818 728 or reach out to your main contact. As always, our people are here to help support you and your people be their best in life and work.
Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant
Promote a socially and emotionally healthy workplace climate by adopting specific combinations of leadership behaviours and strategies
Leading a team has always presented challenges and this has only continued to increase recently. With burnout rates going up and new legislation requiring organisations to proactively address psychosocial (emotional and social) hazards, new research suggests leaders can create a safer and higher-performance work environment by developing specific combinations of leadership strategies.
Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, explains that specific combinations of leadership behaviours shape an employee’s mindset, experience, and quality of work. Leaders can better create a psychosocially safe climate by moving away from authoritative leadership and demonstrating consultative leadership and supportive leadership styles combined with challenging leadership.
Consultative leadership encourages employees to support each other and seek each other’s input. Challenging leadership encourages employees to aspire to do more and encourages the expression of creativity, sense of empowerment, and desire to learn and improve. All these factors have a direct and indirect effect on psychological safety.
Thank you for partnering with us in 2023. We hope you have a relaxing and refreshing festive season.
Please be assured our counselling and critical response support services remain available throughout the holiday season by calling 1800 818 728.
Our other services and offices will break from Friday 22nd December 5pm and return Monday 8th January 9am.
As we approach the end of the year, some of us may have time off coming up or some of us may be busier than usual. Whichever category you fall into, it can be a great time of year to think about how we spend our time and if that matches how we want to spend our time.
We all know logically that time is a finite resource.
Yet many of us live as if it can be stretched so that we can fit more and more into a 24-hour day.
So given time is limited, deciding how we want to spend it is important.
“With our thoughts we make the world” said the Buddha.
Our journey towards cultural competency. At AccessEAP we are committed to developing cultural competency across our business. For us that means providing the best possible experience for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers. By increasing our cultural awareness and knowledge of historical events impacting the nature of trauma experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees today, we offer the opportunity to develop more culturally appropriate EAP holistic support services. In order for us to authenticate our commitment, AccessEAP is investing in the ongoing development of cultural sensitivity within our workforce by offering online Cultural Competency Training for all employees.
Arrilla Cultural Competency Training is the first step in this process aiming to empower all AccessEAP employees to gain knowledge, skills and confidence to work more effectively with Indigenous colleagues, customers, companies and communities, or while working on Indigenous projects or strategies. The training is also designed to improve understanding and the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the wider, diverse Australian community. As we all move towards Indigenous cultural competency, so too will organisations. Although we have a dedicated Culturally Competent Team with a depth and breadth of experience and knowledge we don't purport to all be overnight experts - it will take time. Together, we’ll create a better environment to help Indigenous people thrive, and we’ll enable organisations to benefit from a more productive workforce.
Update on our RAP journey
AccessEAP’s reconciliation journey has progressed with the planning of the Reflect component of our Reconciliation Action Plan, now completed.
Some of the changes we are implementing include:
The role of organisations in helping to end violence against women
Marcela Slepica, Director, Clinical Services
On October 17th 2022 State and Federal governments released the National Plan to end violence against women and children. This 10-year plan includes a framework of actions to end violence against women and children in one generation. It highlights how all parts of society including governments, businesses and workplaces, media, schools, and communities must work together towards a shared vision of ending gender-based violence.
The statistics are very confronting. 1 in 5 women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous cohabitating partner since the age of 15 and 1 in 4 women have experienced emotional abuse by a current or previous cohabitating partner since the age of 15. The rates are higher for certain groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women1.
To address these staggering figures, the National Plan has 4 domains: Prevention, Early Intervention, Response and Recovery, and Healing. The government has now released the First Action Plan (2023 2037). The First Action Plan provides a roadmap for the first 5 year effort towards achieving the vision of the National Plan. It sets out the initial scope of activities, areas for action and responsibility with respect to outcomes, and outlines how they will make the commitments set out in the National Plan a reality. Read more about the First Action Plan and the ten action items they are committing to implement here.
Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant
Prioritising the people side of change will help to create a psychologically healthy work environment where employees feel comfortable asking for help, sharing suggestions informally, or challenging the status quo without fear of negative social consequences. An effective team values psychological safety as much as physical safety and performance standards. When this is the experience of individuals and teams, organisations are able better to innovate, leverage the benefits of diversity and adapt well to change. A psychologically healthy workplace is a precursor to adaptive, innovative practices, which is very much needed at the individual, team, and organisation levels in today’s rapidly changing environment.
Staying in your comfort zone can feel calming and reassuring in the short term, but it’s not a long-term solution for success. Challenging the status quo can support transformation, alleviate anxiety, broaden horizons and minimise stress.
Recent research suggests that organisations can foster a healthy and successful workplace by supporting and developing leaders to demonstrate specific leadership behaviours that help their employees thrive through change.
Some examples of positive leadership behaviour include:
The month of November is often known for ‘Movember’ – when men across Australia grow not-particularly-good-looking moustaches to raise awareness around men’s health issues including men's mental health.
And the month of November is also about kindness and compassion – with World Kindness Day on 13th November and World Compassion Day on the 28th.
While no-one would argue against the importance of kindness and compassion, their role in the workplace may be seen as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must have’. Yet evidence suggests otherwise.
What is compassion? It’s defined as empathy plus action. Empathy is the ability to sense and understand others’ feelings. If we then add insightful and responsive action where our motivation is to assist – an authentic desire to help - then that creates compassion.
In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review[1] the authors discuss the vital roles of kindness and compassion in the workplace.
As Mental Health Month comes to an end, it's important to keep talking and checking in with your friends and family as well as colleagues that you are close to. You don’t have to be an expert to support someone going through a tough time. You just need to be able to listen to their concerns without judgment and take the time to follow up with them.
Listening
A major part of communication is listening. We spend a lot of time talking about listening, and how important it is to demonstrate active listening, how important it is to “be heard”. Listening is a crucial part of what happens when you ask “R U OK?”. Being present, having empathy and risking missing out by putting down your phone and giving someone your undivided attention, is easier said than done. Yet it is fundamental in gaining understanding, having meaningful conversations and establishing or nurturing connections. It is a skill that few truly do well, but when we find a good listener, they are often a very valuable person in our lives.
Listening is so much more than just hearing, or waiting your turn to speak (without interrupting), it is an active skill. Practice active listening by paying attention, asking questions and taking in behaviours as well as what is being said out loud.
10 Tips on how to have an R U OK? Conversation
R U OK? Day on Thursday 14th September is a reminder of how important it is to check in with each other. We all need a feeling of connection with others for good mental health, and sometimes we see people around us who seem more reserved or less sociable than usual. This is the time we can consider asking R U OK?
RUOK? Day was founded by Gavin Larkin as a response to the suicide of his father. Gavin was determined to try to help others. He championed the fact that a conversation, starting with “are you OK?” can change a life – perhaps save a life. Out of that was born an extraordinary Australian organization whose mission is to inspire and empower people to meaningfully connect with those in their world and lend support when they are struggling.
R U OK? Day creates an opportunity for us all to start a dialogue about mental health, to create an environment of acceptance, and to normalise asking for help. At work, Managers and Leaders play a vital role in the culture of their workplaces. The most direct way to encourage discussion is through talking and encouraging others to talk, especially about what might be uncomfortable topics for some – such as their mental health. Leaders can empower their employees and facilitate a culture where it is normal to talk about how you feel, and for others to actively listen without trying to ‘fix’ anyone. R U OK? Day is an opportunity to discuss the importance of learning the steps and skills on how to ask those who may be struggling if they are OK. Lots of great guidance can be found on their website.
Our emotions are our friends. They tell us how our inner world is going. Learning to listen patiently to our emotions, to hear what they are telling us, and then acting in a way that adds to our wellbeing is a skill learnt over the course of a lifetime. Talking with others about how we feel can help clarify what we need to do to take good care of ourselves. Having someone ask you, genuinely, “are you OK?”, and then them waiting quietly for what you have to say, might be the difference between you feeling confused and lonely, or feeling there is hope and a way forward. The RUOK? website says there are four components to asking – 1. Ask, 2. Listen, 3. Encourage action, 4. Check in.
If there is someone you are concerned about, be courageous and ask “are you OK?” It might make a world of difference.
Where is your attention right now? Part of it will be on these words, and part of it may be elsewhere. Are you thinking about plans for the weekend? Worries about the cost of living? Remembering that wonderful holiday you had last year? Frustrated at the way a recent conversation went?
All this thinking can make us feel emotionally and mentally jumbled, and, if you consider it, rarely leads to anything useful.
Now, try focusing on just one thing. Your breath. Unlike your memories of the past and worries of the future, your breath is real – here and now. Feel into your experience of breathing in, and feel into your experience of breathing out. Please pause and do this, right now, for a few breaths.
You may notice how your attention can be pulled in other directions other than the breath. That’s OK – just bring it back to the experience of your in-breath and out-breath. Practising mindfulness is not about ‘getting it right’; it’s about practising bringing the mind back to where you would like it to be – on something concrete and real - after it has moved on to something else.
So many words have been spoken and written on mindfulness.
We often focus on our physical health, but it's important to consider and put effort into our mental health as well. Have a look at our top tips below for a kick start or reach out to us to discuss how you can boost your wellbeing.
If you are struggling, please reach out for help. Call AccessEAP on 1800 818 728.
We are here to support you, whatever the nature of your concerns. For a confidential conversation with one of our experienced clinical professionals, please contact AccessEAP on 1800 818 728.
Shari Walton, Organisational Development Consultant
Psychological safety is an integral part of health and safety at work. While companies may be aware of its importance, the process of creating a psychological safety strategy and putting it into practice can feel daunting.
The first step is understanding what is meant by psychological safety.
What is a psychologically safe workplace?
A psychologically safe workplace is one that protects people from psychological hazards. A psychological hazard is anything that could harm someone’s mental health.
International Women's Day is held each year on the 8th of March. This year's theme is #EmbraceEquity.
A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #EmbraceEquity.
For more information about how you and your organisation can get involved including customisable Social Media content, see the International Women's Day Website.
AccessEAP IWD Panel Events
AccessEAP is excited to be running panel events for International Women's Day in partnership with The Kraft Heinz Company. Our influential speakers will share their stories and experiences with equity, diversity and inclusion.
Right now, parts of New Zealand are experiencing natural disasters, causing loss and damage. Natural disasters disrupt lives physically and psychologically, creating intense emotional distress for individuals, families and whole communities.
It is important through times such as these to identify those of your people who may have been directly impacted and provide assistance where possible. Events such as these can be challenging, as the combined uncertainty about the immediate situation as well as fear and concern for what may lie ahead over coming days and weeks can exacerbate our thoughts and feelings.
As a leader, your organisation plays a vital and valuable role in assisting and supporting your people and their families in the immediate aftermath and moving forward. We encourage you to help your people feel they can focus on their immediate priorities, which is the physical safety of family, friends, loved ones and their homes and possessions. As a leader, take the time to check in with your people, and where appropriate, remind them that their EAP is available and able to help support them through these challenging times. Many people will want to be seen as “coping” so asking how they are going is really important. Being prepared to provide initial and long-term support for people will enhance and promote their own personal coping strategies and resilience.
To support those that may have been affected by the event, we have included documents for individual strategies (download pdf here) and tips as well as information for managers and leaders (download pdf here). These tools are also available through the AccessMyEAP App.
If you have any questions or would like to better understand what you can do that will meaningfully support your team, the experienced clinicians on our Manager Support Hotline are able to help you help your people. As manager, your individual needs matter just as much. Reach out for support when and if you need it. We are here to help.
AccessEAP acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Peoples of the lands we live and work on throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community as we pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who connect with this website.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are advised that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have since passed away.
AccessEAP acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Peoples of the lands we live and work on throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community as we pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who connect with this website.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are advised that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have since passed away.
