• In 2024, mental illness will again be the main reason for a person to visit their GP, and it has been for the past 4 years
• 45% of Australians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime
• Youth aged between 15-24 years (the aquatics and recreation sector’s largest employee cohort) have the highest prevalence of mental illness to any age group
• 5,000 participants across the country have already benefited from MHeLP

These are just some of the statistics that will be presented at the upcoming annual Diversity and Inclusion in Leisure Forum by Dr Jeff Walkley, CEO of the Belgravia Foundation, in his bid to encourage more of the leisure sector to make use of MHeLP.

Jeff’s address to the 200+ cohort of forum attendees at Zinc in Melbourne’s Federation Square on 8th February will encourage everyone in the sector to make use of this FREE, cutting-edge mental health eLearning program, which was developed under the guidance of international mental health and exercise experts specifically for the leisure and community sports sector.

The purpose of the online training is to provide knowledge to the learner to better understand their own and others mental health but also improve their confidence to support someone living with a mental health condition; whether that is a family member, friend, colleague, teammate, member or guest.

It is completely free, online, accessible at any time from any place, self-paced and evidence-based resource that supports workers and volunteers in the aquatic, recreation and community sports sectors.

“I aim to take advantage of presenting to the ‘who’s who’ in the leisure sector on the 8th of February to drive home how important this free online learning platform is to us all. There is no reason why anyone should be shying away from this critically important resource; it is a vital tool for everyone in the sector to take advantage of,” said Dr Walkley.

“Additionally, as employers in the leisure sector, we each hold a responsibility as per Safe Work Australia’s Code of Practice to manage psychosocial hazards in our workplace, the same as we currently must do for physical hazards. MHeLP supports this by providing information and training for your workforce. Given the stats around the rise of mental illness, it’s a no-brainer that everyone should be taking advantage of this free resource.”

This presentation is just one of many that attendees will benefit from on the day, with the sessions focused on delivering informative insight into a variety of evidence-based practices.

Find more information on MHeLP or to give it a go yourself here.

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