Today is R U OK? Day – a national day of action to remind Australians to check in on each other and ask, “are you ok?”.
At MinRes, we observe this day in a big way and for good reason. One in five Australians experience a mental illness in any year, and about half of the Australian adult population will be affected by mental illness at some point in their lifetime.
Photo: left to right: Manager – Hygiene & Radiation Safety, David Gbondo; GM People, Andrea Chapman; Principal – Health & Wellbeing, Sean Duffy; GM Finance, Kristy Doyle and Head of Mental Health, Chris Harris.
Today a number of events and activities will be taking place across all of our work locations – on site this includes a special visit from the Mr Whippy ice cream van, morning tea events, BBQs and quiz nights. At our Osborne Park HQ, our in-house psychologist and Head of Mental Health, Chris Harris will be hosting an informal coffee and conversation catch-up with our people.
MinRes Principal – Health & Wellbeing, Sean Duffy is part of a team of people that have been busy organising these activities and explains why she is so passionate about spreading the R U OK? message today, and every day of the year.
“We put a lot of effort into organising these events because we want to provide our people with social opportunities to help spark the conversation about mental health,” said Sean.
“R U OK? Day is so important because it makes us pause, reflect and take action so that we are having conversations about our mental wellbeing and checking on our mates 365 days a year.”
At MinRes, we continue to grow our mental health program to support the wellbeing of our people and empower them. This includes providing in-house psychology services to all members of our team, mental health first aid training to build the capacity and advocacy of our people and access to free, confidential external counselling. With a large fly-in, fly-out workforce, we know this can bring additional challenges that can affect a person’s mental health. That’s why we have site-based Health and Wellbeing Advisors at all of our company-operated sites who organise the recreation and entertainment activities for our people so they can socialise, interact and relax after work.
“We want to continue fostering a culture where mental health is spoken about openly and regularly so our people know where they can get extra support when they need it,” said Sean.
It can feel hard to start a conversation about mental health if we notice someone isn’t behaving as they normally would. This R U OK? Day we spoke with four members of the MinRes family about what the day means to them, and how they ask, “are you ok?”.
Over the day we will be sharing the stories of Charlie, Adelle, Herman and Trent who are passionate leaders of the R U OK? message and embody MinRes’ family value of caring for each other.
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