Our Men­tal Health and Well­be­ing Team host­ed the ever-pop­u­lar Well­be­ing Lounge, which saw a record num­ber of vis­i­tors across the pre­ced­ing expo day and the two-day con­fer­ence. The Well­be­ing Lounge allowed atten­dees to step back from the buzz of the con­fer­ence, recharge, decom­press and con­nect with new and famil­iar faces.

This year in the Well­be­ing Lounge, favourite activ­i­ties returned by pop­u­lar demand, such as mind­ful colour­ing and Lego. The 3‑Minute Angels gave del­e­gates some much-deserved ​‘me time’ with sooth­ing neck and shoul­der mas­sages. We were also thrilled to wel­come some spe­cial guests – well­be­ing and ther­a­py dogs Milo and Chilli from Mir­a­cle Paws.

So many of our del­e­gates excit­ed­ly await­ed their arrival; then they came to con­nect with them. These paw­some pro­fes­sion­als filled the Well­be­ing Lounge with smiles and calm. We even had to police our CRANAplus team, who want­ed to take these gor­geous dogs home!

Our Well­ness Con­nec­tion Yarn was a new addi­tion to the Well­be­ing Lounge this year, draw­ing in engage­ment and much dis­cus­sion as the respons­es grew over the con­fer­ence. The Well­ness Con­nec­tion Yarn cap­tured pro­fes­sion­al and demo­graph­ic data and encour­aged del­e­gates to reflect on their wellbeing.

It pro­vid­ed insights into how peo­ple have man­aged their well­be­ing when chal­lenged and con­sid­ered how they feel in the present. The over­whelm­ing major­i­ty of peo­ple used strate­gies includ­ing phys­i­cal exer­cise, sup­port from fam­i­ly and friends, engage­ment with animals/​pets and time out­doors to man­age their well­be­ing when it has been challenged.

Our team engaged in mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tions about our ser­vices and resources, shar­ing how we sup­port those work­ing in rur­al and remote health. A sig­nif­i­cant addi­tion this year was the option for del­e­gates to book one-on-one ses­sions with our Bush Sup­port Line Senior Psy­chol­o­gists, cre­at­ing a safe space for pro­fes­sion­al sup­port to address both per­son­al and work-relat­ed chal­lenges. As always, the Bush Sup­port Line (1800 805 391) remained avail­able 24/7 through­out the event, ensur­ing round-the-clock support.

Adding depth to this year’s pro­gram was a pan­el dis­cus­sion led by Dr Nicole Jef­fery-Dawes, Senior Psy­chol­o­gist for the Bush Sup­port Line.

Titled ​‘Exchang­ing Insights: Thriv­ing in the Remote Health Work­force’, this ses­sion brought togeth­er expe­ri­enced remote health pro­fes­sion­als who shared their per­son­al sto­ries, chal­lenges, and strate­gies for man­ag­ing well­be­ing when work­ing in the unique and chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ment of remote health. This dis­cus­sion sparked mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tions post-pan­el. Many atten­dees acknowl­edged how the pan­el mem­bers were seen as role mod­els for nor­mal­is­ing times when they have expe­ri­enced vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties and chal­lenges with their well­be­ing, even though they have vast expe­ri­ence work­ing in rur­al and remote envi­ron­ments. They felt empow­ered by the pan­el dis­cus­sion to be OK with ​‘not being OK’ and to pri­ori­tise their well­ness jour­ney using help and sup­port when needed.

The con­fer­ence also fea­tured three break­out ses­sions ded­i­cat­ed to men­tal health and well­be­ing, draw­ing in del­e­gates eager to learn about the impacts of men­tal health
in remote health, and explor­ing inno­v­a­tive ways to sup­port well­be­ing in the chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ment of rur­al and remote health. Adam Sear­by, Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor at Monash Uni­ver­si­ty, shared insight­ful research on nurse alco­hol con­sump­tion, includ­ing fac­tors such as work­place envi­ron­ment, rural­i­ty and remote­ness, and alco­hol cul­ture. Ann Vaugh­an, Health Ser­vices Man­ag­er at Har­row Bush Nurs­ing Cen­tre in Vic­to­ria, show­cased her expe­ri­ence pro­mot­ing well­be­ing and pos­i­tive con­nec­tions in rur­al work­places. Wayne Hor­wood, Psy­chother­a­pist, and Karen Cribb, Reg­is­tered Nurse, both from IPL Queens­land, dis­cussed small changes in the work­place that can lead to excel­lent out­comes, improv­ing well­be­ing and open­ness to dis­cuss sui­cide, specif­i­cal­ly in remote min­ing loca­tions. As part of the main con­fer­ence pro­gram, Tiyana Gostelow from Safe­side Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion pre­sent­ed evi­dence-based sui­cide pre­ven­tion skills applic­a­ble to the rur­al health workforce.

It was evi­dent from the high lev­els of par­tic­i­pa­tion in these ses­sions and activ­i­ties that work­force well­be­ing is a pri­or­i­ty issue for the rur­al and remote health workforce.

If you could ben­e­fit from men­tal health sup­port, call one of our expe­ri­enced rur­al and remote psy­chol­o­gists on the Bush Sup­port Line. This ser­vice is avail­able 24/7 for the rur­al and remote health work­force, their fam­i­lies and stu­dents on 1800 805 391.

Stephanie Coop­er,
Bush Sup­port Line Man­ag­er I Psychologist