Mental health is a key component of people’s health and wellbeing, and workplace risks can be minimised through the establishment of good mental health practices.

What are the steps to good workplace mental health practices? Firstly, recognition and understanding of mental health by workplace leaders is critical in creating a supportive environment. Secondly, the way we communicate about mental health significantly impacts how employers and employees understand and respond to mental health practices and concerns. It’s important that all staff need to feel comfortable to talk about mental health and mental health challenges.

The National Communications Charter (The Charter) is a guiding resource to support safe communication around mental ill-health and suicide. This evidence-informed document was developed in collaboration with representatives from the mental health and suicide prevention sectors, government, lived experience and priority populations including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, youth, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The Charter is a useful tool that provides a set of eight, easily adaptable principles that workplaces can implement to support stigma reduction and help-seeking behaviour. Signing The Charter serves as a formal commitment to working together to help reduce stigma and promote help-seeking behaviour through the ways we communicate in our workplace.

A collection of additional tools have been developed to further support implementation of The Charter in the workplace, including language guides, an action guide and action worksheet.

The Charter can be accessed through Life in Mind: a knowledge exchange digital portal that provides translated evidence, policy, data and resources in suicide prevention.

Life in Mind is a key program of Everymind, a leading institute dedicated to the prevention of mental ill-health and suicide.