BLOG POST 9:

COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO MENTAL HEALTH

Creating Some Early Wins For Your Team

As we begin a new Action Team or look towards making improvements in a new area we are often very excited to get things moving and started STRAIGHT AWAY. Of course over the last few blog posts I have been getting you to slow down and get the foundations in place so that your action team can have sustainability and your improvements can be long-lasting and impactful.  However as move into the INITIAL STEPS phase, we can start thinking about what our actions might be.

Obviously Community Wellbeing Plans and key stakeholder engagement are going to take time but it is important for both the action team and the community that we start to have some early wins.  This is not only important for morale, but gives the team some credibility across the community and can provide some early opportunities for fundraising.

As a team a great early meeting can be a big brainstorming session about some easy ideas that you could put in place to boost mental health awareness or address one of your initial goals and targets.  Choose something that is going to be impactful without being a massive drain on the team.

This might include:

 1. Creating a regular newsletter article with mental health facts

2. Plan something for Mental Health Week within the community or in collaboration with the local schools

2. Run a one off community event eg. Invite Tomorrow Man/Woman in

3. Have a fundraising day – Great Shave/Morning Tea etc.

4. Mental Health poster competition

Early wins are all about developing a presence in the community.  It is a chance to get the teams name out so that people start to notice the movement that is developing.

NEXT BLOG TOPIC

In my next blog post I will be talking about the need for initial fundraising and what to use initial funds for.

If you have any questions about community approaches to mental health, student mental health & wellbeing, or any other areas of interest, please send me an email at renee@thinkeffective.com.au

or check out https://thinkeffective.com.au/community-or-cross-sector-approach-to-mental-health/

for more detailed information, resources and about how we can work together.

As always, please feel free to share my blog post with friends and colleagues, leave your comment below and contact me with any questions.

Have a great day! 🙂

Renee Knapp

If you would like to be part of an amazing community of like minded people trying to improve mental health, join my “Community Mental Health Facebook Group”.  This is a space for passionate individuals, community menbers and anyone who wants to make a difference in the space of mental health.  It is a space where you can share ideas, get input from others to guide your decision making and network with others in order to make real action happen.

If you would prefer to chat to me in person, I am available via email, zoom or phone to come to community group, school, business or random location to discuss how you can begin to set up a cross sector approach to mental health in your setting. I can also help your problem solve any issues you are having or help you implement any initiatives you have planned.  You can also simply email me to vent about any issues you are currently facing or successes you have achieved.

IF you would like to schedule a zoom chat to me to see if we are a good fit or ask any questions click on the link below.

I also have resources available to support you or if you wish to guide yourself through the process by following this link below.