Building a mentally healthy workplace at your school

Psychological Safety and Risk Management Policy

The Psychological Safety and Risk Management Policy takes a risk management approach to identify and manage psychological risks and hazards. Includes advice on workplace climate to support the mental health and wellbeing of employees in schools.

The psychological school safety guide (DOCX, 161KB) is designed to support schools in understanding and managing workplace factors to create a psychologically healthy and safe environment.

This guide should be read in conjunction with the Psychological Safety and Risk Management Procedure.

A psychological safety foundations checklist (DOCX, 146KB) is also available to support school leaders in the review of their practices to build understanding and improving psychological safety in their school.

For support with implementing the Psychological Safety and Risk Management Policy:

• phone: 1300 074 715 or
• email safety@education.vic.gov.au.

This support can include free phone support, on-site school visits and tailored expert advice.

More information on managing employee mental health and wellbeing.

The role of Health and Safety Representatives

Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) volunteer to represent employees to achieve better health, safety and wellbeing outcomes. They are not a principal’s delegate. They do not have direct responsibility for addressing health and safety concerns.

They:

• advocate for the health, safety and wellbeing of their colleagues.
• are a crucial link in communication between employers and employees.
• play a role in encouraging their workplace to be proactive about creating a mentally healthy culture
• have valuable experience and knowledge in identifying hazards and assessing risks
• can participate in developing workable solutions.

To find out if your school has an HSR, or to get in touch with them, ask your school principal or people leader. Find out more at the OHS Consultation and Communication Policy.

Resources to support a mentally healthy workplace

Employee Wellbeing Support Services

The Employee Wellbeing Support Services provide free and confidential advice to proactively support the wellbeing of eligible Department of Education staff. Converge is the department’s external provider of Employee Wellbeing Support Services.

You can arrange to speak with a practitioner over the phone, via video, or in person (subject to availability) for the following services:

• Employee Assist provides support and counselling for personal and work-related issues.
• Manager Assist provides dedicated coaching support and advice to people managers on staff wellbeing matters, having difficult conversations, leading through change, developing leadership competencies and any other people management matters.
• Career Assist provides career development advice, interview skills support and vocational counselling.
• Nutrition & Lifestyle Assist provides specialist advice on nutrition, sleep, mindfulness, addictive behaviours and positive lifestyle changes.
• Conflict Assist provides strategies, tools and coaching to deal with difficult workplace and personal situations. This is not a replacement for the conflict resolution support service available to staff currently.
• Money Assist provides money management coaching to help staff address their financial wellbeing.
• Legal Assist provides confidential legal advice for personal and non-work-related issues in the following areas of law: personal family law, wills/probate, tenancy/renting, real estate and consumer disputes.
• Family Assist provides counselling for eligible staff and their immediate family members (aged 18 and over) needing support with personal concerns. Short-term counselling for small family groups (aged 18 and over) or couples is also available.

To access the services and make an appointment, call 1300 291 071 or book online via the Converge portal, entering the organisational code mywellbeing.

Staff may also download the Converge mobile phone app (compatible with Android or iPhone) and make bookings from their mobile device.

Note: Money Assist and some Nutrition and Lifestyle Assist appointment types are not currently available to book via the Converge mobile phone App or online booking portal. Please call 1300 291 071 to book into these types of services.

For more information, refer to Employee Wellbeing Support Services.

Specialist helplines

There are 6 dedicated specialist helplines for staff who identify or are:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander: 1300 287 432
• LGBTIQA+: 1300 542 874
• experiencing domestic and or family violence: 1300 338 465
• caring for elderly loved ones: 1300 035 337
• a person with disability, or caring for a person with disability: 1300 243 543
• seeking spiritual and pastoral care: 1300 772 435.

Subject to availability, specialist support may include practitioners with lived experience or who are trained to respond to the needs of staff and their families who identify themselves as above, including cultural safety and the use of inclusive language.

All specialist helplines excluding spiritual and pastoral care can be booked online via the Converge portal or mobile phone app.

For people managers

Manager Assist

Manager Assist is a dedicated coaching support service for people managers.

It provides advice and coaching on a range of issues such as:

• approaching a difficult conversation with employees
• managing challenging team dynamics
• leading through uncertainty and change
• supporting staff at risk and
• managing the impact of mental health issues within the workplace.

People managers can book an appointment by calling 1300 291 071 or book online via the Converge portal entering the organisational code mywellbeing

External Resources

Create a healthy workplace

A free, evidence-based program to help create a healthy workplace: Healthy Workplaces Achievement Program.

Learn about mental health

• The Be You Mental Health Continuum shows simply how wellbeing ebbs and flows and is not static. For more information, visit What is good mental health?
• Character Strengths are the positive parts of your personality that impact how you think, feel and behave. Discovering and using our strengths helps our mental health and wellbeing. For more information, refer to The VIA Character Strengths Survey.
• Free survey and evidence-based interventions to help boost your wellbeing at the PERMAH framework.

Supporting employee mental health

• Supporting the mental health of young employees in the workplace (Headspace).
• Resources and programs on workplace mental health (Beyond Blue).
• Evidence-based mental health resources and support (The Black Dog Institute).
• Research report on the wellbeing of workers and educators: Australian Educators report (The Wellbeing Lab).

Mindfulness Apps

• Calm - for meditation and sleep
• Headspace - guided meditation by ReachOut Australia
• Insight Timer - for sleep, anxiety, stress and more.