With the sharp rise in psychological injury claims in the Australian workplace generally, Risk Management Service sought to better equip Adventist leaders in best practice psychological injury management, prevention strategies and resilience training.

RMS engaged expert psychologists, Kate Thomson and Heizy Serrels, from Resilia and the Centre for Corporate Health to conduct in-depth training sessions for key Adventist leaders from across multiple sectors including aged care, education and manufacturing.

Key for employers to note right now is that Australians are in a period of high stress. A report from Allianz shows that workplace mental health injury claims are on the rise, yet 69% of workers have not had a conversation with their manager about mental health since the pandemic began.

Resilia reports that the main cause of psychological injury in NSW is bullying/harassment, however the number one major factor associated with higher return-to-work results, after psychological injury claim, was an employer’s positive response to their injury.

Recognising the important role that employers can make, participants in the training were given detailed strategies for proactive return-to-work outcomes, how to create a psychological safety net of support, understanding the difference between performance management and bullying, and best practice psychological injury prevention and resilience for leaders and managers.

Overall, the feedback from all participants was overwhelmingly positive and most felt the training was extremely valuable and something they would recommend to their colleagues. One participant commented that the most valuable aspect of the training for them was, how to identify workers going through psychological health challenges and how to support them through their process to recovery and revitalisation.

If you would like to be included in future training for Adventist professionals, please contact us.