TBA to conduct mental health workshops in NSW, Victoria and online
Australia’s peak thoroughbred breeding body will continue its investment in tackling mental health issues amongst the industry’s workforce.
The Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) will be conducting a number of free workshops in the coming weeks.
TBA has partnered with respected mental health educator Pip Baker to hold the in-person workshops in the breeding heartlands of Nagambie in Victoria on Thursday and Scone in NSW on August 17.
There will also be two webinars allowing people to participate from around the country.
The workshops follow-on from the development of the Stud Staff Support Line (SSSL), a free round-the-clock counselling service open to all within the breeding industry, which has been operational since late last year.
“This isn’t just an issue in the thoroughbred industry, it is a challenge across the whole of society and it is certainly one that has increased since the start of Covid, if you speak to mental health professionals,” TBA chief executive Tom Reilly told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“Mental health issues in the community have increased across society, this isn’t just something that’s just particular to our industry, but farms have been telling us it is something they’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis right throughout the year.”
Baker agreed the number of people experiencing mental health problems was significantly increasing.
“Early intervention and prevention strategies can help stem this tide and prevent problems from worsening,” Baker said.
“Wellbeing has become a big part of management post-pandemic and these workshops will give managers, supervisors and leaders on farms the tools to enable good wellbeing management of their staff.”
Some of the topics covered in the workshops include avoiding burnout, signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression, effective feedback strategies, and the benefits of positive psychology and habit creation.
Baker will also discuss how farms can use the SSSL to help their staff.
The SSSL (1300 822 935) provides access to free, independent and confidential face-to-face or phone counselling to anyone in the racing and breeding industries through AccessEAP on behalf of TBA.
It also allows people to access three free sessions with a psychologist at a time of their choosing. This will allow breeding industry staff to avoid the significant delays in seeing a trained counsellor that occur in the public system.
AccessEAP operates independently and has a network of over 2,000 psychologists and clinical professionals around the country, with a minimum of five-years postgraduate clinical supervised experience.
“We wanted to create something that’s industry-wide, no matter where they are around the country they could access for free,” Reilly said of the SSSL.
“Crucially, right across Australia, there’s huge delays in accessing mental health support if you go through the public system. In northern Victoria, for example, there’s a three-month wait with a referral from a GP. However, this service allows people to phone the support line to speak to someone directly.
“It is about calling early, having a conversation, booking in some time and putting techniques in place to help with managing those issues.”
Reilly added: “We are also keen to make everyone aware that the service is not just there to help people with work-related issues, but with anything that is affecting their mental wellbeing.”
Meanwhile TBA has sent newly printed posters about the SSSL to studs across Australia in the past week to reiterate the importance of the service being available to their employees.