G’day,
I have an unusually large head.
By that, I don’t mean I'm full of myself, though I suppose that’s for others to decide. No, I mean I find it hard to get hats that fit me. It runs in my family: my father has a surprisingly large head, and so does my daughter.
It doesn’t seem that way on first inspection, but the Gambian noggins are not like most. Like Australia, we’re far too big for “one size fits all”.
If you just think about the people in your own life: friends, co-workers, neighbours, children, parents, your pizza delivery guy, or the woman you see on the bus every day. Think about their life experience. Think about their skills and their struggles. Think about their families and where they live. Their job, their education, their income. All this and more shapes who we are, how we experience the world, and the views we form.
In fact, can you think of even one issue on which everyone you know agrees?
From footy teams to pizza toppings, we all have different perspectives that are formed by our values, experiences, and circumstances. And this can be a difficult reality when trying to communicate the universal impacts of mental ill health.
That’s why today in Canberra, we are launching the Mental Health Compass.
The Mental Health Compass is the product of groundbreaking research into what Australians think about mental health as an issue: from how important we think it is to what causes it and what solutions we support.
From that, we’ve identified 5 major groupings of opinion and mapped out a rough sketch of what makes people in each grouping tick: from the folks who are ready to take action all the way through to the folks who think it's a storm in a teacup.
With this work, everyone from service providers to government, employers to trade unions, community organisations, and everyone in between will be better able to understand priority groups, target resources, and communicate much more effectively.
Some of the findings will show us that there is widespread community support for change, while other findings might challenge your assumptions about what people think about some mental health issues.
Those who joined this week's member meetup got a detailed walkthrough of the report from one of our researchers, Holly McCarthy, and all Australians for Mental Health members received early access to the report in their inbox.
If you’re not yet officially signed up as a member, please consider joining us. Because just like heads, no two minds are shaped the same, and it’s when we bring them together that real change begins.
Best,
Chris
Chris Gambian
Executive Director
afmh.org.au