Mental Health Month Starter Kit
Our starter kit has everything you need to plan your Mental Health Month 2024 event. It includes information and worksheets, as well as information about applying for one of Wayahead’s small grants.
The 2024 Starter Kit is available for download now!
MHM Starter Kit
Our mental health month start kit is the perfect starting point for planning your event. Here’s what you can expect.
– Brainstorm – Research –
Identify the issue – What do you want to address? General awareness? Reducing stigma? Increasing access to services? Think about why this issue is important – To you, your organization, your community. Understanding the issue will help keep your event on-track, and help you determine the goals for your event. Identify your target audience and research how best to reach them – Use your own expertise here as well as people from your target audience. What has worked in the past? – do people come together over food? Music? Combination? Identify your goals – Think broad, rather than specific. What’s the aim of the project or event? This should reflect the issue you’ve identified, as well as your target audience. Identify your challenges – Think about what might hinder the success of your event or project and plan for possible challenges. This can be broad – stigma, discrimination – or specific – lack of appropriate venue in your area, communication challenges – or anything in between.
Formulate
– Plan – Design –
The information from step one, investigation, should inform what your project or event looks like and now it’s time to create. Plan a message – Something cohesive and catchy that ties your event or project together. Think about the issue and the goals you have identified, and how you want to capture that. Plan the event – What type of event or project best suits what you’ve identified? Break down the planning into as many steps as you need. Plan what you need – what do you need to host this event or project successfully – materials/ supplies, staffing, time? Creating a visual plan can help to work this out, including a timeline. Having lots of small time-based goals can help ensure everything gets done in time.
Communicate
– Connect – Promote –
Connect – Are there other services or organisations in your area that work with similar people, or do similar things? Think about teaming up with them for Mental Health Month, pooling resources and finding new opportunities to promote your event/project. Connect – How do the people you work with tend to connect best? Social Media? Newspaper? Support Groups? This kind of promotion means you’re meeting people on their own ground, and making use of systems already in place. Don’t forget to invite people directly as well. Promote – Make use of local media and think creatively about how best to reach as many people as possible. Professional looking posters can make a difference, there are some free online tools such as Canva which can help design great posters without design knowledge. Promote – There’s a media guide included in this starter kit with even more ideas for promoting your project and event. And don’t forget to list your event or project with WayAhead on our EVENTS CALENDAR
Evaluate
– Check – Measure –
Check – Having a framework for evaluating your project will help make sure your project or event was successful in achieving the goals you’ve identified. What do you want to measure? How best to measure it? It can be good to think about how you will evaluate the project/event from the beginning, to make sure the evaluation framework fits the project. It can even form part of your event – for example, people can post selfies using a specific hashtag, or write their thoughts or feedback on a large board, each of which can be counted and used for evaluation. Types of evaluation: Outcome evaluation – Has the desired effect been achieved? Are people seeking help more? Making contact? Simply think of one simple thing that can be easily tracked – like number of people who have signed up to your mailing list, or people who have liked, shared, retweeted or commented on your social media posts. Implementation evaluation – Did you stick to your plan? Did your project get through unexpected challenges? Goals evaluation – Have you achieved the goals you decided on?
You can use these to brainstorm and lock in your event ideas. However, there are many ways to organise your thoughts and actions which might suit you better.
Wayahead provides small grants to help get your Mental Health Month event off the ground.
The grant applications for 2024 are closed.
We provide 50 grants of either $500 or $1000 across the following categories:
- General
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
- Sex, Sexuality and/or Gender Diverse (LGBTIQA+)
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
- Youth
What are we looking for?
Promotion Strategy and link to MHM Theme
We are looking for projects that have a clear Mental Health promotion/education/community building strategy – that is, have you thought about the ways your project will achieve its goals. Think about things like how to best link with your community, what styles of communication work best. For example, if you know that your community is really into sport, find a way to incorporate sport into your project.
We also look at how your project links to the Mental Health Month theme “We all have a role to play”.
Planning and Budget
We are looking for projects which have clear aims and a well-considered budget. This doesn’t need to be overly complicated, just make sure your application includes the aims of your project (even in dot point) and how the project hopes to achieve them. The budget doesn’t need to be detailed, just show that you’ve considered what costs you anticipate. We know this change over time, so you won’t be held to them.
Creativity of proposed project
We are looking for projects that take a unique, new, or interesting approach to mental health. A good thing to do is to include a bit of information about why you chose to approach your project the way you have. So, if your project includes gardening, you might want to include that gardening has been shown to have beneficial mental health impacts, and that the young people in your community don’t have a lot of opportunities to interact with nature. In general, things like delivering mental health first aid to a workforce don’t do well here, as it doesn’t really show that it’s been thought out. But if it were to be incorporated with some other information about why that is a particularly innovative approach for your community then it would score more on this measure.
Theme
How does your event or project centre the theme “We all Have a Role to Play”. This year we are encouraging people to think about ways they can connect with the people around them. Connection is a great way can increase wellbeing one of the five key areas identified to increase wellbeing ways to wellbeing the theme is based around. Encouraging people to connect
Involvement of Target Audience
This is the big one! Making sure your target audience is involved with all stages of your project is the key to a good application. If you’re doing work with young people, make sure young people are involved right from the get-go! Are you applying for an Aboriginal and Torres Stait Islander grant? Then the project should be led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This also is true for populations that aren’t connected to a specific grant category. A good way to measure this for yourself is to think “who am I trying to reach with this project” and then make sure there is someone from that group involved in your project!
How is it judged?
We have a panel of judges – a least two for each category – and for the target categories the judges must have experience with those communities. There is a clearly written guide for the judges, so they can mark the applications according to the same score sheet each time.
After that, the judges will meet in person to see if their scores match up and decide on the final recipients.
The application
Application forms need to be submitted online through our portal HERE.
Amounts
We have both $1000 and $500 grants. Grants that are unsuccessful in the $1000 category will automatically be considered for a $500 grant – please indicate if you do not wish to be considered for the $500 grant.
If you have any questions about the judging process, please get in touch.
A big part of Mental Health Month is that we increase public awareness of mental health and wellbeing. It also means that, for some people, this increased awareness can bring up some difficult thoughts or feelings. During your event or project, people might approach you with varying levels of concern or distress. Therefore, it’s important to know how best to support them, and yourself, whilst respecting the boundaries of the event, the other person, and yourself.
The following includes some tips you might find useful if someone approaches you for help at your event:
Be prepared
- If you work for a mental health organisation or are a mental health professional, you will have experience in responding to enquiries about mental illness. Otherwise, preparing some information that you can pass on to people who have questions you don’t have answers to can be useful.
- Having information on-hand from local organisations can also be useful for helping people determine what steps to take next
- Additionally, you can find information on where to get help on our website at wayahead.org.au
Practice respectful communication
- Listen actively to what people are saying to you. For instance, it can help to repeat what they have said as a question to make sure you’ve heard them correctly. It can sometimes help to share your own experience – although you certainly don’t have to – but often people just want to know that someone has heard their story. Active listening gives others a real sense that their story is important.
- Avoid making judgements about behaviour that may seem unusual to you. If someone is talking with you about their mental health, they trust you to be understanding and non-judgemental. Avoid giving advice, including about diet, substance use, or other choices – this advice can feel like a judgement.
- Respect that people are entitled to determine their own course of action. It is up to them what they do with the information available to them.
Know your boundaries
- Before the event, have a think about what your boundaries are. Firstly, what do you feel confident talking about? Then, what might you need more information or support with? Lastly, when might you need to refer someone to another source of assistance?
- Be honest about your limitations and communicate them clearly. Let others know if they are asking you for information or assistance that you can’t immediately provide. Most importantly, remember it’s ok not to know everything yourself.
- Identify people that can support you if something comes up that is difficult or upsetting, and let them know that they might need to do that for you on the day.
Look after yourself and your team
- Remember that looking after yourself and your team is just as important as looking after others.
- Consider getting together before the event to have a chat about your plan and then after that, to talk about how you think things went and to celebrate.
- Keep an eye out for each other on the day.
It’s important to think about how you’re going to promote your event or project. Some of the most effective channels are probably already familiar to you – social media, posters and flyers, email invitations – but engaging with local newspapers and other local media outlets it can also help increase awareness of your event.
Even if you are holding a private event (not open to the public), you may still wish to tell the media about it beforehand so that a journalist can attend part of the event and write a story about it to go into the local paper afterwards.
Alternatively, you can write your own media release and send it to local print, radio and TV journalists. We have also provided a template media release below as a guide.
——–
Why?
Mental Health Month events are a great opportunity for media to bring attention to mental health, and your event provides a good reason for them to do this. Working with the media is also one more way that we can promote positive mental health and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.
If you are holding a public event, then using the media is a great way to get more participants.
How to get in the media?
Here are some important hints to remember when you’re working with the media:
- Have your media release prepared before you contact a journalist. Make sure you can answer any questions they might have or send along the press release straight away if they’re interested.
- Your local media are employed to cover interesting news, not provide free advertising. Don’t expect that they will automatically cover your story. It’s okay to follow up and find out whether the story is being published, but always be polite and don’t hound them for an answer.
- Target your media release carefully. Don’t send a release about a book launch to the sports writer, and don’t send one email to multiple journalists. Address them by name and take a moment to introduce yourself. If you’re not sure who to talk to, call a general office number first and ask.
- The person you speak to may not report many mental health stories, so be prepared to explain terms or direct them to other resources for more information. MINDFRAME have some good resources.
- Most importantly, remember, your event could be very interesting to local news so don’t be shy! Think about what is unique and newsworthy about your event and mention it. For example, maybe you’re holding the only community fair in your town for the month. Perhaps you’ve found a local celebrity to speak. You might even be repeating an event that was successful the year before.
After that, keep in touch with your media contacts once the event is over. Even if they haven’t run a story yet, if you can provide good photos and details on how successful the event was, it may become more newsworthy. Whatever the outcome, make sure to say thank you for their time.
RuffTRACK Morning Yarn Coffee Session
RuffTRACK Limited is a transformative youth program located in the Hawkesbury region. Catering to young people aged 11 to 17 who have disengaged from school and community, the program aims to equip them with essential skills, education, and a renewed sense of self-worth. The RuffTRACK team held a morning coffee session hosted by the youth at the facility, where they showcased their dog training abilities, including an impressive panel jump. Each participant is paired with a dog, guiding them on a journey of responsibility, empathy, and non-violent communication.
University of Wollongong’s White Cedar Garden Working Bee
The White Cedar Garden Working Bee, organised by the UOW Pulse team at the University of Wollongong, aimed to create a culturally appropriate and interactive learning garden. This space was designed for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to safely learn about, appreciate, and engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. The event focused on revitalising the existing white cedar garden by introducing new native plants, fostering an environment where everyone can thrive. A barbecue was held during the event to share stories and celebrate native foods. Overall, the goal was to strengthen Indigenous community connections and enhance education at UOW, contributing to the well-being of Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff, students, and the broader Illawarra community.
Nepean Blue Mountains LHD Community Engagement Resilience Team Paint a Snake
This gathering focused on fostering mental health conversations, social connections, and developing strategies for wellbeing through a community arts project. Each participant painted a rock with a positive message about mental health, which combined with others to create a vibrant wellbeing snake.
The Enemy Within
The Enemy Within is a two-day event of workshops and presentations delivered by Joe Williams – a former NRL player sharing his lived experience with mental health. Presentations will focus on connecting with the Indigenous community through the Wakagetti Dance Team based in Muswellbrook. They will also focus in suicide prevention and wellbeing education.
Misery Loves Company – Sharing the Darkness to Lighten the Load
‘Misery Loves Company – Sharing the Darkness to Lighten the Load’ by Waitling & Bates is an event showcasing a selection of original songs and covers that express feelings that are difficult to discuss. There will also be a short performance by two local artists living with anxiety and depression. The event will also include a shared dinner before the show. Standby Response, an organisation dedicated to supporting people and communities bereaved by suicide, will also present a talk about grief and grieving in rural communities and provide some self-care strategies.
Pasifika – Be Young and Well
Pasifika – Be Young and Well is an event emphasising the importance of keeping well mentally and why it’s vital for young people to look after their mental health. We will include dancing and singing from the young people of the 5 different Pacific communities in between the talks from health professionals but also an NRL player of Pacific background. The program will be concluded with a panel Q&A and a lunch which will include healthy traditional food and drinks.
So, what is Mental Health Month?
Mental Health Month gives us an opportunity to raise awareness around mental health and wellbeing. It is marked in New South Wales, Victoria, and the ACT and centres specifically on World Mental Health Day on October 10.
This year we present a new theme ‘Let’s Talk About It’. Now we are able to connect again let’s ALL get involved in mental health month this year.
What will you talk about?
Why Should You Be Involved?
A Mental Health Month project or event is a great way to encourage awareness of mental health, and social and emotional wellbeing in your community. It can also decrease stigma, and empower people to seek help, for themselves or others. It can even give people from your community the awareness and the courage to consider their mental health and wellbeing something that they can work on.
Mental Health Month events can be fun, thought-provoking, creative, engaging, sporty, and interesting. Above all, they should bring people together and start conversations.
Planning to host a mental health awareness event this October? Click the button below to apply for a small grant to help fund your initiative!
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