Heads Up is a joint initiative by the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance and Beyond Blue to support Australian workplaces to become more mentally healthy. 

It aims to highlight the benefits of mentally healthy workplaces and give individuals and businesses free tools and resources to take action. This may involve developing an action plan to create a mentally healthy workplace, finding out about taking care of your own mental health, or getting tips on having a conversation with someone you're concerned about.

Heads Up is underpinned by the principle of shared responsibility - everyone in an organisation has a role to play in creating a mentally healthy workplace.

The Heads Up initiative was developed using funding provided to Beyond Blue by the Commonwealth Department of Health. Beyond Blue acknowledges this contribution.

The website provides a wide range of interactive tools, practical advice, information and resources to take action and covers all areas of workplace mental health. It’s designed to offer something for everyone in the workplace, from CEOs and business leaders through to front-line workers and managers.

The website is arranged in five sections:

Creating a mentally healthy workplace

In this section, you’ll find a range of information about the benefits of addressing mental health in the workplace, including a tool to calculate the return on investment for your business for taking action and a range of videos featuring employers speaking about what a mentally healthy workplace looks like in practice.

Taking care of yourself at work

Here you’ll find guidance on looking after your own mental health with interactive resources such as a pros and cons tool to help you weigh up whether it’s right for you to tell your workplace about your mental health condition, a conversation planner to assist you if you are planning to disclose, and tips for managing stress at work.

Supporting others in the workplace

If you’re concerned about a colleague or direct report, this section has practical tips to help you have a conversation about mental health, resources for managers such as return to work plan templates, and information about supporting a colleague affected by suicide.

Rights and responsibilities

Learn more about your rights and responsibilities as an employer or employee, including issues such as discrimination, privacy, and work health and safety legislation.

Training and resources

The Heads Up website has a huge range of resources to help you take action, including videos featuring the personal stories of people working with a mental health condition, case studies of businesses taking action on mental health, templates for a mental health policy or return to work plan, details of face-to-face and online training providers, and a wide range of downloadable booklets, fact sheets and flyers addressing all sorts of workplace mental health issues.

Heads Up is designed to provide you with free, simple tools to take action. There are a range of options available, depending on your needs and the needs of your organisation. We’ve developed an easy-to-use kit containing resources and communications templates to help you get started

Or, if you have a specific query about taking action in your organisation, you can get in touch with us at headsup@beyondblue.org.au. We can assist you to navigate Heads Up resources and point you in the right direction.

We can’t provide advice on specific cases or advocate for individuals, but we may be able to provide information about organisations that can. Contact us at headsup@beyondblue.org.au

Heads Up is designed to meet the needs of businesses large and small. Many of the resources and tools on the website can be incorporated into your organisation’s overall strategy. You might decide to show a Heads Up video at an all-staff meeting to raise awareness about a particular issue, for example how to approach someone you are concerned about, or distribute a fact sheet to a group of managers dealing with a specific challenge, such as supporting someone at risk of suicide. 

Many large organisations use the action plan tool to conduct a ‘gap analysis’ to see if their existing strategy is missing anything. There are a range of resources embedded within the action plan to assist with addressing specific issues such as reducing stigma, making reasonable adjustments, or managing work demands.

We’d love to hear about how your organisation is engaging with Heads Up, so if you’ve got a success story or unique approach to share, get in touch at headsup@beyondblue.org.au

Heads Up is designed to be accessible for businesses of all sizes, but we know that small and micro-businesses have very specific needs and challenges when it comes to workplace mental health.

Check out our top 10 tips for small businesses for simple ideas about where to start. Consider picking one or two actions to focus on, or speak to your team to find out what single action would have the most impact for them.

Remember that Heads Up is about encouraging business owners and leaders to take care of their own mental health too. Our Business in Mind resource contains practical tips about balancing the needs of your business with the rest of your life, and features business owners speaking about their own experiences.  

Joining Heads Up means we can keep in touch with you and support you on your journey. We'll also keep you up to date with newly launched resources and share tips to make you and your workplace more mentally healthy.

Joining also allows you to set up a profile so you can save and review your information when you use the interactive tools, such as the action plan or pros and cons tool

Any personal information you provide in relation to your profile will be dealt with in accordance with the Heads Up privacy statement

You don’t have to join, but we recommend that you do as you’ll get much more out of the resources and the website. 

There is no cost – joining Heads Up is completely free! 

Anyone can join Heads Up, it doesn’t matter what role you have in your organisation.

Yes, you can have as many profiles as you like. You will just need to use a different email address each time you join. 

Just click on the ‘Forgot your password?’ link underneath the login button on the top right-hand corner of the home page. A new password will be sent to the email address you used to join Heads Up. You can change your password when you next log in to your profile.  

Sometimes internal IT security infrastructure may block receiving emails from certain organisations.

If you do not receive the reset password email, contact your IT team to see if they block emails from Beyond Blue. If you have tried this and still need assistance, please email headsup@beyondblue.org.au

 

If you are using older version of Internet Explorer, you may experience issues with some of the website functionality. To avoid these issues, we recommend using the current version of Google Chrome or Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer 11). Check with your IT team if you’re not sure which version you are using.

If you’ve tried resetting your password and still can’t log in, or you’re having some other difficulty, contact us at headsup@beyondblue.org.au and we’ll help you find a solution. 

The Heads Up action plan is a simple, interactive tool that helps you develop a tailored strategy to make your workplace more mentally healthy. 

Based on what you tell us about your workplace, you'll get a range of recommended actions that you can then tailor further to suit your needs. You can share responsibility for the plan by assigning each action to someone in your organisation and setting time frames for completion. 

There are three steps to completing your action plan. The Taking action section of the Heads Up website provides detailed information about each step.

1. Identify priority areas

   Start by providing information about your workplace relating to three priority areas - awareness and stigma; support for people with mental health conditions; and specific risk factors that can affect the mental health of employees. Based on your selection, the action plan tool will generate a number of actions that will make up your tailored plan. 
   
   If you like, you can further tailor your plan by adding and removing actions, for example if you want to focus on a specific issue within your workplace.

2. Implement actions

   This section allows you to manage the implementation of your action plan. You can share responsibility for the plan by assigning specific actions to team members who will be responsible for their completion. You can also set timeframes for each action, and access additional resources that will help you along the way.
   
   At this point, you can download your action plan or email it to yourself or a colleague who will help you to implement it. 

3. Revisit your action plan to review and share

   As you work through your plan, you can return to it to check off completed actions (you must have joined Heads Up to be able to save and revisit your plan). You can also rate the usefulness of each action and provide feedback.

   The 'Review and share' section of your plan gives you an overview of all your completed actions. Here, you can also find resources to evaluate the implementation of your overall plan, and the impact of specific actions. Reviewing your plan will help you see what has worked well and if there are any changes or improvements you can make to increase the impact of your actions in the future. 

You can develop your action plan in less than two minutes, but you may wish to get input from your employees or colleagues as part of the process.

How long you take to implement your action plan depends on your organisation’s needs, and will also be influenced by the specific activities you choose to undertake. You might want to start with a 12-month plan, or set yourself shorter goals and continually return to review and update your plan. It’s up to you!

The number of actions that you implement is up to you and your organisation. There's no 'one size fits all' approach when it comes to developing and implementing a strategy for better workplace mental health. Some businesses might decide to focus on one or two actions, while others opt to put together a more comprehensive plan.

Yes, individual actions can be assigned to someone in your organisation who will be responsible for seeing them through. Each action has corresponding resources that will help with implementation.

You can share the action plan with other members of the team by emailing it to them. This function is available under 'Implement actions'.

Yes, you can assign timeframes to each action. These can be reviewed and amended based on your requirements.

Yes, you can download your action plan as a PDF file and save or print it. You can also email your plan to yourself or a colleague. 

Although you can access the action plan tool without joining Heads Up, you won’t be able to save your plan and return to review it at a later stage.

Being able to revisit your saved plan means you can track your progress and check off completed actions, and will also help you to review your plan to understand what’s working well and where you may need to make changes. 

If you would like to transfer your Heads Up profile and action plan to a colleague, log in to Heads Up, click on 'edit details', and update the information to your colleague's details.

If someone has left your organisation and you don't have their Heads Up log in password to do this, your manager should email headsup@beyondblue.org.au requesting the email address and password change be made. 

We recommend that two people within an organisation have access to the log in details so the Heads Up profile and action plan can still be accessed if one person leaves.

If you'd like to share your action plan with others in your organisation, you can email it to any address, or you can print and share. 

There are lots of ways to take action to create a mentally healthy workplace, including:

1. Download one of our top 10 tips fact sheets. Fact sheets are available for small businesses and medium/large businesses.
2. Pick one or two actions from the top 10 tips fact sheet that’s relevant to your business size, and focus on implementing those well.
3. Talk to your employees to find out what’s most important for them, and consider implementing their suggestions.

While anyone can complete an action plan, you may find that some of the actions require support from management within your organisation. You may wish to work with a small group of colleagues within your local team/area and pick one or two actions within your control to lead the way in your organisation.

Things you can do to encourage your managers to take action include providing information about the benefits of addressing mental health in the workplace, and asking them to check out what other employers are doing.

Yes, all of the resources on the Heads Up website are completely free and available to everyone. 

The only exceptions are the face-to-face training programs highlighted in the training and resources section. These are run by a range of providers and most have a cost attached. Contact the provider directly for details. 

Most of the Heads Up information and resources have been developed by Beyond Blue in consultation with businesses and individuals, and are evidence-based. The Heads Up information and resources were developed using funding provided to Beyond Blue by the Commonwealth Department of Health. 

Other resources referred to on the Heads Up website have been developed by member organisations of the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, or expert organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission. 

Yes! We encourage you to share the resources with your colleagues, employees, managers, clients, friends, family, and anyone else who is interested. You can either print the resources yourself or order printed copies to be delivered to you free of charge by Beyond Blue. 

You can order printed Heads Up and Beyond Blue resources from the Heads Up resource catalogue. All the resources are free and can be delivered Australia-wide. 

If you just want one or two copies of a resource, then there’s no need to register your details to the Heads Up catalogue. If you would like to order multiple copies of a resource, say for your team or workplace, then you will need to register your details. 

You can use the same email address and password for your Heads Up profile and the Heads Up resource catalogue if you wish.

There is currently no way to link the two profiles.

You have the option to order Heads Up resources through the main Beyond Blue resource catalogue if you wish. The Beyond Blue resource catalogue offers resources from all Beyond Blue’s areas of work (youth, perinatal, older adults, etc.). 

If you just want workplace-related resources, then it will be easier to browse through the Heads Up catalogue. The Heads Up catalogue also contains some general resources on depression and anxiety which can be useful in a workplace setting.

No, the registration processes are separate. You will still need to register for the Heads Up catalogue to order multiple resources, regardless of whether you have joined Heads Up or not.  

All Heads Up resources can be downloaded for free, without registering. Some resources are currently download-only. 

You’re welcome to show and share videos from the Heads Up website in their current form. You can either do so through the website, or by visiting the Heads Up YouTube channel (you will need an internet connection).

We encourage downloading, printing and sharing of Heads Up resources in their current form.

Beyond Blue information and resources on the Heads Up website are subject to copyright. If you would like to modify or adapt the information or resources, you will need to contact us. Adapting includes copying and pasting text from the website or any Heads Up resource into your own materials. For more information see the Heads Up Terms of Use.

Beyond Blue reserves the right to grant or refuse approval to use our information and resources.

If you are quoting from a page on the Heads Up website or a Heads Up resource, the standard acknowledgement wording is:

”This information was sourced from the Heads Up website, developed by Beyond Blue in collaboration with the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, using funding provided by the Commonwealth Department of Health. For more information and resources please visit www.headsup.org.au”

Please be aware that the Heads Up website contains links to information and resources that were developed by other organisations, such as SANE Australia and Safe Work Australia. We have tried to credit each of these sources appropriately and ask that you do the same if you wish to refer to any of their content. If you have any questions about how to appropriately acknowledge another organisation, you should contact them directly. 

You cannot charge fees for the provision of free Heads Up resources available from this website and you must provide acknowledgement that the resources are from Heads Up. Please contact us with any questions.

We are continually developing new content and resources for the Heads Up website, based on work carried out by Beyond Blue in consultation with a wide range of mental health and industry partners. The best way to keep up to date with new resources is tojoin Heads Up

The 'Search' function can help you find information on a specific topic. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top right-hand corner of any page of the site to access search.

There are different categories, topics and keywords that will help you search, or you can type in your own search term.

Heads Up is designed to be a one-stop-shop covering all aspects of workplace mental health. If you’ve had a thorough look through the website, tried using the Search function, and still can’t find the information you need, contact us at headsup@beyondblue.org.au and we’ll do our best to help.