The Working Mind
Skilled leaders. Stronger Teams. Supportive Cultures.
The Working Mind is an evidence-based program helping workplaces prioritise mental health – not just manage it.
Prioritise mental health and shift workplace culture.
When employees feel supported,
they perform better.
When leaders feel confident,
teams thrive.
When mental health is normalised, culture transforms.
About The Working Mind
The Working Mind is an evidence‑based program proven to shift workplace culture and strengthen mental wellbeing. This program empowers employees and managers to:
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Understand mental healthChallenge attitudes towards mental health and recognise signs of good, declining, and poor mental health in themselves and others. |
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Foster psychologically safe environmentsCultivate a safe, supportive environment where mental health can be discussed openly and without judgement, using non-stigmatising language. |
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Address stigma at every levelPromote respectful, informed approaches to mental health across teams and leadership. |
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Build resilienceImprove resilience through learning and practising coping strategies in times of stress. |
Bringing The Working Mind to your workplace is a commitment to prioritising mental health, rather than just managing it.
See FAQs below for more information about The Working Mind.
Course information
Delivery format
Face-to-face
Online
Duration
8 hours (for managers)
5 hours (for employees)
Take the next step
For individuals or small groups
For larger groups
Looking for a specific Instructor?
Create a mentally healthier workplace:
1 in 5
Australians experience a mental health problem each year
Almost 1 in 4
workers believe their mental health condition is work-related
9 in 10
employees believe mental health in the workplace is important
Two complementary programs for mental health at work
Mental Health First Aid and The Working Mind are complementary courses, often delivered together in workplaces.
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Building culture Transforming workplace cultures
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Building capacity Conversations and pathways to support
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| Purpose | Build awareness, reduce stigma, and strengthen resilience in the workplace. | Provide practical skills to recognise and respond to someone experiencing mental health problems or crises. |
| Impact | Fosters psychologically safe and supportive workplaces. | Enables employees to take action when it matters most. |
| Why it matters | Without cultural change, stigma persists, and mental health challenges can go unnoticed. | Without response skills, conversations may not lead to help. |
What are the learning outcomes?
The Working Mind equips employees and managers to:
- Recognise signs of good, declining, and poor mental health.
- Understand mental health as a continuum
- Understand and reduce stigma and barriers to care in the workplace
- Engage in mental health conversations with others
- Identify stressors and apply coping and self-care strategies
- Support team mental health with tools and resources (managers only).
What is the course content?
The Working Mind is delivered face-to-face and online, and includes four carefully designed modules:
- Mental health stigma: Examine concepts of mental health and discuss the impacts of stigma on individuals living with mental health or substance use problems.
- Mental Health Continuum Tool: Use the Mental Health Continuum Tool to notice changes in yourself and your colleagues.
- Stress and resilience: Explore the impacts of stress on mental health, and practice applying the Big 4 Coping Strategies – simple but proven tools to deal with stress effectively and remain resilient.
- Supporting your team (Managers only): Practise skills to support your team’s mental health and wellbeing. Review appropriate actions to take to support employees.
What is the Mental Health Continuum Tool?
This tool helps individuals recognise changes in their own and others’ mental health. It uses a simple, colour-coded scale to encourage early action, open dialogue, and self-awareness before issues escalate.
If my workplace already has MHFA, do we need TWM?
Yes. Having both programs ensures your workplace has a supportive and non-judgemental culture around mental health (TWM) and employees are equipped to respond to colleagues in distress (MHFA).
Who developed The Working Mind?
The Working Mind was developed by Opening Minds and has been successfully implemented in Canada with support from the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
What is the difference between MHFA and TWM?
The Working Mind builds a mentally healthy workplace culture by reducing stigma and strengthening resilience.
Mental Health First Aid equips individuals with practical skills to respond when a colleague is in distress or crisis.
The courses are often delivered together as they are complementary focusing on both culture and capacity.
Can I announce this new program to my network?
No – at this stage, this information is only available for instructors. This is to support a phased roll out of the program in Australia, starting with Instructors as the first to hear about this program being rolled out by Mental Health First Aid, to provide an opportunity for you to become an instructor.
The next phase will focus on existing workplace providers of Mental Health First Aid, including those in our esteemed Workplace Recognition Program.
Once there are instructors trained and ready to support the program roll out nationally, Mental Health First Aid will formally launch the program in Australia.
To support this phased roll out, we ask that Instructors please refrain from any public announcements of the course.
