MENTAL HEALTH — FLY IN, FLY OUT WORKERS

1314. Hon ALISON XAMON to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Mental Health:

I refer to the Education and Health Standing Committee report “The Impact of FIFO Work Practices on Mental Health”, recommendation 21, about the development of a mental health and suicide prevention training program.

(1)  Has the program been developed?

(2)  If yes to (1), is it being delivered?

(3)  If no to (1) or (2), why not?

(4)  If yes to (2)—

(a)  who is delivering the program; and

(b)  which FIFO mining companies have utilised the training?

Hon ALANNA CLOHESY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.

(1)  Yes. The Mental Health Commission contributed funding to Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute to develop “Thrive at Work”, an evidence-based strategy to support the Western Australian workforce to create mentally healthy workplaces. Thrive was developed in consultation with industry and an extensive evaluation of the academic literature. The foundational funding provided by the MHC assisted to build capacity for the Future of Work Institute to run training as part of the Thrive initiative, which included training on mental health and managing mental health problems among colleagues and workers. The training is suitable for managers and supervisors and while not specific to the resources industry, the content is applicable across industries.

(2)  Yes.

(3)  Not applicable.

(4)      (a) Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute.

(b) Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Barminco, GBF, Roy Hill and Woodside.

 

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