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The power of good communication is again in focus this annual R U OK? Day as Australia powers through mental challenges post-pandemic.
Thousands of businesses, sports clubs, schools and suicide-prevention outlets will take part in the annual R U OK? Day’s events today (8 September), with workshops and communication strategies encouraging people to simply “check in” on each other’s wellness and mental health.
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As charity R U OK? explained, the aim is to start a meaningful conversation around mental health and help identify whether someone may be struggling with life. However, spotting this may not be as easy as it seems.
As such, R U OK? Day has a plethora of resources, tips and ideas to better equip people to help others through signs and stages of anxiety, depression — and to ultimately help prevent suicide.
Mental wellbeing and resilience have long been a focus in the third-party channel, with brokers being urged to check in on one another this R U OK? Day.
Broking can be lonely
Speaking to The Adviser, the chief executive of the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), Anja Pannek, described R U OK? Day as a fantastic initiative, adding: “It’s important to not only have this one day but also have the mindset and vulnerability amongst the broking community to actually just check on each other.
“It has been pretty stressful [recently] and being in a broking business can be pretty lonely, from time to time, as well.
“So it’s a great initiative and we’d really encourage people to get involved.
“We [the MFAA] have done work when it comes to mindfulness, managing stress, and we’ve got tools, in particular, that support people when they’re under significant amounts of pressure and they’re trying to make decisions at their key points in their broker career."
One of the key resources the MFAA has available for brokers is the Balancing work, life and everything else wellbeing book, she said, which its members can download. The book covers mental health support and includes a range of useful support resources.
Fate-to-face interaction is key
Speaking to The Adviser on his way to the New Broker Academy event in Sydney on R U OK? Day, the managing director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA,) Peter White, said he believed the industry has come a long way in being open about mental health.
He suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the normalisation of mental health checks.
Moreover, Mr White said he believed brokers are also in a much better headspace now because “you can get back together with people”, at in-person events and meetings.
The FBAA MD, who this year won the Wellness Advocate of the Year national award at the 2022 Australian Broking Awards, said “I don’t think that we realised prior to COVID-19 just how important that human interaction is between people.
“[The pandemic] has pulled us all apart and although we did a large amount of stuff digitally, which helped to keep the connection together, it still wasn’t the same,” he said.
“Now we’re out of that environment where I think we realised so much more of the importance of being together, how much that support helps your mental health.
“We need that interaction with each other and being a part of the family and just being able to come together and chat and be friends as much as learning for educational purposes, and so on.
“And that’s why things like The Adviser’s New Broker Academy, or whether it’s us doing ‘R U OK?’ days, whether it be national conferences, PD days — all these events are really important because it helps… to support your mental health as well as educational needs.”
Mr White suggested that engaging with R U OK? Day could be “just a casual conversation — such as ‘I’m having difficulty with this now, I’m not sure how to deal with it’, or ‘I got this client doing this and it’s just annoying me’ — [and] being able to hear the frustrations, the conversations, the challenges and deal with them on the spot, face-to-face with someone.”
Mr White added that the human connectivity also plays back to his belief that brokers will not be replaced by technology: “We still need that human interaction and this is proof of that need within our industry, family within the broker marketplace,” he said.
First you must help yourself
With continued interest rate rises expected and the long-term effects on borrowers’ mental health themselves yet to be fully realised, The Adviser asked Mr White what role brokers played in dealing with those stresses, too.
He responded: “To me, the most important advice is ‘before you can help somebody else [borrowers], you’ve got to help yourself’.
“If your head is in the right space, you’re not feeling in a state of depression or anxiety, you are then better able to advise a borrower and to help relieve their stresses within the lending experience.”
Find out more about resilience and managing your mental health in The Adviser’s recent In Focus podcast, partnered by Bankwest.
Tune in to the episode, In Focus: The importance of resilience and support, below:
If you are suffering from abuse, depression or suicidal thoughts — or you’re worried about someone else — and feel that professional support is needed, contact your local doctor or one of the 24/7 crisis agencies below:
1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732
www.1800respect.org.au
Lifeline: 13 11 14
www.lifeline.org.au
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
www.beyondblue.org.au
If you are concerned for your immediate safety or the safety of others, call Triple Zero (000).
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