Mental Health & Resilience
Leadership Development
Physical Wellbeing
Workplace CultureMental Health Month programs for your workplace
One awareness day can start a conversation. A thoughtfully planned month gives people time to learn, practise and reconnect.
Mental Health Month is held throughout October in NSW and coordinated by WayAhead. World Mental Health Day falls on 10 October. HSG delivers Mental Health Month workplace programs for employers across Australia, onsite and via live webinar.
A Mental Health Month workplace program is a coordinated series of learning activities covering mental health literacy, stress and anxiety skills, peer support and manager capability. HSG tailors the sequence to your workforce, drawing on more than 20 years of workplace wellbeing delivery and a national network of independent specialist facilitators.
This year’s Mental Health Month theme
WayAhead sets a new Mental Health Month theme each year. The 2026 theme, “A Little Connection Goes a Long Way”, highlights the value of everyday connection for mental wellbeing. HSG can align your program with the current theme through active-listening, peer-support, mental health awareness and manager sessions, tailored to your workforce.
Tell us what your team needs
Complete the form and we’ll recommend the most suitable service, format or next step for your organisation.
No obligation. We respond to all enquiries within 12 hours.
Why Mental Health Month matters for employers
October creates a natural point for organisations to build shared language, strengthen support pathways and remind employees where help is available. Awareness is most useful when it connects with year-round workplace systems and action.
- Mental health claims are rising: mental health conditions accounted for 12% of serious Australian workers’ compensation claims in 2023–24p, or 17,600 claims, according to Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2025.
Mental Health Month workshops can strengthen literacy and capability, but they do not replace employee consultation, psychosocial hazard identification, safer work design or other higher-order controls.
Who these programs are for
Programs suit whole organisations marking Mental Health Month, teams with low mental health literacy, employees facing change or high workloads, and the managers and team leaders who shape whether people feel safe to speak up. Sessions run for all staff, specific cohorts, or leadership groups, onsite or via live webinar.
Workshop programs available for Mental Health Month
All workshops are available in 45-minute, 60-minute, 90-minute, or half-day formats, onsite or via live webinar.
Mental health awareness
Participants learn the key signs of mental health issues, how to start workplace conversations, how to offer support, and how to access resources, building skills and reducing stigma. By the end, participants can notice possible signs of distress, begin an appropriate conversation, offer support and direct people towards suitable resources.
Demystifying mental illness, depression and anxiety
Explains the mental health spectrum, common conditions, and the differences between depression and anxiety, with practical recognition and support strategies. Ideal for teams with low mental health literacy.
Dealing with stress, worry and anxiety
An interactive session covering the signs of stress, worry and anxiety, how to identify personal triggers, and practical strategies for managing thoughts and emotions.
Building mental agility in challenging times
Tools for resilience, adaptability and responding more flexibly to pressure, change and uncertainty. Ideal for teams facing change, high workloads or uncertainty.
Empowering leaders: navigating mental health in the workplace
Gives managers tools to spot mental distress, start conversations, respond to disclosures, understand role boundaries and referral pathways, and encourage psychological safety. Leaders leave with a clear framework and confidence in their role.
A suggested four-week Mental Health Month schedule
A framework to build momentum through October, adaptable to your size, workforce and delivery preferences. HSG provides communication templates and promotional materials to help drive participation.
Week 1 — Foundation and awareness
Mental Health Awareness for all staff: establish a shared language and reduce stigma.
Week 2 — Personal skills and resilience
Dealing with Stress, Worry and Anxiety, or Building Mental Agility: build individual coping capability.
Week 3 — Connection and peer support (World Mental Health Day, 10 Oct)
R U OK? Empowering Others Through Active Listening — how colleagues can notice when someone is struggling and offer support.
Week 4 — Leadership and culture
Empowering Leaders: equip managers with frameworks and confidence to lead on mental health.
Facilitators
HSG Mental Health Month programs are delivered by credentialed specialist facilitators, each carefully matched and briefed for your workplace to ensure relevant, effective learning. Facilitators hold professional qualifications across mental health, counselling and wellbeing education. Mental Health Month in October pairs naturally with R U OK? Day in September: one starts the conversation, the other sustains it across a full month.
What organisations are saying
Thank you to the HSG Team for organising Helen Ramsden to conduct a professional learning session for our staff which focused on wellbeing and mindfulness. The session was very much appreciated by our staff as it resonated with them whilst also providing a variety of strategies for them to use today, tomorrow and forever.
Frank Catalano
Glen Waverley Primary School
Great insightful engaging session from Peter. His strategies to vent out the stress with guided meditation was amazing and was very easy to follow.
Jyoti Khadka
Meshed Group
Related programs
Mental health programs are available year-round as standalone sessions or as part of an Annual Wellbeing Program, and pair naturally with R U OK? Day and HSG’s Mental Health & Resilience pillar. To plan your month, get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
Mental Health Month is held throughout October in NSW and is coordinated by WayAhead. World Mental Health Day is observed globally on 10 October. HSG delivers October workplace programs nationally, including for organisations aligning activities with Mental Health Week or World Mental Health Day in their state or territory.
HSG offers a full suite of workshop topics for Mental Health Month: Mental Health Awareness; Demystifying Mental Illness, Depression and Anxiety; Dealing with Stress, Worry and Anxiety; Building Mental Agility in Challenging Times; and a dedicated manager program on navigating mental health in the workplace. All are available from 45 minutes to half a day, onsite or online.
Yes. HSG can coordinate a structured four-week Mental Health Month program tailored to your workforce, handling facilitator selection and logistics so your team simply promotes the program. HSG also provides communication templates and promotional materials to support participation.
Yes. HSG’s Empowering Leaders workshop is designed for managers and team leaders. It covers how to recognise signs of mental distress, initiate conversations, respond to disclosures, and build a culture of psychological safety.
HSG recommends contacting us by late August where possible, because facilitator demand increases during September and October. Early contact allows custom program design. Mental health programs are also available year-round as standalone sessions or as part of an Annual Wellbeing Program. Contact us for a tailored quote.
Start the conversation
Tell us what your team needs, and we’ll help you identify the most suitable service, format or next step.
We respond to all enquiries within 12 hours.
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HSG has supported more than 1,600 organisations across corporate, government, healthcare, education and not-for-profit sectors, including Microsoft, Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, BHP, the Department of Defence, St Vincent’s, the University of Sydney, Deakin University, The Smith Family and headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation.
Start the conversation
More than 1,600 organisations have trusted HSG to deliver practical workplace wellbeing programs across Australia. Tell us what your team needs, and we’ll help you identify the right next step.
We respond to all enquiries within 12 hours.