Limited funding in the recent Rudd Government budget for practical measures to address the burgeoning problem of mental health – places the burden squarely at the foot of employers and community groups to address the issue at the source.
Canberra businesswoman Jacqueline Stewart of WorkTopia is the founder of a new ‘Complex Trauma Research Centre’ and Co-Author of the Worktopia Training Program, soon to be rolled out in Australia. Jacqueline said recently: “A lot of international attention is being focused on the personal, social and economic costs of repeated trauma, especially in the workplace.
The Worktopia training package is a new generation of training that will address issues in the workplace not previously addressed by other training packages. Written by Jacqueline Stewart and workplace health specialist Dr Dion Klein, Worktopia seminars provide people with a powerful set of workplace tools to assist with the management of behaviour in the workplace and emphasises how the effects of our actions toward others can have quite a devastating result on their emotional and physical health.
Jacqueline said recently: "’Complex trauma’ puts a costly strain on the health, judicial and family welfare systems. It is also taxing on employers who bare the cost of lost time due to illness. It is estimated that ‘complex trauma’ affects more than 40% of the population, directly or indirectly through sufferers’ families and community. 1 in 5 Australians experience some form of mental illness each year and this affects performance and outcomes in the workplace".
Professor Russell Meares, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Sydney University is a contributor to the research centre. He recently said: “Complex psychological trauma is a major public health issue”. Jacqueline Stewart added that “Complex Trauma can be created in the workplace through people suffering the stress of covert bullying, harassment and constant devaluation of a person and their efforts.” She referred to recent studies from Comcare, the National Health and Safety Commission report that workplace stress in an upward trend. It accounts for the longest stretches in absenteeism.
‘WorkTopia’ is committed to providing people with workplace tools to help them deal with the workplace stress that can lead to ‘Complex Trauma’. "It’s about stopping illness at the source" says Jacqueline Stewart, author of WorkTopia.
‘WorkTopia’ will conduct a series of one day seminars commencing in June for Executives, Middle Managers and Employees designed to help them understand the some of the triggers of ‘Complex Trauma’ in the workplace and provide them with strategies to improve the attitude, performance and health of people in the workplace.
Prices for the seminars range from $220 for employees up to $450 for executives and proceeds from the seminars will be committed to funding the Complex Trauma Research Centre.
According to Jacqueline, ‘Complex Trauma’ is the umbrella term for a myriad of mental conditions like depression, anxiety, personality disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and manic depression.
For further information on the seminars or the Complex Trauma Research Centre, contact Jacqueline Stewart on 0409110051 or [email protected] or visit www.worktopia.com.au
