Last week I attended a 1-day conference themed around the idea of Resilience. While we were casually sipping our morning coffee, one of the first speakers asked the audience to raise a hand if they knew someone who had experienced depression – a forest of hands shot into the air – pretty much everyone in the packed conference hall. That surprised me and so did many of the statistics that followed. So, here, I will present a snapshot of what was discussed to help raise awareness a little. I will also distil some of the key recommendations to help you and those you care about build some resilience ahead of time.
In the Australian workplace only 24% are actually engaged whilst 60% are not engaged and 16% are actively disengaged. Moreover, 12% report being highly stressed every day. Apparently, 45% of Australians will have a mental health issue in their lifetime and one in five will actually be experiencing a mental health issue at any given time. Look around you. Worryingly, 86% of us prefer to suffer in silence.