Psych Health and Safety Podcast

In this episode we chat with Jake Field, Chief of Staff for the Maritime Union of Australia. Jake gives us some information about what the MUA does for its members - the things that might not make the cover of the newspaper - and shares his views about the increasing collaborative role of unions in psych health and safety. Jake shares examples of successful consultation and collaboration within organisations, and at a strategic level between government, unions, industry bodies, and regulators.

In this episode we chat with Jennifer Low, Director of Health and Safety and Workers Compensation Policy at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Jen gives us an overview of the different projects ACCI has been involved with in the psych health and safety space, and discusses some of the challenges small businesses have in adopting standards and codes of practice. Jen has also been involved in the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, development of new units of competence for the VET sector, and Safe Work Australia's national Return to Work Strategy. She gives us an overview of those projects, current status, and a brief lookahead. Finally we have a chat about the differences in psych health and safety messaging between public health and risk management perspectives, and the implications of the variation in messaging for small business.

In this crossover episode, Jason van Schie makes a guest appearance on Safety on Tap with Andrew Barrett. Jason talks about the distinction between psychological safety and psychological health and safety (did you know they are two completely different concepts?); summarises the differences between Clinical and Organisational psychologists and the roles that both areas of practice play in psychological health and safety; explores the role of the employer in helping employees return to a state of positive mental health; and provides his thoughts on good starting points for organisations who want to improve their approach to psych health and safety.

In this episode we chat with Daniela Masters, Head of Global Health and Wellbeing Programs at Generali Employee Benefits. Daniela brings a unique perspective having insight into a number of multinational organisations, and describes some of the challenges in achieving collaboration between HR and OSH functions within multinational organisations given their size and structural complexity. We discuss the shared responsibility model for employee mental health, and Daniela describes the issue of self-stigma, where individuals are supportive of others seeking mental health help but feel unable or unwilling to do so themselves. We then talk about mental health indicators, and Daniela shares with us some interesting and unexpected data sources.

In this episode we chat with Dr Richard Claydon, Chief Cognitive Officer at EQ Lab. Richard introduces the concept of impression management as a workplace psychosocial hazard. Richard describes how the increasing complexity of work combined with more regular work from home creates a constant drive for impression management, which can lead to burn out, depression, anxiety, and a range of other adverse health outcomes. Richard then goes on to describe different strategies and approaches that organisations and individuals can implement to reduce the drivers for impression management, improve productivity, and develop leaders who are effective rather than leaders who are "performers" (in the theatrical sense of the word).

In this episode we chat with Bob Stenhouse, Principal Director of Veritas Solutions. Bob shares his experiences of being an undercover operative with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, including posing as a contracted hitman, and what it was like to be a whistleblower before there were legal protections in place. We then talk about how best to conduct an investigation into workplace psychosocial hazards. Bob emphasises the need for a trauma-informed approach to such investigations, in particular for claims of assault, harassment, and bullying.

In this crossover episode with the Melius Performance Podcast, co-host Jason van Schie chats with Dr Ian Dunican about a broad range of workplace mental health matters. Jason speaks to concerns from the perspective of the employer and the employee, describes the shared responsibility model for workplace mental health, debunks misconceptions, and challenges misapplication of some of the more popular wellbeing approaches.