Australia's Mental Health

How are you today, RUOK?

RUOK day has arrived with impeccable timing, in the last two months alone the Australian government has tightened up rules for the mental health of our nation.

This week the Prime Minister announced a ban for kids, ideally below 16, from using social media due to mental health concerns. Not only this but in August, a new law came into effect that allowed eligible employees the “right to disconnect” outside of work hours.

With all of this going on around us, I picked up Jonathan Haidt's new book “The Anxious Generation” which dives into research both in the US and globally on the great rewiring of childhood. We often complain about how children don't learn outdoors anymore, or take risks. The decline in this has increased since 2010 with smartphones and social media advancements dramatically altering how young people see themselves and develop relationships.

The rates of anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses have increased by over 100% since 2010 amongst US University students and the numbers are very similar in Australia.

With the addition of the pandemic and Covid lockdowns, particularly in Melbourne, we can see clearly that we have a genuine mental health crisis in our country.

As a parent of 4 kids aged between 17 and 23, I see first-hand the struggles this generation is having that people my generation have never experienced. Smartphones and social media are part of the problem, combined with a change in the way kids were parented during the 90s & 2000s, where kids were less likely to play unsupervised or learn from taking risks.

As an employer of many from the Anxious Generation, what expectations can we place on them in the workplace and how can we support them in building workplace relationships when they are struggling with building deep connections as opposed to “likes”?

As a franchisee of a wellness studio in our local Mornington Peninsula community, I keep questioning, how can we support our kids, employees, other teens and early adults to manage the transition offline into the paid work world with compassion, care & support, yet still run profitable businesses?

Of course, I’m not qualified to answer any of these questions, but on RUOK Day, I hope each of you can offer to support your franchisees, your HQ team, your families and importantly yourself and we can turn around the alarming trends of suicide, self-harm & mental illness quickly.

Tonight a group of my mates are heading out to celebrate the most challenging, but rewarding role we have in life, that of a dad. We are going to catch up over a random sport, a Corn Hole Tournament, celebrate Father’s Day (yes a little late!) have a few drinks, and a few laughs and raise some money for Men’s Health via Movember.

Today is the day to reach out to your mates, your franchisees, and your staff and just check that all is ok.

Cheers,

Bruce McFarlane

CEO, BDC Partners

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