A parallel Australia - tackling mental health

They not only took this whole process of early intervention and treatment seriously, but they seemed to talk a lot more than we do about looking after their own mental health. They constantly talked of prevention, and of promoting good mental health and well-being. Spirituality seemed to be very high on the agenda - in the press, in daily workplace and in social conversations. Most workplaces I came across had their own programs for staff - yoga, meditation, prayer.

And the CEOs and managers I talked with in private, public, non-government sector workplaces seemed to walk their own talk. One told me it was no use doing yoga and meditation if you threw the employees back into a bullying bear pit on the workplace floor. Many told me not only did they actively looked after their own mental health, their own spirit every day, but that this was greatly beneficial to their roles in leadership and management of people, and profits.

They aimed for flexibility and acknowledged that all employees had families for whom they often needed to provide care. In particular, there was a common thread among those I spoke with that looking after the children of employees had become, metaphorically at least, a collective responsibility of their companies.

I keep reflecting on the difference. They were indeed a civil society. More than just civil though, they were amazingly friendly. And they were a lucky country, but then again they were more than lucky. They have worked out the big picture (equality, productivity, respect) as well as ensuring individuals had better skills and understanding of how to cope with mental disorders and to promote their own mental health. They had worked out (by intuition and then by verifiable, replicable studies) that treating each other well had a lot more than being just a religious teaching - it made good sense from a perspective of mental and physical health, safety and productivity.

And a last point. When I got back from my journey, lots of people asked who these people were and what they were like. I said that they were us.