Samaritans Foundation uses National Communications Charter to support staff mental wellness

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought with it an importance for organisations to consider the mental health impacts on their staff and the communities they serve.

Last year, Samaritans Foundation signed the National Communications Charter (The Charter). The Life in Mind team asked them to share some of the measures they’ve put in place for staff to maintain their mental wellness during these uncertain times.

Samaritans Head of Communications, Liz Baker explained how The Charter has helped to frame the way the organisation shares information on mental health through its various communications channels. 

“As part of the Samaritans implementation of The Charter, we updated our social media guidelines to ensure we’re providing relevant help-seeking information to staff following our pages, as well as our community. This information is shared through Samaritans private Facebook groups as well as on public-facing pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn,” Mrs Baker said. 

“As Samaritans has responded to COVID-19 we’ve worked closely with our People and Culture team to shape communications to highlight wellness practices, particularly where staff have been required to change their work routines,” she said.

Recently, Samaritans shared resources from the National Mental Health Commission’s #InThisTogether campaign across its social media pages as well. The team has also been mindful to ensure mental health and wellness resources, as well as easy-read options, are available to communities we support.

Samaritans' latest wellness initiative was a digital resource pack encouraging staff to maintain wellness when working either from home or on the frontline. The pack included links to the Black Dog Institute’s self-care plan template and weekly personal mental health check-in resource, Beyond Blue’s 10 ways to take care of yourself during Coronavirus and Lifeline’s tips and supports for mental health, among others. 

For more information on the work and resources Samaritans provides to Australian communities please see their profile here

You can also access a range of resources supporting mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19 or the recent bushfires, via our resources page here.