From awareness to action

Specialist expertise and an independent perspective

"We're good at catering, but we're not psychologists. To have access to psychologists through a funded workshop program is perfect."

For Truffleduck Director Hugh Palmer, the free Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program provided something the hospitality business didn't have in-house: specialist expertise and an independent perspective on workplace culture.

Across Victoria, other organisations have found similar value. At family violence response service Safe Steps, People, Culture and Wellbeing Director Gayle Antony says the organisation joined the program because "we owe our staff the commitment to wanting to keep getting better." At Marriott Support Services, the program arrived at a critical time, helping leaders understand how staff were navigating a major restructure.

Different organisations. Different challenges. But a shared goal: creating workplaces where people can thrive.

All have taken part in the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program - a free initiative helping small and medium-sized Victorian businesses identify and manage psychosocial risks, reduce the likelihood of mental injury and create mentally healthy, high-performing workplaces.

Delivered by AP Psychology & Consulting Services in partnership with the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the program is funded through WorkSafe Victoria's Return to Work Innovations. Through practical tools, expert guidance and tailored support, it helps businesses identify psychosocial risks and create healthier, safer workplaces.

Now, following a successful first year, WorkSafe has signed on for a second year of delivery - a strong endorsement of a program that is already helping workplaces across the state turn awareness into action.

Building capability across Victoria

The real measure of the program is what happens after businesses sign up. For participating organisations, it has provided an opportunity to step back, listen to employees and take a closer look at the factors shaping psychological health and safety at work.

At Safe Steps, the program provided an opportunity to benchmark existing wellbeing supports and identify new ways to support staff regularly exposed to trauma.

"We can't remove the trauma they hear every day. What we can do is put in the scaffolding to help them cope with it," Antony says.

At Marriott Support Services, the program helped leaders better understand the impact of organisational change and ensure future actions reflected what employees were actually experiencing.

"People have been hurting and they want to see outcomes. We've said to them that we're working with WorkSafe, we want people to understand that we're accountable," says Senior Manager People Safety and Wellbeing Athena Madams.

For social enterprise Fruit2Work, which creates employment opportunities for people impacted by the justice system, the value was having a practical way to understand whether workplace improvements were actually making a difference.

Fruit2Work founder Rob Brown believed mentally healthy workplaces are never "finished". For him, the value of the program wasn't just identifying improvements - it was having a way to measure whether those improvements were working.

And at Truffleduck, the process helped validate what leaders were already seeing in a business where employees were choosing to stay and build long-term careers.

"If another small business thinks their people seem happy, my advice is that there's always more to understand," says Business Manager Deb Nash.

The breadth of organisations taking part is reflected in the program's reach. Between September 2025 and May 2026, the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program engaged 384 businesses, delivering 220 Psychosocial Risk Assessments, 177 Discovery Sessions and 147 tailored Action Plans. Overall, 91 per cent of participating organisations reported positive satisfaction with their involvement in the program.

For AP Psychology & Consulting founder and CEO Arthur Papagiannis, the high level of engagement reflects a clear demand for practical support in managing psychosocial risks across a wide range of industries.

"We're seeing organisations from health, disability services, professional services, hospitality, manufacturing - and all these businesses are grateful because they often don't have internal health and safety support, so it's a great opportunity for them to get help with managing psychosocial risks."

Papagiannis says the program's strength lies in its focus on preventing harm at its source.

"When we focus only on wellbeing programs, we're not tackling the root cause of what's driving harm. We're helping people cope, but we're not fixing what's causing the stress."

Instead, the program starts further upstream, looking at work design, management practices and systems. Participating organisations are supported to identify psychosocial hazards, assess the risks associated with them and implement practical controls to reduce harm. By addressing the causes of work-related mental injury, businesses can create safer, healthier and more productive workplaces.

"Creating a psychologically healthy workplace improves morale and productivity. We see more innovation and creativity as well, because people aren't operating in fight-or-flight mode."

Why WorkSafe is backing a second year

According to Christina Smith, Director of Return to Work Innovations, Mentally Healthy Workplaces has become one of the program's flagship pilots and reflects the kind of practical innovation the $50 million initiative was established to support.

"The program helps small and medium-sized businesses identify psychosocial hazards and implement practical action plans to create healthier, safer workplaces. The strong response shows there's clear demand for this type of support in the community."

For Smith, the benefits extend beyond prevention. Mentally healthy workplaces also play an important role in helping injured workers recover and return to work successfully.

"Recovery after a workplace injury can feel isolating. When you're disconnected from your workplace and peers, that can impact your overall wellbeing and ultimately your recovery and return to work journey."

That's why prevention matters.

"We know that an employer's levels of understanding around an individual's needs during recovery can have a huge impact on that worker's ability to return to work successfully."

Looking ahead

As the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program enters its second year, the focus will shift towards expanding participation, strengthening implementation support and helping more Victorian businesses embed psychologically safe work practices.

For Papagiannis, the opportunity extends well beyond organisations experiencing significant challenges.

"You don't have to be broken. You don't have to have a significant amount of psychosocial challenges in the workplace. You can already be operating well and want to continue to strengthen that."

That's exactly what businesses such as Truffleduck, Fruit2Work and Marriott set out to do. Each joined the program for different reasons, but all used it to better understand their people, challenge assumptions and identify practical improvements.

As the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program enters its second year, that focus on continuous improvement is likely to remain one of its biggest strengths.

Fruit2Work founder Rob Brown believed the real value of the program wasn't simply identifying issues - it was creating a way to measure whether actions were making a difference.

"Having a tool that allows you to measure progress is where the power is - that ability to have a checkpoint. If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else."

For Brown, measurement creates accountability.

"That's the value in it for me - to have a tool for saying, well, we've agreed to all these actions. We think we've done them - but has it actually created an impact? Because without that, you're just throwing darts at a board wearing a blindfold!"

This initiative is funded through the $50 million Return to Work Innovations program to support recovery and return to work.

Explore case studies here: Return to Work Innovations: Pilots | WorkSafe Victoria

For more information, and to register your interest in the program, visit: Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program - AP Psychology and Consulting