New resources support mental health promotion

The Department of Health has released new resources to support professionals in Victoria who promote positive mental health.

One of the new resources is a mental health promotion website. The website focuses on mental health promotion actions for well and at-risk populations and is designed to provide a gateway to mental health promotion activities and resources managed by the department.

Included on the new website is an online forum and policy guide.

The MHpro online forum brings together people who deliver, research, or evaluate mental health promotion activities by providing an online space to share information and ideas, coordinate activities and promote upcoming events.

The Using policy to promote mental health and wellbeing guide introduces the key concepts of mental health promotion and encourages and enables Victorian policy makers to consider the social and environmental determinants of mental health when developing or reviewing policy.

Lee Barclay, Mental Health Promotion Manager, at the Department of Health said people who promote positive mental health belong to a diverse range of professions, some of whom are in the mental health or health promotion sectors, but many of whom work in other areas such as education and local government.

“The activities and policies that support the promotion of positive mental health need to occur in a broad range of programs and environments so the scope of the resources we are providing reflects the diversity of needs across multiple sectors,” Mr Barclay said.

For more information

To find out more go to the Mental Health promotion website or email the Mental Health Promotion team on mentalhealthpromotion@health.vic.gov.au.