Workplace Mental Health First Response
Overview
Mental health is a critical issue affecting Australian workplaces, communities and individuals. Approximately one in 5 Australians experience a mental health issue annually, significantly impacting wellbeing, safety and workforce productivity. This project will develop up to 4 units of competency to enable workers to recognise early signs of mental health distress, provide appropriate immediate support and help with referral to professional services..
Set Up
Background
The cost of untreated mental health conditions to Australian businesses exceeds $10 billion each year, highlighting the urgent need for improved mental health literacy and early intervention capabilities across all sectors (Mental Health First Aid Australia, 2023).
This project aligns with emerging work health and safety regulatory requirements relating to psychosocial hazards, which place increasing obligations on employers to identify, manage and mitigate risks such as work-related stress, bullying, high job demands and exposure to traumatic events. These reforms highlight the need for workers and supervisors to have practical skills to recognise and respond to psychosocial risks early, supporting prevention and compliance within workplace safety frameworks.
In addition, several Jobs and Skills Councils identified the need for nationally endorsed training for workplace mental health first responders during their 2025 workforce planning activities. They agreed that HumanAbility was best placed to develop the nationally endorsed training products to meet this need.
The provision of nationally endorsed training products will contribute towards:
- establishing standardisation to ensure consistency, quality and credibility of mental health first response training across sectors
- improved accessibility, facilitating widespread adoption of mental health first response skills and particularly benefiting underserved regional, rural and remote communities
- enhancinge workforce skills and equipping the Australian workforce with essential capabilities to address mental health crises promptly and effectively
- supporting national mental health policy and aligning vocational training outcomes with objectives outlined in Australia’s Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.
This is an 18-month project that is expected to be completed by January 2028.
Project Scope
This project will develop up to 4 units of competency focused on equipping workers with the skills to recognise early signs of mental health distress, provide appropriate immediate support and facilitate referral to professional services.
The units will be designed to enable flexible contextualisation across industries, workforce settings, cohorts, including regional and remote communities.
Information Sessions
Join our upcoming Workplace Mental Health First Response Information session, which will provide an overview of the review process, the factors influencing the proposed changes, implementation timeframes, available support resources, and opportunities to ask questions. It is designed for schools, RTOs, teachers and other stakeholders involved in delivering school-aged education and training.
Session 1
Date: Thursday 12 November 2026
Time: 2 pm - 3 pm (AEDT)
Location: Microsoft Teams
Session 2
Date: Friday 13 November 2026
Time: 1 pm - 2 pm (AEDT)
Location: Microsoft Teams
How to get involved
To get involved and participate in consultations, subscribe to project updates.
Project Governance and Consultation Strategy
Each project is overseen by a Project Manager who works with a core team to undertake the day-to-day project activities. A Technical Committee is established to support development work and provide advice, and a Consultation Strategy is developed to identify key stakeholder groups and outline engagement activities.