Hey there staff. Your mental health and wellbeing is the focus of new Thriving @ Flinders initiative.
You won’t be tested on this, but my job as the eMental Health Project Officer is to:
“…. enhance student mental health at Flinders University by utilizing digital channels like blogs, email, Canvas, and Teams to deliver accessible, evidence-based tools and resources. This position combines a broad range of activities to promote mental wellbeing, manage stress, and foster a healthier campus environment. Through the evolving eMental Health Strategy, launched in 2017, I work to integrate mental health support into digital platforms, advocate for policy improvements, and align efforts with broader university wellbeing initiatives.”
Or at least, that is what AI thinks my role is, having read a bunch of documents about what I do.
90% of what I do is focused on students, but if I am honest, I would love the freedom to focus on everyone in the Flinders community: staff, students and stakeholders.
When it comes to topics like mental health and wellbeing, it would be great if we could be having an all-of-community discussion, rather than working in staff and student siloes.
But that is a topic for another day.
What is fantastic to see is that, siloed or not, both the student and staff wellbeing environments are improving.
For example, a recent and pleasing development in the staff space with regards to health and wellbeing is the recent soft launch of Thriving @ Flinders
Staff should now find, in their emails, monthly newsletters titled ‘Thriving @ Flinders’, alerting staff to wellbeing focused activities, events, services and opportunities.
I think this is really going to help centralise awareness of staff-focused wellbeing content.
If you are a student, reading this thinking ‘ok, that’s great but what about us?’ a student focused wellbeing brand and initiative is in the works and I will keep you posted here on the blog.
I feel like 2025 is going to be a great year for both staff and students, learning and sharing how we work in a demanding and ever-changing space, whilst still keeping our sanity intact.
If you are a staff member and want to connect with the Thriving team, email them on thriving@flinders.edu.au
