Wellbeing and Mental Health Support for Victorian Small Businesses

$26 million in wellbeing and mental health support for Victorian businesses.

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Program Overview

Through this program, Victorians dealing with the challenges of running a small business can get the mental health support they need to navigate through the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Current support under this program includes:

St John Ambulance Mental Health and Crisis Support Training
Partners in Wellbeing telephone hotline 1300 375 330 (9am to 10pm weekdays)
Provides one-to-one support to improve your wellbeing if you’re worried about your business, as well as free access to business advisers and financial counsellors.

Additional programs will be released soon with details available on this page.

For immediate access to mental health support, visit Mental health in business.

For Information on Wellbeing and Mental Health Support for Victorian Small Businesses - in languages other than English.

St John Ambulance Mental Health and Crisis Support Training

St John Ambulance accredited Mental Health and Crisis Support training is available to to one staff member from each council, and key members who hold positions at Chambers of Commerce, Business Associations or Business Networks.

The training will assist participants to:

build capabilities to support the local business community with wellbeing or mental health challenges
certify participants in a nationally recognised qualification in mental health first response
develop an awareness of the wellbeing and mental health support available for small business operators and other members of the community.

Further support

Mental health specialists will also be embedded in industry and business associations to provide members with immediate access to expert advisors and on-the-job training for staff to identify and respond to people in distress.

The Partners in Wellbeing telephone hotline has been expanded to provide business owners under stress with free access to business advisers and financial counsellors.

Its hours are 9am until 10pm weekdays and the service will soon be extended over weekends. If you are distressed or anxious about your business, please call Partners in Wellbeing at 1300 375 330.

Roll out of these support services is expected to continue until 2022, with demand and future conditions set to guide further services.

More information about these additional support services will be released soon with details available on this page.