Nearly half of all Australians will experience some form of mental illness during their lifetime.¹

Mental Health Month was celebrated in the month of October in NSW. This awareness month encouraged all of us to think about our mental health and well-being, regardless of whether we may have a lived experience of mental illness or not. This month also gave us the opportunity to understand the importance of mental health in our everyday lives and encourages help seeking behaviours when needed.²

Passionate about supporting our local community and giving back, Central Coast Financial Planning Group were fortunate to learn about the Mental Health Month initiative organised by Stephanie, an Operations Assistant at the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre (FBJJC) located in Kariong.

To commemorate Mental Health Month, FBJJC held a photography exhibition displaying entries from the staff that represented one of four categories: “Joy”, “Sharing Happiness”, Love and Laughter” and “Mateship”.

Central Coast Financial Planning Group agreed to support the exhibition by sponsoring prizes for the winners of each category as well as best overall photo.

When asked why she decided to lead this initiative, Stephanie answered, “I decided to organise this exhibition in response to staff voicing their concerns about low morale in the workplace. In this environment our staff are often under different levels of stress and their mental health often suffers. Isolation has a huge impact on the well-being of people whose mental health isn’t as great as they’d like it to be and by talking about mental health issues, and organising this event I hope it will leave a positive impact on staff and encourage them to speak out when things aren’t great.”

CCFPG Director Matthew Simpson-Foster states, “As a business owned and operated by locals, our team is dedicated to giving back to Central Coast community as much as possible. We understand the effect that mental health can have on the community as a whole, especially in a high-pressure environment like The Department for Correctional Services. We are proud to be able to support those who seek to improve the lives of others.”