icare Foundation has contributed a $1.1m seed funding that will help promote mental health and wellbeing among small business owners and their staff.
The funding has been directed to the Hunter Institute of Mental Health and will be used for a new program that aims to find better ways on how to support the mental health and wellbeing of small business owners and their staff.
The program, one of the initiatives currently being developed by the NSW Government, will include an 18-month trial, open to more than 45,000 small businesses in the Hunter and Newcastle, and if successful, will be launched to small businesses state-wide.
icare Foundation chair Elizabeth Carr AM said small business owners face unique mental health risks which largely go unidentified.
“Our partnership with the Hunter Institute is just the beginning of a concerted push by icare to equip small business owners to identify, prevent, and manage employee mental health challenges earlier,” she said.
Commenting on the value of the initiative is treasurer Dominic Perrottet: “Nothing is more important for any business than making sure its employees are supported in their physical and mental wellbeing.
“Many larger organisations have the resources to support their staff, but managing mental health and wellbeing is just as important for smaller employers who may not have the same resources at their disposal,” he said.
Scot Macdonald, parliamentary secretary for the Hunter, also commented: “Having run a small business with my wife for 20 years, I can attest there simply aren't the resources within most of our enterprises to support business owners and their staff as best as possible.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of the Hunter region. Anything we can do to help the owners and the staff ensure they both have strong mental health is welcome.”
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