The Xfactor Collective Foundation, Dunoon and District Gazette

New support to improve the mental health of people working in social and community sector organisations will be available in the seven flood-impacted local government areas of Northern Rivers NSW.

Individuals working or volunteering in not-for-profit groups, community organisations, charities, committees and other groups in any of these seven Northern Rivers Local Government Areas affected by floods in February and March 2022 – Richmond Valley, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Lismore, Tweed, Ballina and Byron – will be able to access training and support.

Thanks to funding from the NSW Government, through the Department of Communities and Justice, The Xfactor Collective Foundation will provide free access to at least three days of mental health and trauma training, plus resources for frontline responders and local community leaders.

The Supporting Frontline Responders in Northern Rivers NSW project began in October 2022, working collaboratively with local leaders on the ground to design practical sessions that address locally prioritised needs, and will continue through to June 2023.

Local Ballina woman and Founder of The Xfactor Collective Foundation, Julia Keady, applied for funding for the project through the NGO Flood Grant Program, an initiative of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

“I’ve seen first-hand the impact that the floods have had on our community and frontline responders – especially coming as they did on top of drought, then fires and the pressures of COVID – and I knew that the need for mental health support would be significant.

“That was reinforced last week at a meeting with local charities. We heard comments like, ‘We have staff leaving the sector now from burning out. It’s just too hard’; ‘We are doing a one-handed doggie paddle just to keep up’…

“We have also seen a number of organisations locally become the ‘accidental responder’ or ‘accidental counsellor’ and without formal training in vicarious or frontline trauma, they are experiencing lingering impacts on their mental health and wellbeing.

“Having worked in the social sector for many years, I’ve seen the almost normalised acceptance of this kind of burnout and mental ill-health across the social sector – a sector that is always on the frontline when disasters and pandemics strike. That’s why we established the Foundation, which is Australia’s only charity with a focus on the mental health of those who work in the social sector.

“There is also very little support tailored for the social sector, so we are building the Social Sector Wellbeing and Resilience Hub, thanks to the support of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. While it’s yet to launch, we have already reviewed, curated and developed resources and training that are very relevant for our Northern Rivers communities, and will be giving Northern Rivers organisations priority access to the Hub in early 2023,” Ms Keady said.

All of the training and services offered through the program are mapped to the Hub’s trauma-informed mental health and resilience framework, which is based on a six-pillar cycle of wellbeing: Prevent, Protect, Educate, Enhance, Crisis and Recovery.

Organisations will be able to access in-person and online training and services. The training on offer will include:

Resilient Responders: For staff and volunteers working on the frontline with traumatised individuals, teaching them strategies to prevent and overcome workplace PTSD
(vicarious trauma)

Empowering Conversations: The sequel to Resilient Responders, this involves training frontline responders in brief conversational interventions to help prevent and resolve trauma in their clients.

Workplace Wellbeing Strategy: A prevention-focussed workshop for boards, committees of management, teams, general managers and CEOs to develop a Workplace Wellbeing Plan on a Page for 2023, and to review and improve the policies and practices to ensure psychologically healthy and safe workplaces.

All organisations will also receive early and priority access to
the Social Sector Wellbeing & Resilience Hub from January 2023. Northern Rivers organisations will also be provided with access to online self-paced learning modules on the above areas to support those who miss the live training, and/or want to upskill their teams and volunteers throughout 2023. In addition, participants can access free video resources from the Foundation’s Social Sector Video Library, which includes videos on wellbeing, volunteering, leadership, culture and much more.

Those seeking more information can register for one of three online information sessions, taking place between November 2022 and January 2023. Training will start in January 2023.

More information on the Supporting Frontline Responders in Northern Rivers NSW can be found at: https://xfactorcollective. com/foundation-resources/northern-rivers-nsw-special-project

This article appeared in the Dunoon and District Gazette, December 2022-January 2023.