Last Friday I was delighted to be able to attend WayAhead’s Mental Health Matters Awards, to kick off Mental Health Month. It was great to be in the room with so many inspiring people focused on delivering quality mental health supports. Way Ahead’s theme for Mental Health Month this year is “Taking steps on your wellbeing journey”. I love how inclusive that theme is, and how it helps us all to think about the large and small steps we can take, and encourage others to take each day.
Contemplating where you want to head and then taking that next step towards it is an important part of mental health recovery journeys. Encouragement and support at the right time to take those steps can be what someone needs to start out and eventually achieve their goal. It is an important part of what Flourish Australia does.
One of the ways Flourish Australia encourages and supports people to take that next step is our Panorama Magazine, published in hard copy quarterly and on online monthly. Panorama has been a feature of our recovery-oriented supports for close to 30 years, written by people with lived experience by people with lived experience. It shares tips and ideas about personal recovery, and showcases many amazing of stories people tell us about their own recovery journeys.
People must find Panorama Magazine to be helpful because we estimate it reaches over 35000 across Australia and Internationally. And, Last Friday it won the Media and the Arts Award at the Mental Health Matters Awards – a great tribute to the many people who have contributed to and worked on Panorama over the years. Winning the award was a lovely way to start Mental Health Month, and to celebrate our 70th anniversary.
You can subscribe to receive a copy of Panorama Magazine on our website or by putting Panorama Magazine in your favourite search engine, or you can sign up for the monthly on-line version. You will absolutely learn something and be totally inspired if you do.
As we head into Mental Health Month Flourishing News highlights some of the activities we have planned including an Art Exhibition in Surry Hills and an on-line Let’s Do Lunch with the amazing Mary O’Hagan which will focus on lived experience leadership over the decades. We’ll also host our annual staff awards, the Flourishing Awards.
I am looking forward to the celebrations that exemplify taking those steps for wellbeing, as inspired by the theme.
Mark Orr
Chief Executive
