Mental health advocates open door to community
Wimmera mental health advocates hope a guest presentation in Horsham next week will encourage a ‘paradigm shift’ to the way in which people consider health and wellness.
Non-profit group Healthy Minds Horsham will host leadership development facilitator, coach, mentor, speaker and author Cynthia Mahoney at Federation University’s Wimmera campus on Thursday night.
She will present on the topic of ‘the future of leadership’.
Ms Mahoney has a passion for personal disruption, neuroscience, positive psychology, courageous conversations, human performance and well-being.
She had an extensive career in the Victorian Department of Agriculture where she worked as a business improvement facilitator, farm management economist, agribusiness project manager and biosecurity program manager, among other roles, prior to starting her own consulting business.
Horsham Healthy Minds spokesman Rob Walter said Ms Mahoney’s message was a compelling and empowering one. Her book, called ‘Cultivate’, discusses how neuroscience and wellbeing can support leaders to thrive.
Ms Mahoney presented at a series of Wimmera Development Association and Leadership Wimmera workshops last year as the region, and its residents, navigated the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
“Cynthia has recognised a number of abnormal behaviours leaders exhibit that have become so entrenched in our culture that we erroneously believe they are normal – all the while contributing to our ill health,” Mr Walter said. “Our community’s mental and physical health continues to decline despite Royal Commissions and the best efforts of our medical profession. This decline is directly related to how we personally relate to one another in government, business, community and at home.”
Mr Walter said Ms Mahoney would discuss the mantra that ‘happier people are higher performing’.
“Cynthia talks about how burnout and toxic cultures come from pursuing high performance for its own sake and as a continual state of being. Cultivate allows for the outcome of high performance but also the outcomes of rest, well-being, learning and failure,” he said.
A complementary presentation from
Monash University associate professor Craig Hassed, in 2019, discussed the impacts of burnout – a consequence of chronic workplace stress now recognised by the World Health Organisation as an ‘occupational phenomenon’. He has widely discussed the positive impacts of meditation to reduce the effects of stress, which has now become core curriculum for new students.
Healthy Minds Horsham formed in 2010 in response to a spate of deaths by suicide in the region. It has hosted many opportunities since to increase people’s awareness of mental health and strategies to improve health and outcomes.
The presentation starts at 7.30pm; entry is via donation. Laneway Café will open at 6pm for people to purchase food prior to the event.