Architects Mental Wellbeing Forum QLD/NT

24 February 2021

The QLD/NT Architects Mental Wellbeing Forum provides an update on recent activities, their plans for the year and an invitation to get involved.

Update – February 2021

Eight months after we held our inaugural Architect’s Mental Wellbeing Forum (AMWF) meeting online we were delighted to be able to gather for a Christmas breakfast meeting and talk face to face.

It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the journey of our AMWF group and the value we gained from being involved. A highlight was having Brian Clohessy from BVN share his journey at one of the meetings which inspired us all in our quest to support wellbeing in our own practices.

The AWMF was a channel that offered tremendous growth…

The general consensus from Forum participants was that it had been enormously valuable to connect regularly, share our knowledge and discuss our concerns and challenges. In a year of unimaginable challenges, the AWMF was a channel that offered tremendous growth in the way we as individuals and practices promote awareness and good habits to support the wellbeing of our most valuable resource – our people.

It was also very exciting to discuss some of our goals for 2021. These include:

  • Growing awareness of our Forum and increasing participation
  • Tailoring some ‘Wellbeing Toolkit’ resources to our local application
  • Hosting an event with a guest speaker(s)
  • Boosting our social media presence – we have created a AMWF LinkedIn group
  • Continue to share our stories and resources.

We invite you to get involved in the AMWF in 2021. Contact ACA – QLD/NT Executive Officer Louise Street at qld@aca.org.au.

Our next meeting will be at 9.30am on Wednesday, 21 April 2021 or join our LinkedIn group.

 


Update – September 2020

The QLD/NT group first met via video conference on 6 April. We found so much value in connecting and talking that we have continued to meet monthly since then via video conference. We aim to raise awareness of mental wellbeing and share knowledge, resources and stories in order to support and promote good practices and better workplace environments in our businesses.

The power of collective wisdom has been evident in our meetings so far, with practices sharing their wide-ranging experiences of such things as mental health first aid courses, employee assistance programs, staff wellbeing surveys and check-ins, and how practices are enabling good communication for remote and hybrid ways of working.

It has been very reassuring to discover that others are navigating similar challenges, and pooling our research and ideas has assisted all of us.

Architecture can be a very rewarding but stressful profession. Supporting good mental wellbeing in our practices is good for business, with happier, more productive staff providing better project outcomes and client experiences.

Working as an architect and running our practices has become even more challenging this year with COVID-related challenges such as remote working, isolation, and implementing COVID-safe work practices upon our return to the office and site. These challenges have made it more important than ever to focus on wellbeing support for our people.

Justine Ebzery