About ASA Wellbeing Advocates Committee
The ASA Wellbeing Advocates Committee (WAC) is dedicated to upholding the personal health and welfare of ASA members, associates, and their families. Together, we are committed to promoting the wellbeing and overall wellness of our ASA community.
The WAC Tasmanian position is currently vacant. To submit an expression of interest to become the Tasmanian Representative, please contact ASA Wellbeing Secretariat Ms. Sue Donovan sdonovan@asa.org.au
From the ASA Wellbeing Committee Chair: Dr Lan-Hoa Le
As elected Chair of the ASA Wellbeing Advocates Committee, I thank the Society and WAC members, Council, and the Board for their invaluable support.
Our past President, Dr Suzi Nou handed over her role as the ASA executive representative on the Wellbeing Special Interest Group (SIG) Tripartite to me. Dr Nou was also a previous Chair of the Long Lives, Healthy Workplaces initiative of the Wellbeing SIG and Everymind. I would like to sincerely express my thanks to her and peers for their work.
Resources
Peer support
The WAC runs a various Hand-n-Hand Peer Support facilitator training workshops across the year.
This October, ASA are hosting Wellbeing Facilitator workshops for ASA Members interested in Peer-to-Peer Support Facilitator Training.
- ASA Wellbeing Facilitators Workshop
Get Tickets 8 October 2024 7:30pm
- ASA Peer Support Facilitators Training
Get Tickets 29 October 2024 6:30pm
Peer support provides a safe and private space for emotional and well-being assistance. Peer support is:
• Between peers and is a supportive one to one or group experience
• Designed to allow facilitators and participants to be equals, sharing similar experiences
• Voluntary, opt-in and opt-out anytime
• Not involving clinical psychiatric treatment
• Not a mentor to mentee dynamic, nor supervisory role dynamic
• Supported by evidence as a pre-clinical mental health intervention
Join ASA Peer Support Confidential Database, which connects peer support seekers with trained facilitators
Looking for training to become a facilitator? Click here to find the next workshop.
Long Lives, Healthy Workplaces
The Long Lives Healthy Workplaces toolkit is designed for anaesthetists to help create mentally healthy workplaces so they can reduce risks and stress load in the workplace, improve mental health and general wellbeing, build social connections among peers and develop action plans to support good mental health and the prevention of suicide.
The toolkit provides tips to support five strategies that will:
Improve the culture of medicine to increase wellbeing and reduce stigma.
Improve the training and work environment to reduce risk.
Improve capacity to recognise and respond to those needing support.
Better support anaesthetists and trainees impacted by mental ill-health and suicide.
Improve leadership, coordination, data and information on the health and wellbeing of our profession.
Long Lives, Healthy Workplaces is an initiative of the Welfare of Anaesthetists Special Interest Group and Everymind, with support from the ASA and The Prevention Hub.
We are pleased to present this toolkit to support better mental health and wellbeing for anaesthetists and anaesthetic trainees.
The development of this toolkit was guided by a national steering committee, chaired by Dr Tracey Tay (Specialist Anaesthetist and Director, Perioperative Service at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, NSW). The committee included the following specialists from around Australia: Drs Prani Shrivastava (Anaesthetist, WA); Suzi Nou (Anaesthetist, VIC); Jane McDonald (Anaesthetist, NSW); Greg Downey (Anaesthetist, NSW); Shirley Prager (Psychiatrist, VIC); and Marion Andrew (Anaesthetist, WA). Other members of the Steering Committee include Jaelea Skehan (Director, Everymind) and Sally Fitzpatrick (Project Lead, Mental Health and Research, Everymind).
Share or Request other wellbeing activities
Contact:
- ASA Wellbeing Secretariat Ms. Sue Donovan sdonovan@asa.org.au
- ASA Wellbeing Chair Dr. Lan- Hoa Lê ASA wellbeing_chair@asa.org.au