Stronger Together: Mental Health and Wellbeing Conversations

A one-day mental health & wellbeing conference strengthening peer support, trauma-informed practice, lived experience, and pathways to care. Stronger Together is a one-day mental health and wellbeing conference focused on peer support, trauma-informed practice, lived experience and pathways to care. The program brings together presenters from across mental health, workplace wellbeing, advocacy, domestic and family violence response, youth support, neurodivergent lived experience, burnout recovery, psychosocial risk and practical peer support. Across three streams — Learning Dialogue, Monday-Ready Skills, and Lived & Living Experience Stories — participants will explore how to notice distress earlier, respond more safely, and connect people to support without leaving peers, practitioners or workplaces to carry the load alone. At its heart, Stronger Together asks a simple but important question: How do we notice distress earlier, respond more safely, and connect people to the right support before they are left carrying it alone? This is not a conference about turning peers into therapists. It is about strengthening the conversations, systems, skills and human connections that help people stay supported, safe and connected — in workplaces, communities and practice settings. Trauma and cumulative stress don’t end when the incident does. They echo—often surfacing months or years later as moral injury, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, relationship strain, substance misuse, suicidality, and workforce attrition. Peer support is a proven early-response lever, but it works best when it’s skilled, culturally safe, and institutionally scaffolded—not left to chance or goodwill alone. Hosted by AAMHP, a common theme on on the day borrows from the spirit of the R U OK? conversation model (Ask • Listen • Encourage action • Check in), and exploring what it looks like when that approach is strengthened through peer-to-peer practice and backed by institutions, clinical pathways, and qualified support. Peer support isn’t an abstract concept it’s what happens when people who’ve carried the load for others find a safe place to belong again. ​The AAMHP is proud to partner with a growing network of providers across the mental health, education, training and professional development space. Together, we share a commitment to practical, trauma-informed support that strengthens peer capability while also ensuring people can be connected to qualified help when needed. ​This partnership approach reflects the purpose of Stronger Together: peer support works best when it is not left to chance. It is most effective when it is backed by clear pathways, supervision options, professional standards, and a wider ecosystem of care so peers can show up with confidence, boundaries, and real follow-through. ​If your organisation provides training, supervision, clinical services, peer workforce support, or wellbeing capability-building, we welcome partnership conversations that strengthen the quality and reach of this event. Conference goals Name it: Demystify delayed and vicarious trauma across the four target cohorts. • Skill it: Give delegates practical, evidence-aligned peer-conversation skills inspired by R U OK?—adapted for high-risk settings. • Scaffold it: Show what good institutional support looks like (policies, supervision, duty of care, data, referral pathways). • Connect it: Build cross-sector relationships, peer networks, and a shared language. • Move it: Leave with ready-to-use tools, micro-protocols, and an implementation checklist for Monday. Why this conference, why now? We’re excited to confirm that our Master of Ceremonies for the day is Richard Hill (MA, MEd, MBMSc, DPC) an experienced psychotherapist, educator and author known for making complex ideas about the brain, stress and wellbeing feel practical, human, and usable. Richard brings warmth, clarity and momentum to conversations that matter, with a strong focus on how people change, heal, and grow through connection. ​We can also confirm the following presenters who will be contributing on the day, including:​ • Matt Newlands, - former South Australia Police officer, registered counsellor, speaker and Co-Founder of Frontline Mental Health • Martin Taylor - Legal Counsel for AAMHP; Councillor of the City of Whittlesea; and Barrister and Solicitor (Supreme Court and High Court Australia) • Philip Armstrong - AAMHP CEO and principal of Man Counsellor • Richard Hill - MA, MEd, MBMSc, DPC The Australian Association of Mental Health Practitioners (AAMHP) represents and supports vocationally trained mental health practitioners across Australia, strengthening practice, advocacy, professional development, and pathways to safe, accessible care. What will be explored across the day Rather than a narrow conference focused on one workforce or one issue, Stronger Together brings together a broad range of topics that reflect the real complexity of mental health and wellbeing work today. The program will explore: • trauma-informed responses and creating safety in moments of distress • the skill of responsiveness, presence and listening in real time • stress, burnout, compassion fatigue and sustainable professional wellbeing • domestic and family violence, including working safely with victim-survivors and with clients who may be using violence • psychosocial risk, workplace duty of care, and what happens when referral alone is not enough • young people, online sexual content, digital literacy and trusted adult conversations • neurodivergent masking, sensory load, burnout and the hidden cost of “looking fine” • mindful self-awareness, emotional regulation and moving from autopilot to choice • advocacy, human rights, community connection and systems change • creative tools for getting unstuck, rebuilding purpose and sustaining helping work The day is designed to be practical, thoughtful and human — with space to learn, reflect, practise and connect. The three conference streams 1. Learning Dialogue This stream creates space for thoughtful, grounded discussion about trauma, distress, burnout, moral complexity, advocacy, workplace responsibility and the changing mental health landscape. Across the day, presenters will explore how distress can emerge long after the original exposure; how safety, calm and responsiveness can be created in difficult moments; how advocacy can bridge gaps between systems and communities; and how workplaces must think beyond simple referral to EAP when psychosocial risk is present. This stream is ideal for people who want to deepen their understanding of trauma-informed practice, mental health and wellbeing reform, peer support, workplace duty of care, and the broader ecosystem of care. 2. Monday-Ready Skills This stream focuses on practical skills that participants can take back to work, practice and community settings immediately. Sessions will explore how to respond when someone is overwhelmed, burnt out, unsafe, stuck, disclosing violence, masking distress, or navigating complex digital, relational or workplace stress. Participants can expect practical language, reflective tools, peer conversation skills, approaches to emotional regulation, strategies for responding to disclosure, and ways to create safer pathways to support. This is the “what do I do next?” stream — designed for practitioners, peer supporters, supervisors, educators, team leaders, workplace wellbeing staff and anyone who wants usable tools rather than theory alone. 3.