Townsville was the first city in Australia, under the auspice of the Tropical Brain and Mind Foundation (TBMF), to take up the Mentally Healthy City challenge to support population-wide mental health and well-being. Mentally Healthy City Townsville (MHCT) aims to strengthen and nurture an environment where citizens live, work, play, thrive, and flourish.
Mental Health and well-being is everyone’s business.
MHCT in collaboration with local communities will work together to facilitate and support the following Eleven (11) Charter actions to drive social changes that will encourage mental health and well-being, promote social inclusion, and reduce stigma. MHCT will engage with local:
First Nations and Cultural and Linguistically Diverse Peoples and other identified community groups to achieve an understanding of how they experience mental health and well-being, through ethnic, religious, gendered, sexual identity, and through the social experience of poverty, inequality, and disenfranchisement.
Older persons, agencies and advocacy groups to discuss access to community well-being programs and activities to reduce loneliness and increase social inclusion and well-being.
Organisations for the homeless and imprisoned to encourage and invite lived experience discussions to enhance mental health and well-being support.
Places of worship to discuss how they support community inclusion, mental health and well-being in their communities.
Universities, TAFE, schools, and early childhood education centres to discuss how current organisational policies, procedures and leadership guidance documents build mental health and well-being.
Community organisations and groups to discuss how current policies, procedures and leadership guidance documents informed by lived experience, encourage community inclusion, mental health and well-being.
Employers to discuss how current operational activities and leadership guidance documents encourage workplace diversity, inclusion, mental health and well-being.
Trade union peak body to discuss how mentally health workplace policies, procedures and leadership guidance documents encourage workplace diversity, inclusion, mental health and well-being.
Art galleries to discuss the possibility of focussing on the diversity of mental health and well-being lived experience journeys in our communities.
Communities to participate in an annual event during Mental Health Week to promote mental health and well-being, diversity, social connection, and stigma reduction.
Social, print, and other media agencies to promote and showcase lived experience of mental health and well-being to the broader community through positive and encouraging narratives, and promotion of related activities and events.
