In late February’s webinar, we diverted from a flurry of regulatory webinars that kick-started 2025 and focused on to focus on a topic that affects many in our industry: mental health.
Belinda Elworthy, CEO of Gotcha4life, joined SCA (NSW) director Edwina Feilion and Matt Byrne from Express Glass, who are proud supporters of Gotcha4life and SCA (NSW), to discuss the tools for building emotional muscles, which are essential to helping us cope with life’s ups and downs.
Did you brush your teeth today?
Healthy dental habits are drilled into us from an early age, forming a daily habit. We know the outcomes of this and the repercussions of not doing it.
Belinda spoke about the need for a similar approach to your mental health and normalising building your mental fitness. Strengthening those invisible emotional muscles with some attention and effort, and help us cope with life’s ups and downs.
“50% of us will suffer a significant mental health challenge in our life time”
Belinda focused on the three, evidence-based, protective factors that are effective in building out mental fitness:
- Don’t worry alone
- Embrace your village
- Build your emotional Muscles
- Don’t worry alone – a problem shared is a problem half-solved
- Ask yourself. ‘What’s a worry you’ve been holding onto that you could share with a trusted friend?’
- Help-Seeking Behaviour
- Share with a trusted friend
- Many people don’t reach out for help because:
- The perceived stigma of speaking out and asking for help
- The idea that I should be able to figure this out by myself
- Seeking support is a lack of strength
- Embrace your village
- Social Connectedness
- Reaching out to your village – your go-to people
- Build and maintain meaningful relationships
- Step you can do today. Think about the people who are in your village
- Connect with them on a deeper level in the next week
- Build your emotional muscles
- Emotional Adaptability
- Ability to understand and navigate your emotions in real life
- The what, the why and the how of your feelings
- Recognising your emotions, what triggers them, how they show up in your body and how to respond.
- Emotional Adaptability
Gotcha4Life Mental Fitness Gym
Finding time and resources to start your mental fitness journey may seem daunting. That’s why Gotcha4Life built the Mental Fitness Gym.
The Gotcha4Life Mental Fitness Gym offers practical resources to enable and inspire individuals on their journey to build their mental fitness and wellness. Free to join, the online platform will extend the reach of our tools and resources to more people, in every part of the country. Simple exercises which can be integrated into anyone’s daily routine to form new habits, such as:
- 10 Mental Fitness Moments: Videos delivered by some familiar faces including Layne Beachley, Neal Whitaker, Maggie Dent and Hugh Mackay AO to name a few with different exercises to boost your mental fitness in 5 minutes or less.
- 7 Days of Connection Mental Fitness Workout: Delivered to your inbox/smartphone every day to inspire and remind you to take action.
- Mental Fitness Check In: Understand your mental fitness areas of strength and opportunities within minutes.
To Download the Mental Gym, head to the Gotcha4life website – Home – Gotcha4Life Mental Fitness Gym
For SCA (NSW) members, you can rewatch the webinar through your SCA (NSW) Education Centre – SCA (NSW) Education Centre
In an industry of inundation, SCA (NSW) encourages all of its members to take some time out of their day, download the app and start strengthening those emotional muscles.
Gotcha4life
Gotcha4Life is a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to building a mentally fit future. We develop and deliver preventative mental fitness campaigns, workshops, programs and resources in schools, sports clubs, workplaces and communities Australia-wide. Gotcha4Life was established by media personality Gus Worland in 2017.
Link: www.gotcha4life.org
Express Glass
For almost 40 years we’ve been getting things Done. Starting as a Sydney family business they’re now Australia’s leading emergency glass repairer. We’re Australian owned, proud glaziers with diverse skills, a national footprint and put exceptional customer service at the centre of everything we do.
At Express Glass, we are a national company with local expertise, employing and partnering with the best qualified and experienced glaziers Australia-wide. From large-scale projects to glass repairs, our team will ensure that your job is DONE. Meet some of the team members behind Express Glass across Australia.
Link: www.expressglass.com.au
