Fortem mentor initiative lauded
Fortem Australia today celebrates 6 years of supporting first responders and their families, after being established on World Mental Health Day in 2019.
World Mental Health Day aims to raise global awareness of mental health issues while advocating for accessible mental health support services, and for Fortem, it’s also a moment to celebrate how far the organisation has come.
Fortem works tirelessly to support the mental health and wellbeing of first responders and their families, ensuring they can access support when they need it, while also breaking down stigma about reaching out for help.
The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day is ‘connect with your community’ – and Fortem has continually strived to show how powerful social connection and community can be in building strong mental health.
‘Every day, we help first responders connect with their families, their colleagues and others in the first responder community, while also helping to connect the broader community with first responders and the important of mental health and wellbeing support,’ says Fortem CEO, Michael Willing APM.
‘As an organisation, we have come a long way in 6 years – we have built a person-centred holistic program of mental health and wellbeing support that brings together psychological support, career management and social connection while continually working to improve mental health literacy. Those services have supported more than 21,000 first responders and family members, while helping to lift first responder mental health awareness right across the community.’
Since 2019, Fortem has:
- supported over 21,000 individual first responders and family members
- hosted 4,000 social connection and engagement activities
- delivered 9,400 psychological and counselling sessions
- provided career management services to 1,900 first responders
- opened a dedicated wellbeing hub in Western Australia
- expanded its outreach program to support regional, rural and remote Australia.
“That’s an incredible list of achievements for an organisation in its first 6 years, and its thanks to the dedication and passion of everyone at Fortem, both past and present, and the strength of the first responder community that we serve,” Mick said.
“I would like to thank everyone who’s been part of the journey so far. As well as our team, that includes the incredible first responders and their families who tirelessly support the community, first responder agencies, our generous funding partners, and, of course, the broader community.