National Initiatives & Activities Scan

An invitation to share your efforts and successes with us, big or small; we want to hear about it.

Equally Well

Equally Well, a collective of almost a hundred partner organisations across Australia is a movement for change. Since 2017, Equally Well has sought to improve the quality of life of people with a lived experience of mental health challenges. By promoting physical health and equity of access to physical health care as a priority and supporting increased coordination and collaboration between a diverse range of partner organisations, Equally Well aims to improve health and reduce the life expectancy gap between people with a lived experience of mental health issues and the general population.

What is the National Initiatives and Activities Scan?

The National Initiatives and Activities Scan is a way of painting a collective picture of all the work undertaken and underway to improve the physical health of people with a lived experience of mental health issues – your efforts, successes, ideas and works in progress. Only by identifying, sharing, and learning from a diversity of approaches together can we enhance how we work towards this common goal.

Our previous scans, in 2018 and 2019, showcased some 380 actions underway and 152 planned across the lifespan, focusing on a range of areas, including physical health screening and treatment, smoking cessation, medication and side effects, physical activity, social and community engagement and advocacy. These actions were driven and supported by committed peer workers, lived experience consultants, health professionals, researchers, project/policy officers and executive leadership.

Equally Well is all of us, we have done it before, and with your help, we can build on and exceed this work in 2022.

The scan also allows the Equally Well project team to reach out, strengthen existing relationships, build connections and showcase your work.

‘Equally Well is invested in supporting our partners, exploring and recognising their great activities and initiatives in this space and elevating this work through promotion, advocacy and connections that seek to spread best practice programs at both State and National levels.’

How you can make a difference

As a supporter of Equally Well, your voice matters. We want to continue to hear about the work you are doing, have done or are planning to do, big or small, to improve the physical healthcare of people living with mental illness. Participating in the initiatives and activities scan is an opportunity to highlight your work more broadly and help to build a sustainable movement for real change.

A scan gives us all an opportunity to:

Update our knowledge base of our partners and supporters’ great initiatives, activities, tools, resources and learnings. We are here to promote positive practice, not criticise.

Connect and renew our partnerships and establish relationships with new lived experience, clinical, research, and management leadership we want to welcome to this area.

Understand what programs have endured/demonstrated sustainable practice, what growth opportunities exist and what areas might require more attention. We want to encourage an environment of opportunity for our partners to co-design, innovate and develop best practice initiatives and activities moving forward.

Identify and share ‘demonstrator’ or best practice projects and inspirational work, to link with similar initiatives across jurisdictions and sectors, including promotion through conferences/webinars/social media and communities of practice. They will also be shared on the Equally Well website, with your consent and authorisation.

Seek feedback about how Equally Well is doing and how we might best continue to support the work of individuals, organisations and jurisdictions moving forward.

How will the information about my project be shared?

We intend to house a summary of the initiatives, activities and programs being undertaken on the Equally Well website to share as a resource. The information will also be included in reports to our funding bodies, governments and other stakeholders interested in the impact of the work being undertaken. This is also an opportunity to identify programs and initiatives to promote at future Equally Well Symposiums.

Information Privacy

No information provided will be shared, released, or promoted without your organisation’s consent and authorisation. Equally Well will also adhere to any intellectual property rights protections in place.

How to take part in one easy step

Equally Well wants to make this process as easy as possible for you. We have set up a couple of choices for you to be able to contribute. Either book an online appointment with the Equally Well Team to have a one-on-one discussion where we will complete the survey together or complete the online survey yourself (we expect this will take approximately 20 minutes).

Request an Appointment

Complete the online survey yourself

Download/Print and complete yourself

View the questions before beginning the survey.

If you have questions before starting, please contact Eve West on mobile: 0400 629 896 or email: scan@equallywell.org.au.

‘Equally Well seeks to nurture and grow a diverse movement of organisations, representative bodies, teams and individuals, all aspiring to improve the physical health and wellbeing of people with a lived experience of mental health issues. The scan seeks to be a living document and tribute to those aspirations.’

Russell Roberts