Impact of Mental Health

Mental Health Impacts On our Community

Almost half of all Australians adults – 7.3 million people – will face mental ill-health at some point. 

It can affect anyone at any stage of life and can have a negative effect not just on your own life, but also on the people around you and your community.

Mental health affects how we think, feel and act.

It influences how we handle stress, how we relate to other people, and how we see ourselves and the world around us.

It shapes the choices we make throughout our lives and has an impact on our work, relationships, and even physical health.

The most common mental health concerns relate to:

• anxiety
• affective disorders, including depression
• substance use disorders, including alcohol use.

Each condition:

• has a variety of symptoms
• can be short or long term
• can affect people in different ways – some have mild symptoms, while others have severe symptoms that can lead to harm to themselves or others.

With the right support, you can manage and improve mental ill-health, and maintain your mental health.

The Impact of Suicide on Our Community

• Suicide has an enormous impact on our community.
• 9 people in Australia take their own life everyday.
• For each person who ends their own life about 200 people are affected, including family, friends, social clubs, work mates.
• Almost 1 in 4 sick days are due to mental health concerns.
• This means that suicide impacts more than 650,000 people each year.
  The annual cost to the Australian economy of lost productivity through absenteeism, is a staggering $33 billion.

Raising mental health resilience in our community can reduce these figures - leading to better outcomes -  for individuals, families, businesses, and for community productivity and wellbeing.