The Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH) are proud to announce the winners and finalists of the 2024 WA Mental Health Awards.
Minister's Award
Presented by: Minister for Mental Health, the Honourable Amber-Jade Sanderson
The Minister’s Award recognises a person who has displayed best practice in the mental health sector in the 2023 calendar year. The nominee has had a positive impact working with people living with mental health challenges in our community, including their families and carers.
Winner:
Brenda King: Brenda has made outstanding contributions throughout to mental health outcomes in the WA community, particularly in the remote regions of Halls Creek and Warmun, and postvention support she provides to community. In 2023, she travelled to the regions fortnightly to engage in individual supports, group support and community education. Her ongoing commitment and support have been enormously impactful in these remote and challenging locations. Her expertise and flexibility in engaging with Indigenous communities have paved the way for significant improvements in mental health awareness, education and support systems, and her inclusive and compassionate methods have set a benchmark for mental health support.
Finalists:
- Brenda King, Kimberley WA,
- Chris Harris, Mineral Resources
- Ann Kariuki, Mercycare, Mirrabooka
Lived experience Impact and Inspiration Award
Presented by: Western Australian Mental Health Commission
This award celebrates the outstanding contribution to mental health in WA that an individual who identifies as having a lived experience (consumer, carer or family member) has made to the community.
Winner:
Joanne Khan: Joanne has championed the viewpoint of First Nations people, particularly those with intersecting lived experiences across homelessness and mental health, and for her work with mental health consumer and lived experience reference groups and advisory committees. Joanne’s influence and positive input is having a huge impact and considerable ripple effect for the community, especially the many vulnerable people currently navigating social and health systems.
Finalists:
- Joanne Khan
- Misha Richardson, Bidi Wungen Kaat Centre
- Jon Eddy, Roses in the Ocean
Mental Health Employee or Volunteer Excellence Award
Presented by: Lotterywest
This award recognises an outstanding contribution to mental health in WA by an individual employed or volunteering within private, public or not-for-profit organisations.
Winner:
Landon Punch: Landon has been a strong positive influence in the West Pilbara region. His knowledge of the local community has been instrumental in helping mental health departments overcome barriers and engagement difficulties. His involvement in Aboriginal social emotional and wellbeing, mental health prevention and aftercare, combined with his knowledge of how to support with people with a disability, allow him to advocate alongside mental health professionals and use his network to provide vital, at times lifesaving, information and connections. When supporting others, Landon provides a lived experience approach complemented by an informed respected pathways learned from his Elders.
Finalists:
- Lisa Burgess
- Ben Shannahan
- Landon Punch
Innovation in Service Delivery Award
Presented by: Youth Focus
This award recognises a person, team or organisation operating in the Mental Health sector who has developed new or innovative approach to service delivery improving the lives of people with lived experience of mental health challenges.
The new approach has been trialed, tested and found to be a solution which has improved the outcomes from the perspective of people with lived experience of mental health challenges. The innovation may be in relation to an approach or process which may have been prompted by feedback from people with a mental health challenge, families or carers or be a result of co-design with people with a mental health challenge.
Winner:
Enhanced Services Delivery Project, Ruah Community Services: Ruah’s project broke the mould and introduced a new approach to mental health care in Western Australia by establishing the first integrated multidisciplinary team dedicated exclusively to its client support. Unlike traditional models where organisations operate in isolated silos, the Project brings together professionals from diverse fields to ensure clients receive holistic and personalised care tailored to their specific needs. This streamlines service coordination within a unified team and creates a safe environment where clients feel understood and respected, and can meaningfully engage in their own care journey and achieve better outcomes.
Finalists:
- Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services (KAMS); Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre (MWRC); Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service (BRAMS); and Derby Aboriginal Health Service (DAHS), Enhanced Response Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) Consortium
- Family Inclusion Network of Western Australia, Respected and Connected Peer Program
- Enhanced Services Delivery Project, Ruah Community Services
- Ruah Community Services, Samaritans WA, Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Western Australia, The Luminos Project
Prevention or Promotion Award
Presented by: Mercycare
This award celebrates an outstanding contribution to prevention and/or promotion in mental health in WA for people with moderate, severe and persistent mental health challenges
Winners:
Blackwood Youth Association: Blackwood Youth Association has been providing mental health services and support and prevention programs to at-risk and marginalised young people across various domains in the Warren Blackwood region to enable young people to maximise their fullest potentials. The Association conducts ongoing and extensive community and stakeholder consultation to ensure they help address the needs of the community.
Mark Barrett-Lennard, Regional Manager of the Peel and South West, Youth Focus: Mark guided the consultation and collaboration to co-design the M8D8 campaign with young men in the Peel and South West regions. M8D8 involved creating videos to share on social media to help tackle the loneliness, isolation and remoteness affecting young men in the regions where professional support is limited. These videos help reduce the stigma young men often face when seeking mental health support and encourages young mates to show up for each other during tough times.
Finalists:
- Blackwood Youth Association Youth Space – BYA Connect, Youth Mental Health program
- Youth Focus, Mark Barrett-Lennard (M8D8 campaign)
- SportWest - True Sport Program
Diversity and Inclusion Award
Presented by: Roshana Care Group
This award is for an individual, organisation or group that embraces diversity and promotes inclusion, with an initiative that benefits a particular population group – including, but not limited to – culturally and linguistically diverse, age, ability, Aboriginal people and LGBTQIA+.
Winners:
Victor Adeseolu: Victor initiated Murdoch Life Assist, a pioneering suicide prevention network at Murdoch University that has since inspired other universities to adopt similar models. Victor’s efforts highlighted the increasing mental health challenges faced by students and the need for proactive measures. He also helped the Organisation of African Communities establish a Men’s Department to confront the stigma and shame prevalent in their communities, promote dialogue and support, and address other critical social issues such as suicide prevention.
Rise, Multicultural Services Centre of WA & Wungening Aboriginal Corporation: For collaborating to launch Rivers, a community-based initiative offering a culturally safe space where participants, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people of CaLD backgrounds, are supported to overcome mental health challenges or substance abuse. By combining expertise and resources, the partnership allows the program to effectively deliver activities and supports that help address various cultural, health and social needs.
Finalists:
- Victor Adeseolu
- Busselton Pride Alliance Inc.
- Rise, Multicultural Services Centre of WA and Wungening Aboriginal Corporation
Mentally Healthy Education Award
Presented by: HOPE Community Services
This award recognises an education institution that encourages positive mental health for students, staff and/or volunteers in the education system.
Winner:
Kingston Primary School: Using feedback from teachers, leadership team, and students, Kingston Primary School introduced a Student Support Services Team that would create a wholistic approach to student wellbeing and care so that student engagement, behaviour and academic achievement can improve across the school and where bullying and other issues can reduce. The school now shares a common language and shared strategies to assist with anxiety and stress and expressing feelings in an appropriate and safe manner. Students reported feeling safe and less anxious at school and online. In turn, the school is reporting lower staff turnover due to the improvements.
Finalists:
- The University of Notre Dame Australia - Ben Piggott and Jenny Conlon, Wellbeing Fundamentals for success
- Makybe Rise Primary School
- Kingston Primary School
Mentally Healthy Workplace Award
Presented by: Edge Employment Solutions
This award recognises a WA workplace that encourages excellent mental health for its staff and volunteers through initiatives, programs, and/or organisational culture.
Winner:
Anglicare WA: For their Well@Work Wellbeing Strategy and Action Plan 2023-25, which fosters a workplace culture of social and emotional wellbeing, ensures psychosocial safety of their workforce, supports employees and volunteers experiencing or recovering from mental challenges and emotional distress, and drives organisation-wide primary prevention initiatives that help increase personal awareness, offer resilience resources and reduce stigma associated with support-seeking.
Finalists:
- Anglicare WA
- Avivo: Live Life
- R-Group International
Mental Health News Media Award
Presented by: Western Australian Association for Mental Health
This award recognises excellence in journalism, reporting and media relating to mental health in WA. Nominations open to all mediums, including print, audio or video broadcast (including podcasts, documentaries etc.) and digital/online media.
Winner:
Briana Fiore and Anthony Pancia, ABC Great Southern, for their work on ‘The Fights of our Lives – A Boxing Story’, which provides hope for those struggling with their mental health in regional WA by profiling examples of people who used boxing to help overcome their mental health challenges. It features Former SAS soldier Guy Mead who, after losing his son to drug misuse, started a free boxing gym in rural Western Australia to help at-risk youths and adults who needed support. His free boxing program requires fighters to volunteer in the community as ‘payment’. A diverse range of other people also share their experiences of grief, loss, anxiety, depression and bullying. By featuring a former soldier and other men who show it’s okay to be vulnerable, this story helps break down stereotypes surrounding men’s mental health, and it features helplines to encourage people to reach out for help. It has evoked a strong response from the audience.
Finalists:
- ABC Great Southern, Briana Fiore and Anthony Pancia, ‘How former soldier took a stand after sons overdose.’
- The Y - Inside Our Minds
- Artemis Media, New Leash on Life TV series
Congratulations to all the Winners and Finalists
The WA Mental Health Awards showcase the dedication and contribution of individuals and teams who work to promote positive mental health.
Thank you for being part of the WA Mental Health Awards.
Judging Process
A judging panel mental health representatives and individuals with lived experience assessed all nominations and ranked entries in each category based on written nominations.