Across NSW (and arguably the rest of the country), small and medium-sized businesses are facing a complex challenge: understanding – and acting on – their psychosocial risk responsibilities.

For many, despite psychosocial risk obligations being in place in NSW since 2022, this is unfamiliar territory.

Coach Kresh Pidial observes that many organisations – particularly those without HR, OHS or risk departments – don’t yet have a strong understanding of psychosocial hazards and how they apply in the workplace. Yet, she adds, their commitment to staff wellbeing and mental health support more broadly, shines through.

Coach Oliver Zwalf explains that one of the key challenges for leaders striving to foster a mentally healthy workplace is helping them understand “where the boundaries of their support start and finish,” particularly in small businesses where relationships can feel close or “family-like.”

Coach Tessa Bailey sees similar themes, noting that leaders often don’t know where to draw the line between being a supportive employer and referring staff to professional support.

 “You’re not here to fix,” she says. “You don’t mend broken legs. If the bandage doesn’t work then get practitioner support … and make sure you’re looking after your own boundaries as well.”

The challenges organisations are facing

Organisations are operating in an environment of continual change and disruption.

 Transitioning Well’s coaches cited common pressures across organisations, such as:

• The economic landscape and cost of living impacts on staff wellbeing
• Role instability and workforce anxiety
• Difficulty navigating performance and mental health together
• Limited capability in having difficult conversations
• Poor or inconsistent communication across teams.

Many organisations are also struggling to interpret what psychosocial legislation actually means in practice.

Tessa notes that a common question from clients is: “Am I fulfilling my obligations?” – with coaching helping to translate codes of practice into something usable and relevant.

How coaching helps

Proudly funded by the NSW Government, the Workplace Mental Health Coaching Program provides free, structured one-on-one support to NSW businesses with up to 200 employees and not-for-profits of any size, helping businesses make sense of these challenges.

“Coaching helps build a framework that can meet compliance requirements,” says coach Anna Kijowska, “But it also anchors practices into day-to-day experiences.”

For Program Lead Gagan Mudhar, one of the defining benefits is access:

“There are very few programs of this quality, this level of rigour… available to small and medium-sized businesses.”

Unlike traditional training, coaching is flexible and tailored.

Gagan explains that the program allows coaches to “walk them through complex challenges, sit with their problems… and not push them down a particular route.”

This adaptability is critical for small and medium sized businesses, where no two workplaces – and no two problems – are the same.

The power of incremental change

Coaching doesn’t rely on big interventions. It works through incremental, practical change.

“It’s almost like coaching bites,” says Kresh. “It’s a little bit every few weeks, and before you know it, they’ve transformed their company.”

That transformation might include:

• Building confidence to have difficult conversations
• Introducing clearer boundaries for leaders
• Identifying psychosocial hazards and responses
• Strengthening communication across teams.

Importantly, coaching helps organisations move beyond documentation.

“We want to help in a really pragmatic way,” says Anna. “Leaders don’t have to feel like they have to do it all themselves.”

As Tessa explains, “It’s not another policy… it’s how the shared language in the organisation puts it into practice.”

Helping leaders be well and lead well

For many small and medium sized business leaders, coaching also provides something they don’t often have: a safe space to think.

Gagan highlights the value of having “someone in their corner… a safe, confidential space to talk about what’s actually going on in their business.”

This is especially important when leaders are managing:

• Complex people issues
• Conflicting demands
• Uncertainty around compliance.

Coaching allows them to build confidence before acting – rather than reacting after something goes wrong.

Tessa notes that for many leaders, a lot of the support comes down to communication.

“There are no healthy relationships without healthy communication,” Tessa says. “If you want good outcomes, you need healthy communication.”

The impact

“For many organisations coaching helps cut through the ‘information overload’,” says Anna. “Many clients say that there’s a lot of information out there, and it can take a lot of time to get through it all. Coaching helps cut through that. Clients can discuss what they’re struggling with, get support and guidance and ultimately be better placed to take action.”

Over time, coaches see a consistent shift in how organisations approach workplace mental health.

Reflecting on the five years Transitioning Well has delivered the program, Gagan notes that more clients are owning their responsibility to build a mentally healthy workplace:

“We’ve started seeing businesses come in saying, ‘I think I do actually have a responsibility… I want to do the right thing – can you help me?’”

And the numbers speak for themselves. Since 2021, more than 3,000 businesses have engaged in Workplace Mental Health Coaching, reaching more than 53,000 employees.

For coaches like Oliver, the impact is most visible when clients return having applied what they’ve learned:

“They say, ‘I tried that thing we spoke about and it worked… what’s next?’”

Tessa sees this play out quickly in small and medium sized businesses, noting that it’s one of the benefits of being a smaller organisation: “You can shift very quickly… day to day, week to week, month to month.”

As Kresh reflects, the most rewarding part is seeing organisations take ownership: “They gain the knowledge… and transform their workplaces to become more psychologically healthy and safe.”

The post From Complexity to Clarity: How Workplace Mental Health Coaching Supports Businesses appeared first on Transitioning Well.

In the demanding world of performing arts, psychosocial risks such as stress, isolation, and job demands aren’t uncommon. For Bangarra Dance Theatre (Bangarra), one of Australia’s leading First Nations performing arts companies, these challenges can be amplified by constant travel and working with an often-transient workforce.

Bangarra engaged Transitioning Well to deliver Workplace Mental Health Coaching (funded by NSW Government) on understanding their WHS obligations and, more importantly, to upskill their people and foster a psychologically safe and healthy workplace.

The Challenge

Bangarra’s unique context brings a complex set of psychosocial risks. As HR Manager Atul Joshi explained, “We became very conscious of the legal frameworks that were developing around managing psychosocial risk in our company… Plus, the developments around positive duty of care. So we started looking at programmes that enabled Bangarra to address our legal obligations, but also skilled up our people, our managers in particular, around issues relating to mental health.”

With half the year spent touring, many staff – including young performers – are away from home and support networks for extended periods. Production Manager Cat Studley described the pressure: “There are deadlines every single day… and there is the mentality for a lot of people, that the show must go on.”

Some of Bangarra’s First Nations staff and dancers also experience additional layers of generational trauma, making the need for robust mental health support even more critical.

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Coaching, proudly supported by the NSW Government.

The Coaching Approach

The coaching, funded by the NSW Government, gave Bangarra the dedicated time and space to equip touring company leadership with practical tools and strategies to identify and manage psychosocial risks.

Cat Studley explained, “She [coach Anna Kijowska] gave us some really good tools around what our first step should be”.

Cat also reflected that the coaching helped connect the touring company leadership team. “It helped us ask questions, for example, ‘Oh, I saw that you were struggling with that… Do you need support with that?’ It made it clearer how we could support each other as well as offer support within our teams.”

“Anna was great at looking at a situation and saying, ‘How do you think you should do it better? What do you think the problem was?’. Coaching was all about reflecting on things, and I think that is key.”

Coach Anna Kijowska noted that the team’s positive attitude to change enabled them to get the most out of their coaching experience.

“Touring company leadership were open to reflecting on what was and wasn’t working, and genuinely wanted to create a safer, more supportive environment – not just tick a compliance box.

“What really stood out to me about Bangarra was their willingness to engage with the process, even when it meant looking at some uncomfortable truths about workload, communication, and the unique pressures of touring.”

“Their leaders are keen to build strong, authentic relationships with team members, encouraging self-reflection and problem solving to make sure they take the most respectful approach when it comes to addressing issues. Leaders asking questions and being genuinely interested in the answer, allows a deeper sense of connection and increases the likelihood to reach out for help when things are more difficult.”

A key part of the coaching was breaking down complex challenges into actionable steps. “We spoke a lot about really recognising the signs [of mental health distress] … when someone’s having a bad day … and what we can do past that moment,” said Cat.

“Once we’ve identified a problem, how we support someone and what we do in those steps … and how we can help support the rest of the team as well as that person.”

Anna added: “Bangarra’s approach to document management and psychosocial risk reporting was a practical example of their commitment to improvement. They didn’t just want a system for the sake of it – they wanted something that would actually help people feel safe to speak up, and ensure issues were addressed quickly and fairly.”

Outcomes and Benefits

The impact of coaching has been tangible across Bangarra. Atul noted, “There’s a greater level of comfort for people to share things, experiences, to report things because I think they feel that they will be heard if there are issues and … that we will do something about it.”

Cat observed a significant cultural shift: “When I started [eight years ago], there was quite a lot of staff turnover … This year, all of the dancers are staying, which is great. We’re getting the same contractors back too because they want to work with us … I can see the change.”

Anna reflected, “It’s been rewarding to see the ripple effect of coaching at Bangarra. The team is not only more confident in managing their own stress, but they’re also supporting each other and modelling healthy behaviours for the rest of the company. That’s the real mark of success – when the benefits extend beyond the initial group and start to shape the whole culture.”

Practical changes have also been implemented, such as revising job design, remuneration structures, and introducing formal reporting mechanisms for bullying and harassment.

“We’ve changed our production team’s contracts over the last year,” Cat notes, citing previous overtime for the production team that ultimately led to the accumulation of time in lieu, that was rarely taken.

Now, says Atul, we say, “We will pay you for the extra time and clock that extra time so that you’re getting something back for it rather than a promise of extra leave which never eventuates.”

The Next Act

Bangarra Dance Theatre’s experience shows how Workplace Mental Health Coaching can be a powerful tool for managing psychosocial risk, building trust, and fostering a culture of openness and support.

As Cat advised other organisations, “Having anything in your back pocket to help with mental health is a good thing… I don’t think any training is a bad thing… It’s a really useful tool to be able to reflect on what has happened previously and how you can move forward with different ideas and different ways of coping with situations.”

Anna’s final thoughts: “Bangarra’s journey shows what’s possible when an organisation commits to genuine change. Coaching is just one part of the puzzle, but when it’s combined with practical systems and a willingness to listen, it can make a real difference.”

The post ‘The Show Must Go On’: Managing Psychosocial Risk in the Arts appeared first on Transitioning Well.

By Dr Sarah Cotton

Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) is not an issue that sits outside the workplace. One in four Australian women, and many men and gender-diverse people, will experience family and domestic violence in their lifetime. That reality includes the staff of nearly every small business.

Since August 2023, all employees, including casuals, in businesses of all sizes have been entitled to 10 days of Paid FDV leave each year. Recent findings from the Flinders University Independent Review show that employers are committed to support staff experiencing violence but often feel unsure about how to respond, what the law requires or how to navigate a conversation that may be emotional or unexpected.

Without the benefit of a HR team, many employers are handling these moments in isolation. The fear of misstepping, breaching privacy, over-questioning, or inadvertently causing distress, can leave employers hesitant at the time when clarity and support matter most.

The impact isn’t theoretical. Lived experience advocate Cathy Oddie sought time off to attend court for a Family Violence Intervention Order hearing. The response she received from her employer, which included a request to document her time in hourly detail and have it signed by a court registrar, added stress to an already traumatic situation. She eventually left that employer. Experiences like Cathy’s show how a well-intentioned but ill-informed response can create further harm and result in the loss of valued staff.

To address this gap, there is tailored guidance on 10DaysPaidFDVLeave.com.au, a one-stop website to support small businesses understand and administer paid FDV leave in their workplaces. Included among the resources is an induction resource for casual workers explaining the entitlement in clear terms, and conversation simulations to help small business leaders learn how to respond while maintaining professionalism and boundaries. The entire site aims to help employers respond with care while keeping professional boundaries, ensuring employees feel safe and supported without needing to act as a counsellor or legal expert.

Small businesses are uniquely placed to create supportive environments. Their teams are close-knit, and conversations often happen directly between people who often know one another well. A considered response in these moments can make a big difference, build trust and help an employee stay connected to their workplace.

The policy exists. The guidance is available. The new resources provides clarity, confidence, and practical tools for employers, helping them meet their obligations while supporting staff through difficult circumstances.

The post One in four employees may need Paid Family and Domestic Violence leave appeared first on Transitioning Well.