Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Putting It Into Practice: Establishing Regional Mental Health And Wellbeing Hubs In Logan And The Southern Moreton Bay Islands (SMBI). (#570)

Jan Elston 1 , Yuan Cao 2
  1. Relationships Australia Queensland, Logan Central, QLD, Australia
  2. Relationships Australia Queensland Research Department, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Funded by the Queensland Mental Health Commission, in 2016-17, Relationships Australia Queensland, established a Regional Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub (the ‘Hub’) in Logan City and the Southern Moreton Bay Islands with the aim of increasing the awareness and capacity for improved mental health and wellbeing in the communities. MWIA provided an evidence-based process for engaging stakeholders in SMBI around the impact of a community wellbeing hub on the island residents, and contributed to the development of plans to maximize protective factors and mitigate risk factors for individual and community wellbeing. Alongside this, WoW was used as an accessible framework for translating positive psychology theory into practice with service providers and community members in both SMBI and Logan, Evaluation for the WoW workshops and capacity building sessions was conducted at two time-points: both at the end of the workshops and at 3-month follow-up. Results showed a high level of satisfaction with the content of the workshops at the conclusion of the sessions. Furthermore, participants indicated at follow-up a moderate level of engagement with the WoW concepts and were able to give examples of their method of implementation of these concepts in their personal and professional lives.