HEALTHY Heads in Trucks and Sheds has released a suite of new wellbeing resources in eight different languages.
The charity translated the material into the most commonly spoken languages (other than English) in Australia’s road transport, warehousing and logistics sector.
HHTS offers its resources in Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic, Filipino, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Sinhalese.
The organisation said it rolled out its English as a Second Language (EASeL) resources to make information about wellbeing more accessible for different cultural groups in the industry.
HHTS CEO Naomi Frauenfelder, said stigma around mental health in transport and logistics is a barrier to seeking help.
“As such, the key objective of this project is to drive a reduction in mental health stigma through improving access to information,” Ms Frauenfelder said.
“In developing this project, our ambition was the ensure that the information within the EASeL resources was not only more accessible from a language perspective, but, also through the simplicity of messaging.
“To achieve this, we created a set of positive messages, that call out some of the key actions we can take to keep our wellbeing in check, including exercise, eating well, getting good quality sleep, cleanliness and drinking water.”
HHTS said its resources include informative animations, flyers and a range of posters aimed at giving people the opportunity to consume information in their own time.
All information is sourced from the Healthy Heads Workforce Handbook, an existing tool designed to help people in the sector keep their mental health in check.
Sal Petroccitto, CEO of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, said providing greater access to mental health resources is especially important as the transport industry prepares for its busiest period of the year.
“I am extremely pleased to see a dedicated project that focuses on inclusion and provides more people in the heavy vehicle industry with access to important information to help them maintain positive health and wellbeing,” Mr Petroccitto said.
“I encourage everyone in the sector to use the EASeL resources developed by HHTS and prioritise their mental health and wellbeing this holiday season.”
HHTS said EASeL resources are freely available to the industry on its website, accessible here.