AWN 
For 25 years, Mental Health First Aid Australia (MHFA) has been quietly building a crucial network of support across Australia and the world. With 1.5 million Australians trained, MHFA equips everyday people with the skills and confidence to support someone experiencing mental health challenges.
This year marks a significant milestone with the Inaugural Mental Health First Aid Day on Tuesday, the 19th of August 2025 – a day to spotlight the global impact of MHFA, raise awareness of it as an essential life skill, and encourage more life-saving conversations worldwide.
To support the first official Mental Health First Aid Day and this year’s theme, “Make Every Conversation Matter,” you can view our reel of our AWN staff sharing their personal experiences here.
AWN is deeply committed to the well-being of our staff, clients, and the rural and regional communities we serve. As one of Australia’s largest pastoral houses, we understand the unique pressures and challenges faced by those in agriculture and remote areas.
Statistics consistently highlight the higher rates of mental health difficulties and suicide within these communities, often compounded by isolation and limited access to services. This is evidenced by data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which shows that suicide rates increase as population density decreases, meaning there is a higher rate of suicide in rural, regional, and remote areas compared to metropolitan areas (Source: People living in rural and remote areas – Life In Mind).
That’s why AWN is proud to be recognised as a Mental Health First Aid Advanced Workplace. Our commitment to the MHFA initiative began in 2020, when AWN became the second agribusiness to be recognised as a ‘Skilled Workplace,’ and then on 8th of July 2024, we were promoted to an ‘Advanced Workplace’ status, demonstrating our dedication to supporting our rural and regional communities, staff, and clients. This reflects our ongoing investment in fostering a culture of excellence, engagement, and prioritised mental health and wellbeing across our organisation. This year, AWN is celebrating RU OK? Day on 11/9/2025 at Stockland’s Yennora Distribution Centre.
Our AWN commitment includes:
- Employing a Dedicated Corporate Psychologist: Harry Petropoulos has run our mental health first aid programs since 2019, driving performance optimisation and supporting the mental well-being of staff.
- We Have Trained & Certified Over 100 people (including farmers): since we kicked the program off in 2020, and AWN currently boasts having 1 in 4 employees qualified in mental health first aid deployed across the network.
- Implementing a Comprehensive Mental Health Policy that includes provisions for staff mental health days.
- Establishing an AWN Mental Health Reference Group: a consultative body with representatives from all business streams and regions, ensuring a collaborative approach to mental wellbeing initiatives.
- Developing an MHFA Farmer Outreach Program: specifically designed to support our clients in the agricultural sector better.
A word from Harry Petropoulos from our previous related article, Mental Health First Aid ‘Australia recognises AWN with gold accreditation:
“Coming off the back of one of the worst droughts on record, terrible bushfires, and followed by a global pandemic, I knew that more had to be done to support our people out in the field who feel the impact of these stressors daily.“
Voices from our team
To celebrate the inaugural MHFA Day, several of our trained AWN Mental Health First Aiders shared their personal experiences and how the training has helped them in their roles.
- Rick Maybury, Managing Director & CEO
“Going back to the 2019 drought, we recognised that mental health had challenges in our rural and remote communities…Since then, we’ve trained over 100 staff in mental health first aid.“
- John Croake, Northern NSW Specialist
“I’d like to think that if someone was having some trouble, they’d have the confidence to talk to me. To me, if I could help somebody out, that’d be the best thing, ever.“
- Cassie Baile, Southern NSW Wool & Sheep Specialist/Auctioneer
“We love supporting our clientele, our mates, our friends. Anything more that we know, we can put to use and better support them. And also in turn, it also helps us to better support each other and our team. So, it’s a win-win.”
- Jared Phillips, Wool & Sheep Specialist
“The training has actually been really invaluable this year… SA has been in one of the worst droughts in living memory… The training just really allows me to have an effective conversation with clients and be able to offer support, across the company, across my network, and in my personal life as well.“
ALGEE Action Plan
At the heart of MHFA training is the ALGEE Action Plan, a simple and memorable mnemonic that provides a practical framework for offering initial support. ALGEE stands for:
- A – Approach the person, assess and assist with any crisis
- L – Listen and communicate non-judgmentally
- G – Give support and information
- E – Encourage the person to get appropriate professional help
- E – Encourage other supports
This action plan empowers individuals to recognise the signs that someone might be struggling, to offer a supportive ear without judgment, provide helpful information, and guide them towards appropriate professional help and other support networks. In rural and regional communities, where the roads to mental health support can feel longer, having trained individuals within the community who understand and can apply ALGEE can be truly life-saving.
This year’s MHFA Day theme, “Make Every Conversation Matter,” resonates deeply with AWN’s values. We spend up to 80% of our day in conversation, and with the right knowledge and skills, every interaction can be an opportunity to recognise when someone might need support and to offer a helping hand.
AWN encourages everyone, our staff, our clients, and all members of rural and regional communities, to embrace the spirit of MHFA Day. By increasing awareness, reducing stigma, and learning how to have supportive conversations, we can collectively build stronger, more resilient communities where everyone feels comfortable reaching out for help when they need it.
If you are a farmer, client, or non-client and would like resources on how to do MHFA training, please get in touch with us at awn.net/contact
Together, let’s make every conversation matter.
Helpline Resources
If you or anyone you know needs help, please know you can reach out to some of the resources below:
