Beyond Blue will have to deal with a reduction in income, too, as government and philanthropic funding come under pressure from the rising cost of living.
Georgie Harman is waiting. It’s a humid day and the Beyond Blue chief executive has arrived at midday on the knocker at Mr Wong, an upscale dumpling house behind a heavy door in a lane off Sydney’s Bridge Street. The Melbourne-based Harman picked the corporate staple in a rabbit’s warren of alleyways because it was an old haunt, which she still misses after a decade of living interstate.
In the past few years, Harman, 53, has watched as the type of services Australians need has shifted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once here, she was a public servant in the Northern Territory and then in Canberra for the federal government. She is proud of the fact that she played a key role in developing the 2011 legislation to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products.
Getting better took a year, but it taught her what her non-negotiables are in life: work, connection and community, good sleep and exercise. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Beyond Blue experienced unprecedented demand for its resources, online tools and services, Harman says.In some circumstances, the person will clam up or say that it’s not their boss’ business. But that doesn’t matter. “If that’s the case, you just say, ‘Absolutely, that’s fine. I just need you to know that I’m noticing changes’.”
And it’s not done yet. Financial stress and anxiety triggered by rising interest rates, inflation and economic uncertainty is now on track to replace COVID-19 as the top stressor nationally.
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