As we race towards the close of 2023, it’s a great time to start planning for the new year and how we want it to be different. Will it be busier, crazier, and what will we need to fight to deal with the buzz? Or are there things we can do to make it intentional, sustainable, thriving and effective?

It’s great to see a growing awareness of the importance of mental wellness and so many new initiatives coming out to support better mental health. Grab a coffee, take a breath and find a moment to check them out.

We especially love the insights from Drew Ginn at the recent Rise Thrive conference about how to apply Olympic gold medal thinking to real estate.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the critical services provided free support for anyone facing mental health challenges; experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence, or in need of financial advice and support.

“More than 23 million free calls were made through a Telstra payphone during the last reporting period," she said. "If this initiative helps raise awareness of and connects even just a small number of those callers to these services, that’s a positive outcome”.

Telstra Health spokesperson and Head of 1800RESPECT Colleen Birchley emphasised the importance of free public phones as essential social infrastructure.

Telstra reported a 30 per cent increase in calls to Lifeline in the past year, compared with the previous 12 months.

The crisis lines campaign kicked off in capital cities this month, with the majority of sites to be rolled out by the first half of 2024.

The Rise Initiative encourages you to share this information with your tenants and local community.

The investigatory team - which consists of individuals who can speak Hindi, Telugu, Sinhalese, Japanese, Afrikaans, Greek, German, Dutch, and French - deliberately planned to incorporate the voices of diverse groups.

Professor Christensen said many people with depression did not like the psychological treatments on offer, there had been little attempt to find out how individuals from diverse groups responded, or what treatments patients valued.  

“This grant is all about improving psychological therapies by finding out which ones work the best for each individual, and which work best for diverse and under-resourced communities whose characteristics and needs have not been addressed,” she said.

“The problem is that there is a lack of innovation in how psychological treatments are selected, delivered and funded, which has made mental health care stagnant and expensive.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said violence against women was “persistent, widespread and worsening”.

Violence negatively affects women’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, impacting their professional development.

Each year around the world, 245 million women and girls aged 15 and older experience physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner. A global study found that 38% of women have had personal experience of online violence.

Less than 40 per cent of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort.

This year’s UNiTE campaign theme, Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls, calls on all of us to take action.

The Mindset of Peak Performance

Marshall White general manager Drew Ginn is an Australian five-time world champion rower, four-time Olympian and triple Olympic gold medallist who was a member of Australia's prominent world-class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.

A speaker at this year’s Rise Thrive conference, he shares how to apply an Olympic mindset to your real estate career.

In the ever-evolving real estate landscape, true leadership extends beyond hustling for transactions and profits. Join us - and 100 top-performing peers - in 2024 at Rise Leadership Advance on April 18 and 19 as we again challenge the status quo.

Keynote speakers and roundtable discussions will be the order of the day but it’s not all work - in the evenings we gather for relaxed dinners and shared conversations.

Thanks to the generous support of Macquarie, this exclusive leadership conference will again take place at their global headquarters, 50 Martin Place, Sydney. It is also supported by Rise partners Domain, MRI and CoreLogic. Don’t miss your seat at the table! Tickets will sell out.