Not just the first Friday of each June, but every day we step out.
In late 2023, the ASO collaborated with Swanky Socks to create unique super eye socks for its members and partners.
Today, the socks serve as an ongoing reminder that a conversation could save a life.
Don yours and draw attention to the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare practitioners — because doctors matter too.
Join us and show your support for Crazy Socks 4 Docs, not just once a year on the first Friday of June, but every day you step out.
Your small steps will help us remember the colleagues and friends we’ve lost, but they could also be life changing.
Are you an ASO member who does not have your free pair? Email us at info@asoeye.org.
Worn your socks lately? Send photo submissions to the email above to see your travels with the super eye shared in the next edition of our monthly e-news, EyeWatch.
Find out more about how the ASO has worked with Crazy Socks 4 Docs here.
Mental Health & Wellbeing Survey
The results of our 2024 Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey were eye opening.
The findings are helping the ASO to identify potential areas where increased support or advocacy is required to provide for greater mental health and wellbeing among ophthalmologists.
Here’s what we have learned from our members:
- When it comes to prioritising personal health and wellbeing, a majority are either limited by time or want to prioritise it more.
- A majority were not aware of any mental health and wellbeing resources or support services tailored to healthcare professionals.
- 1 in 3 reported not knowing who or how to reach out for help if they personally experienced suicidal ideation.
- More than 1 in 2 reported a colleague or someone close to them has passed away unexpectedly from suicide.
- A vast majority have never called in sick or taken the day off in the interest of their personal health and wellbeing.
Finding support you trust and that does not compromise your professional integrity is something that weighs heavily on members of the medical community when it comes to personal mental health and wellbeing.
Unsurprisingly, the survey results also reinforced that you often put your patients and family first, leaving your needs last.
While we work on developing resources to help provide ASO members with information on how to self-care and what tailored services are available to you, there are several you can rely on in the event you find yourself in need of immediate assistance.
Please use them, share them, and recommend them.
Developed by the Black Dog Institute with funding from the Australian Government, TEN is about helping healthcare professionals find resources and support to navigate burnout and maintain good mental health.
Not only is it designed by health professionals for health professionals, but resources can also be accessed anonymously.
Through the e-hub you can:
- Perform a self-guided mental health check-up
- Connect to one-on-one clinical care, with up to five (5) free telehealth sessions with a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist through Black Dog Institute’s TEN Clinic
- Access evidence-based tools and resources
- Obtain peer support
- Access digital mental health programs, including TEN’s Navigating Burnout program.
Click here to access the e-hub.
Beyond Blue is a free 24/7 support service for anxiety, depression and suicide. You can connect with an online peer support community, talk or chat online to a counsellor, and access six (6) free sessions with a mental health coach.
Click here to find a mental health coach.
Click here to visit Beyond Blue’s online forums.
Phone 1300 22 4636 or click here to speak to a counsellor online.
Drs4Drs is a 24/7 helpline that promotes the health and wellbeing of doctors and medical students across Australia. Call 1300 374 377.
Embrace Multicultural Mental Health is a national platform for multicultural communities and Australian mental health services to access resources, services and information in a culturally accessibly format. Call (02) 6285 3100.
Hand-n-Hand Peer Support offers free and confidential online peer support for health professionals in Australia and New Zealand.
Click here to find out more.
Lifeline provides 24-hour crisis counselling, support groups and suicide prevention services. Call 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14 or chat online.
The Suicide Call Back Service provides 24/7 support if you or someone you know is feeling suicidal and can be contacted on 1300 659 467.
QLife is Australia’s first nationally oriented counselling and referral service for LGBTI people.
The project provides nationwide, early intervention, peer supported telephone, and web-based services to diverse people of all ages experiencing poor mental health, psychological distress, social isolation, discrimination, experiences of being misgendered, and/or other social determinants that impact on their health and wellbeing.
Call 1800 184 527 or web chat between 3pm and 12am, every day.
Click here to find out more.
Support after Suicide provides information, resources, counselling and group support to those bereaved by suicide as well as education and professional development to health, welfare, and education professionals.
Call 1800 943 415 or click here to access the online support hub.
