Free mental health and wellbeing support for family members
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is committed to providing its employees and their families with support to help them look after their own and their family’s wellbeing.
TELUS Health – the ATSB’s Employee Assistance Provider
ATSB Employee Assistance Provider (EAP) health and wellbeing services for staff and their families are now provided by TELUS Health.
The TELUS Health service model includes online cognitive behavioural therapy as well as access to free and confidential in-person counselling.
To access the online health and wellbeing services you need a TELUS Health website account; each ATSB employee can invite up to 5 family members to create their own account.
You can use your account to:
- Access free and confidential personalised care 24/7 365 days a year via 1300 360 364 or the TELUS Health website(Opens in a new tab/window).
- Take the Total and Health and Wellbeing Assessment to understand your strengths and areas for improvement and get access to personalised wellbeing content based on your results.
- Participate in digital self-care programs based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy on topics ranging across from family, life, health, money and work. Each self-guided program has videos, podcasts, articles and exercises for you to work through at your own pace.
You and your family can still access 24/7 free and confidential counselling support by calling 1300 360 364 (old Benestar number) or with the TELUS Health website’s Live Chat feature.
What can I do if my loved one is not themselves?
As Australia’s national transport safety investigator anyone at the ATSB can be exposed at some level to a potentially traumatic event.
Exposure can result in direct trauma from being deployed to a fatal accident site or vicarious trauma through involvement with someone who has experienced trauma or repeated exposure to written or visual details of traumatic events. Both types of traumas can have a negative impact on mental health.
Common reactions to direct trauma can involve:
- Upsetting thoughts, dreams, or memories about the event.
- Acting or feeling as though the event were happening again.
- Bodily reaction such as fast heartbeat, stomach churning, shaking.
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep.
- Heightened awareness of potential dangers to yourself and others.
- Frustration, fear, anxiety, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
Common reactions to vicarious trauma can involve:
- Taking on too great a sense of responsibility or feeling you need to overstep the boundaries of your role
- Difficulty leaving work at the end of the day, noticing you can never leave on time
- Intrusive thoughts of another’s situation or distress
- Problems managing personal boundaries
- Loss of connection with self and others, loss of a sense of own identity
- Increased time alone, a sense of needing to withdraw from others.
Where to get help
If your loved one is experiencing these symptoms or is just not their usual self, you can help by encouraging them to get in touch with TELUS Health(Opens in a new tab/window) or encouraging them to show you and walk you through the ATSB’s Critical Incident Stress Management toolbox they have available to them on our internal Hub page, or you can contact a member of the HR team with your questions or concerns.
All employees are supplied with a fridge magnet outlining who you can contact at the ATSB out of hours.
If you feel you or your loved one is in immediate danger, please call 000, visit your nearest hospital or call LifeLine on 13 11 14.
Help is also available at the crisis services listed here.
Online tools and support for dealing with trauma
For information from Lifeline on what is trauma, its short and long term effects, tools and apps and support services visit their trauma webpages – What is trauma? (lifeline.org.au)(Opens in a new tab/window)
Lifeline’s PTSD Program teaches you about post-traumatic stress disorder as well as skills and strategies you can use to manage it – PTSD Program (lifeline.org.au)(Opens in a new tab/window)
Between 5–10 per cent of Australians will suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives. Visit Effects of Trauma - PTSD - Phoenix Australia(Opens in a new tab/window) for more information on symptoms, treatment services and support.
Beyond Blue’s Wellbeing Action is designed to help you find meaning in the small things through the value of having a place to write drown and why that works – Wellbeing Action Tool - Beyond Blue - Beyond Blue(Opens in a new tab/window)
Other mental health and wellbeing resources
Support for mental health issues – BeyondBlue(Opens in a new tab/window): 1300 224 636
Support for young persons aged 5–25 – Kids helpline(Opens in a new tab/window): 1800 55 1800
Information on aged care services for older Australians – myagedcare(Opens in a new tab/window): 1800 200 422
Information and online counselling services for men – MensLine Australia(Opens in a new tab/window): 1300 78 99 78
Domestic family violence counselling support service – 1800RESPECT(Opens in a new tab/window): 1800 737 732
Phone and online counselling to people affected by suicide – Suicide Call Back Service(Opens in a new tab/window): 1300 659 467