In 2006, Wayne started the Sunrise Foundation – a not-for-proft that delivered preventative education programs to more than 5000 secondary school students. Wayne has taken on several important roles in the community including being the lead witness in the 2019 Royal Commission into the Victorian Mental Health System, serving as a panel member for the review of the Victorian Mental Health Act 1986 as well as being a leading voice on mental health and emotional wellbeing.
The Sunrise Foundation confirmed that creating awareness and proactively doing something about the mental health and the ongoing suicide crisis Australia faces, is indeed Wayne’s passion.
The second iteration of Wayne’s social enterprise was founded in 2017: PukaUp. Through PukaUp, Wayne continues his work of normalising the conversation around mental health, and giving people the opportunity to take control of their own wellbeing, before reaching crisis point.
Wayne enjoyed a celebrated 14 year AFL playing career, going on to establish himself as a respected sports media broadcaster – a position he held over a 17 year period until 2019, where his speaking skills were honed.
Mental health has touched Wayne personally – over the past 26 years he has lived with and managed depression, anxiety and OCD at various stages of his life. He understands the impact that these conditions have on your life but equally, he understands the benefit and value of proactively looking after your wellbeing to live a healthy, happy and productive life.
Wayne hid his conditions for 12 years and it’s taken him 26 years to learn the skills that now allow him to look after his mental health. Wayne doesn’t want people to make those same choices. He decided a long time ago to use his experiences to help other people on similar journeys. Wayne doesn’t believe people need to wait until they become unwell before they start to think about their mental health. He wants people to stay healthy – it’s a much better outcome for the individual, their families and friends, their workplaces and the broader community.
Wayne’s passion is also his purpose. Hand on heart, he knows that his purpose in this life is to do the work he’s been doing for the past 16+ years and more recently with PukaUp. There are very few things in life that you can do which have a positive impact on other people. Knowing that the work PukaUp is doing has such a positive impact on people’s lives – including preventing people from ending their lives – motivates Wayne to continue to drive PukaUp’s suicide prevention campaigns and initiatives.
Talking Points
Wellbeing Presentations
The first step towards creating mentally healthy workplaces is to start the conversation.Wellbeing Presentations
We know that talking about mental health can be difficult.
We also know, it doesn’t have to be. Creating a safe workplace environment where talking about mental health is not only okay, but actively encouraged is crucial to your team’s wellbeing.
Wayne Schwass draws on his 16 years of experience of delivering authentic and inspiring presentations, engaging audiences throughout corporate Australia to create a starting point for these important conversations.
Wayne’s ability to establish an authentic connection with audiences by creating a safe environment for your people to talk openly and honestly, is a result of his vulnerable and passionate storytelling capacity.
Supporting your team’s wellbeing has never been more important – not only because it’s good for business, but because it’s simply the right thing to do.
Key Takeaways:
- Normalising mental health conversations as part of everyday life
- Connecting physical and mental health
- Understanding what’s holding us back from beginning our wellbeing journey
- Practical ways to communicate to others about our mental health
- Strategies and techniques that you can use to prioritise your mental health
- The motivation to take action today
Wayne's Expertise
Here’s what you can expect to learn in Wayne’s presentation.Wayne's Expertise
Connection
- Hugging - why it’s good for us
Why it’s important to normalise mental health
- Wellbeing applies to 100% of the population
- Why we need to talk about mental health - we’ve all got mental health
- What prevents us from talking about mental health
Connecting physical and mental health
- What motivates us to invest into our physical health
- Investing into our physical health is also investing preventatively
- Who do we see for help when we’re physically unwell
- Why we service our vehicles
- Servicing our vehicles is also a preventative investment
- Who do you call when your car breaks down
- Are you investing into your mental health and if not why not
Barriers to mental health
- What’s holding you back/health
- What barriers are in the way
- What is wellbeing
- Where do you start
- What can you start with
Messaging
- What we say to ourselves and those we care about matters
- Gender conditioning and how it impacts us as we grow up
- The impact of negative messaging and the damage it’s doing to our kids
- Stop saying sorry
The Toolbox
- Strategies, techniques & tools that empower you to invest into and manage your mental health proactively
Wayne's presentation was excellent - a highlight of the conference and he received a standing ovation. ... keep reading St John Ambulance WA
Wayne is a is a highly intelligent visionary; whose dedication to his work in the mental health space is absolutely inspiring. The team at The Banksia Project were lucky enough to have Wayne participate in our 'mental health in sports' forum in May 2017; where Wayne's insight and delivery were instrumental to the success of the event.
