Vivability Bathurst has taken its workplace to the next level by employing a wellness coach, Anthony Hayes, to provide support for their carers.

"I'd been over in Bali and my wife and I had established a wellbeing business there and we came back to Bathurst and Nick [Packham, CEO] said come and work for me," Mr Hayes said.

"His idea was around that he had been noticing a lot of anxiety in his staff around work and how that anxiety was reflected in the participants as well.

"It's very much an initiative looking at strategies around prevention rather than trying to find a cure that may be more difficult."

Mr Hayes began working as a wellness coach at Vivability in December 2020 after the initial wave of COVID had cast a lot of uncertainty in the community.

He has since spent the last year working his way through personally contacting each of the 200 odd staff members at Vivability to check in and gather information to form wellness strategies.

Mr Hayes hopes to grow awareness around wellness and instill in staff that they need to care for themselves to be able to care for others.

"It's a bit like when you're in an airplane and the yellow mask pops down, put yours on first because you can't help anyone if you pass out and that's a little bit like when you're a carer, you can't keep caring if you haven't looked after yourself," he said.

"It's vital for our sector to have people that are handling their mental health well or their wellbeing well.

"That's why it's such a great idea to have someone in my role."

With stress being part of life and life being unpredictable it is important people learn strategies to deal with being in stressful situations.

Mr Hayes said as an organisation Vivability want staff who are healthy in all aspects of their lives, understanding that if someone isn't well at home then they won't perform to the best of their ability at work.

This is even more vital in the disability services industry as difficult and unforeseen situations can arise easily.

Mr Hayes said he recently had a two-hour wellbeing training session with a group of staff discussing the psychoeducation around what happens in the brain when someone goes into fight or flight mode to help them deal with those situations.

"It's scientifically proven that we need to have wellness and psychological wellness to function, to learn, to be part of a connected society and I think that's pretty amazing if we can, as employers, keep planting those seeds and not creating more stress," Mr Hayes said.

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