Fighting for equality can be physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting.

It is critical for initiatives, projects, or organisations to understand the mental health of their people. Many, however, are overwhelmed by the enormity and complexity of mental wellbeing. The following are simple tools to unpack key domains of wellbeing and better understand the needs.

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Mental wellbeing canvas

The mental wellbeing canvas is a brainstorming exercise that can be used by any individual, team, or organisation to quickly gain insights across six, key domains that relate to general mental wellbeing. The six domains are:

• Physical health
• Security
• Purpose
• Trust
• Connection
• Self

The canvas then asks three simple questions for each domain:

• How would you describe it right now?
• What would you like it to be?
• What would it take to achieve this?

If you're unsure of how to answer these questions, it can be helpful to first complete the mental wellbeing questionnaire below.

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Mental wellbeing questionnaire

Intentionally subjective, the mental wellbeing questionnaire helps to unpack the six mental wellbeing domains in more detail, asking you to rate a range of statements on a scale of 1 (Completely unsatisfied) to 5 (completely satisfied). This questionnaire can be used in isolation or as a precursor to the mental wellbeing canvas above. The questions include:

Physical health

• Your quality, and amount, of sleep
• Your current nutrition and diet
• Your level of physical activity and movement

Security

• Your sense of financial security
• Your own sense of agency and autonomy
• Your sense of life certainty

Purpose

• Your sense of positive contribution
• Your feeling that what you do is reflective of who you are
• Your sense of working towards clear goals

Trust

• The amount of mutual respect with the people around you
• The amount of mutual honesty with the people around you
• That you can be your full and authentic self with the people around you

Connection

• Your sense of belonging in your environment or community
• The amount of clear communication with those around you
•  The amount of vulnerability between yourself and others

Self

• Your relationship with, and capacity for, friends, family and partners
• Your logistical capacity and time availability
• Your capacity for hobbies and self-directed interests

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