National implementation of Minds Together, an online program for family and friends supporting the mental health of paramedics.

Minds Together is a suite of programs developed by Everymind that aim to improve the capacity of caregivers to support family and friends experiencing mental ill-health or suicidal distress. The current project will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the newest program, an online intervention for family and friends supporting a paramedic experiencing mental ill-health or suicidal distress. Everymind has developed a prevention and early-intervention program for carers of individuals experiencing depression and anxiety, and has adapted this program for carers of paramedics. We are proposing to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the adapted Minds Together program. PROGRAM OVERVIEW - Caregivers in the Minds Together Online Support Program (the Program) will be asked to complete four (4) core sections and six (6) optional in-depth topics over an eight (8) week period. - It is expected that each core section will take approximately 30 - 60 minutes to complete. Participants will receive each section once they have completed the proceeding section. All four sections and in-depth topics will become available after four weeks, regardless of how much of the program the participant may have completed by that time. - Each optional in-depth topics will take 10 - 15 minutes each to complete. - The estimated completion times for sections and in-depth topics are inclusive of activities built into the program, although this may vary for some participants based on their caregiving experiences. SECTION CONTENT The program sections address the following topics: Section 1 - Supporting your family member or friend - information about suicidal distress, mental health and exploration of the caring journey for the caregiver and the person they support. Section 2 - Looking after yourself - looking further at the caring journey and exploring caregiver wellbeing and self-care. This includes exploring the challenges and rewards of providing support, identifying how supporting someone may affect a carers own mental health, checking-in on a carers own wellbeing and learning about self-care. Section 3 - Providing support – focusses on ways to help caregivers respond to the challenges of providing support. This includes exploring links between thoughts, feelings, body and action; learning how to notice strong feelings; learning more about communication and talking about mental ill-health. Section 4 – Bringing it all together – focusses on bringing together all the information from the first 3 sections about mental ill-health and suicidal distress, self-care and providing support. This includes learning how to identify and respond to stigma, how to identify a support network, and exploring common scenarios and practical advice. In-depth topics - will go into further depth on topics discussed in core sections, including information on stigma, self-care, responding to suicidal distress, talking about suicide, relationships, and values. - Participants will receive weekly emails reminding them of access details and prompting completion of the sections and mini-sections. PROGRAM DESIGN - The Program has been specifically designed by Everymind for this online intervention. It builds on several previous Everymind programs, and is dedicated to strengthening the capacity and capability of family and friends as caregivers and promote their own mental health and wellbeing. - The program is delivered online using a mixed-media format, including text, short videos, infographics, and short podcasts. - Each section contains case studies, activities, worksheets, and reflective questions that caregivers can answer within the program and at a time that suits the participant. - No grade will be given for any of the exercises. - Caregivers will also have the capacity to download activities and information sheets for future use via a ‘toolbox’ feature. SOCIAL FORUM Everymind has contracted SANE to provide the online social forum for the Minds Together study. SANE run one of Australia’s largest online social support forums for caregivers of mental ill-health and suicidal distress. The moderated forum is a supportive community where users can chat with others in similar situations. Participant use of the social forum is completely optional and will be at participants' discretion. The forums are also extremely well managed by SANE, with entrenched privacy, community guidelines and moderation. SANE will retain administrative control over the forum.