Deakin Business School’s Counting on U (CoU) team comprises a multi-disciplinary group of organisational psychologists, public health, accounting and workplace wellbeing ‘pracademics’ who specialise in the research, design and delivery of integrated workplace mental health initiatives, especially in the accounting and small business sector. We use up-to-date evidence to inform our work in supporting workplaces to create environments with wellbeing and trust at its core.

CoU training equips business finance professionals across Australia and New Zealand with the skills to build long-term, trusting relationships, navigate difficult client or customer conversations and look after themselves whilst supporting their clients and colleagues.

Beginning as a research program in 2021, CoU training aimed to upskill trusted advisers to better support the financial and mental wellbeing of their small business owner (SME) clients.  The training was designed by the Business School in collaboration with workplace mental health researchers and industry partners in response to: 1) a growing body of research highlighting the connection between financial distress and poor mental health for SMEs, and 2) prominent accounting and bookkeeping professional bodies reporting on stressed members struggling to respond to, or cope with, distressed SME clients or unsure of what their responsibilities were when it came to duty of care.

CoU is premised on the theory of using key intermediaries to deliver mental health support to difficult-to-reach groups – in this case, SMEs – and encourage them to access professional support. Advisers like accountants and bookkeepers have often been identified as key intermediaries, with SMEs often reaching out to their finance professional for advice or support when financially distressed.

The training was also developed to research the incremental effectiveness of combining a primary prevention strategy (client relationship building training to mitigate financial stress) with the early intervention approach of Mental Health First Aid^® in terms of preventing mental health conditions from becoming more serious.

In 2023, backed by two years of encouraging research outcomes and participant and trainer feedback, we are expanding beyond the research program to equip workers across a range of industries in Australia and New Zealand on how to navigate sensitive conversations about mental health and wellbeing.