Angela Derks

16/05/2026

Thoughtful building design framework for wellbeing and human sustainability🌿

15/05/2026

MensLine is a free phone and online counselling service for men, available any time of the day or night. Whether you're going through a relationship breakdown, work stress, mental health challenges, or something you're not sure how to name, our trained counsellors are here to talk it through. No referral needed.

Call 1300 78 99 78 or chat online https://mensline.org.au/

14/05/2026

HOW CAN I BE HAPPY WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH WRONG IN THE WORLD?
A mindful answer by a buddhist monk:

A man once asked an old Buddhist monk:

“How can I allow myself to feel peace or happiness when the world is full of suffering, injustice, pain, and chaos?”

The monk looked at him quietly and asked:

“If your house was dark…
would you refuse to light a candle
because the whole world is not yet bright?”

The man stood silent.

The monk continued:

“The suffering of the world is real.
But if you destroy your own peace completely,
you only create one more exhausted and hopeless human being.”

The man replied,
“But isn’t being happy selfish when others are suffering?”

The monk smiled gently.

“A drowning person cannot save another drowning person.
Peaceful people heal more than broken people consumed by despair.”

Then the monk pointed to a pond nearby.

“When the water is disturbed, it cannot reflect clearly.
But when it becomes still, everything becomes visible.”

He looked back at the man and said:

“The same is true for the mind.
A restless mind reacts with fear, anger, and hopelessness.
A peaceful mind responds with wisdom, compassion, and clarity.”

The man lowered his head and whispered,
“But the world still feels so heavy.”

The monk nodded.

“Yes.
And that is why your peace matters even more.”

Then he added softly:

“Do not carry the pain of the entire world in one heart.
Instead…

Be kind where you are.
Help where you can.
Speak gently.
Reduce suffering around you, even in small ways.

A single candle cannot remove all darkness…
but it still changes the room it enters.”

In Buddhism, happiness is not ignoring suffering.
It is learning how to remain compassionate
without letting the suffering of the world destroy your spirit completely.

The monk smiled one last time and said:

“Protect your inner peace.
The world needs more calm hearts, not more broken minds.”

The same concept applies in our workplaces.🌿

07/05/2026

A great take Safe Work Australia on psychosocial hazards that can impact negatively on our people's wellbeing, such as Miranda's leadership practices!

23/02/2026

A great article from Agenda for strategy and policy makers highlighting Australia's looming crisis in workforce sustainability, equality, productivity and national resilience.

Australia’s sandwich generation - overwhelmingly women aged 45–65 - is quietly sustaining a $77.9 billion unpaid care economy.

05/02/2026

Let’s go.

For the next two hours, I’m working with a group of higher education leaders, sharing Mental Health Fundamentals through the ASWA C.A.R.E. model.

These leaders care deeply about their people — and at the same time, they’re overloaded, time-poor, and carrying competing priorities. Good intent alone isn’t enough anymore.

Shifting the needle on mental health requires practical capability, shared language, and simple frameworks that fit into real leadership contexts — not more to-do lists.

This is one core component of a comprehensive employee wellbeing strategy: building confidence and competence so leaders can care well, sustainably, and without burning themselves out in the process.🌿

31/01/2026

Upcoming Conference Option 🌿

Frontline community, a gentle reminder that Early Bird registrations close tonight.

FMHC26 brings together more than 400 people across emergency services, defence, health, and lived experience for two days of shared learning, honest conversations, and time to reconnect with what sustains this work.

If this space feels like it’s meant for you, you’re welcome to join us:
👉 https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0tPb60

22/01/2026

Spending time with the team at Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital is genuinely heart-filling.

The care shown—to injured and vulnerable wildlife, and to one another—runs deep. This work can be emotionally demanding, which is why it’s so encouraging to see the hospital investing in mental health and wellbeing training (made possible through a secured grant) to support their volunteers and ensure no one carries the load alone.

Caring for the carers really matters, and this team truly understands that.
Australasian Sustainable Wellness Academy

31/12/2025

As the year comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting — and I feel incredibly hopeful about the future of our workplaces.

Not because the challenges have disappeared (they haven’t), but because I’ve seen a real shift in how leaders are thinking about wellbeing, culture, and performance.

This year, ASWA welcomed the largest number of participants ever into our Diploma of Wellness Leadership since it launched in 2017. Over 30% came from the health sector, with growing numbers from mental health, wellness, and education.

We also saw a 400% increase in Psychosocial Safety Officer certifications, particularly from Safety and HR professionals, including Return to Work Coordinators. That tells me people are moving from awareness to action.

Disappointingly, the public sector continues to lag behind the private sector. Australian government agencies must catch up by developing leadership capabilities in strategic wellness. In particular, the health and education departments need wellbeing capabilities that enable front-line workers to effectively care for our community members and shift the needle on our country's mental health and wellbeing statistics in the right direction. Our future generations need us to leave a healthier legacy.

One of the greatest privileges of my work is seeing the wellbeing strategies our students develop — and then feeling the impact of that work during mentoring sessions. These change-makers are based across Australia and around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and the UAE.

I’m especially proud to see the Angela Derks Workplace Wellness Framework (2022) being implemented exactly as it was designed, as a prevention-focussed, practical and relevant solution to enable organisations to effectively support their people to adapt, deliver, grow and thrive.

Looking toward 2026, we’re excited to be launching new courses that build capability in key wellness principles, designed to complement and strengthen our strategic and systemic wellbeing programs.

Change takes time. But it’s happening — and that gives me so much hope.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. I’m very much looking forward to 2026 💚

22/11/2025

The Productivity Commission review of the current National Mental Health and Su***de Prevention Agreement has found essentially, that it is not fit for purpose.

This comes as no surprise to those if us in the wellness sector as very little focus has ever been on illness prevention and mental health promotion but rather to the provision of reactive and crisis driven services.

Services will always be required but the only way to reduce the demand on services will be to reduce the need by promoting mental health initiatives and improving the social and emotional well being of the population and in particular promoting wellness skills in parents and workplaces, for us adults to be enabled to support and guide our children.

This can't be addressed in a 5 year or a 10 year plan but will require generational change in the way we improve the strength of our communities and this requires longer term commitment and not election cycles for results to be evident.

The review found the Agreement is not effective and a new policy architecture is needed to articulate the collective actions that will deliver changes to the mental health and su***de prevention system and improve outcomes.