Funding to deliver mental health services for emergency service workers and their families

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)

And are one of the following entities:

• an entity, incorporated in Australia
• a company limited by guarantee
• an incorporated association
• an incorporated not for profit organisation or registered charity
• a publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 of the guidelines.

Other eligibility criteria

We can only accept applications where you:

• can confirm that:
  • your organisation has experience in delivering mental health services targeted to emergency services workers
  • your organisation can deliver these services nationally
  • your organisation can complete the project and meet any additional costs of the project not covered by grant funding
• provide a letter/statement from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) confirming that they support the project
• submit all attachments listed at section 7.1 of the guidelines.

You can’t apply if you are:

• an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• an individual
• an unincorporated association
• a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
• a Commonwealth, state, territory or local government body (including government business enterprises)
• a non-corporate Commonwealth entity
• a corporate Commonwealth entity, or state and territory business enterprise which does not undertake publicly funded research.

Partner with other organisations

You can partner with one or more other organisations that also meet the eligibility criteria. But you must decide who the lead organisation is.

The lead organisation must fill out the application form.

If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:

• signs the grant agreement
• is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement.

You must complete your project by 31 December 2026.

Your project must:

• provide national coverage, including activities at different locations, and target rural, regional and remote locations in Australia
• if successful, relevant personnel working on the grant activity must maintain the following registration and checks where relevant:
  • Working with Vulnerable People registration (or equivalent depending on the relevant state of territory)
  • working with children check
  • mental health professionals must be registered with an appropriate registration body.

Eligible activities must directly relate to the project and must include the following:

• targeted support for emergency services workers and their families to access resources regarding mental health conditions to improve awareness raising and provision of support for referrals to appropriate services
• provision of evidence-based digital assessment and triage
• provision of clinical mental health treatment (including via telehealth) directed at the appropriate level of need
• provision of prevention and well-being services under the direction of qualified mental health professionals designed to reduce the onset of recognised mental health conditions
• the delivery of services must be based on evidence that such targeted services assist with the prevention, treatment and control of recognised mental health conditions
• the delivery of services must be trauma-informed, designed to be inclusive of needs of different cohorts (e.g. First Nations, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, people with disability), delivered nationally and provided by or under the direction of trained and qualified mental health professionals and in line with international best practice
• an evaluation of the impact of the services on the treatment, prevention and control of recognised mental health conditions of emergency services workers and their families and the sector’s mental resilience.

We may also approve other activities. Any additional activities must be in line with objectives and outcomes in the guidelines.

You can use this grant funding for:

• direct labour costs of employees you directly employ to deliver on the core elements of the project, and excludes leadership and administrative staff costs. We consider a person an employee when you pay a regular salary or wage, out of which you make regular tax instalment deductions
• up to 30% labour on costs to cover employer paid superannuation, payroll tax, workers compensation insurance, and overheads such as office rent and the provision of computers for staff directly working on the project
• contract expenditure covering the cost of eligible project activities that are contracted to others. All contractors must have a written contract prior to starting any project work. Invoices from contractors must contain a detailed description and breakdown of the work including hours and hourly rates
• costs associated with the design of any programs related to targeted mental health support for emergency services workers, with a focus on those involved in disaster response and their families
• domestic travel limited to the reasonable cost of accommodation and transportation (including short-term car hire) required to conduct agreed project activities in Australia
• staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
• costs associated with venue hire to support service provision in an emergency event
• equipment and uniforms related to the agreed project activities
• marketing and communication costs in accordance with agreed project activities
• website development costs directly related to agreed project activities
• the cost of an independent audit of project expenditure to a maximum of 1% of total eligible project expenditure.