Relationships Australia NSW (RANSW) has launched a new mental health campaign urging Australians to have the conversations they often avoid, as new research reveals widespread loneliness, relationship strain and delays in seeking support.
The campaign, ‘Connection Is Protection’, has launched for Mental Health Month and is built around the role relationships play in maintaining mental wellbeing.
The campaign comes as RANSW’s new national research found 17 per cent of Australians felt lonely “often” or “very often” over the past month – equivalent to more than three million adults.
The research identified three key issues affecting Australians’ relationships: a lack of relationship skills, difficulty maintaining connection and delays in seeking help. Just one in three Australians said they were taught how to handle a difficult conversation in their relationships while growing up.
The gap was particularly pronounced among Gen X, with 53 per cent saying they were not taught these skills, compared with 40 per cent of Baby Boomers, 36 per cent of Millennials and 32 per cent of Gen Z.
“We teach our young people to read, write and drive a car. Far less attention goes to how they handle a hard conversation with someone they love,” RANSW CEO Elisabeth Shaw said. “Most of us are working it out on the fly, at a time when we can least afford to get it wrong.”
The research also found four in five Australians had experienced something over the past year that made it harder to feel connected to others.
Women reported experiencing these barriers at a higher rate than men, at 85 per cent compared with 76 per cent. Tiredness or low energy was the most commonly cited barrier, affecting 42 per cent, followed by cost-of-living pressures at 39 per cent and feeling down or anxious at 37 per cent.
A further one in four Australians said feeling lonely or having no one to reach out to made it harder to feel connected.
Technology also emerged as a barrier to meaningful connection, with 18 per cent saying phones often or very often got in the way of conversations with people they care about.
That figure rose to 28 per cent among Gen Z.
The research also found Australians were often waiting until relationship problems had escalated before seeking support. Just 9 per cent said they would seek help when a relationship first began to feel strained, while 17 per cent would wait until conflict became regular, 24 per cent until the issue affected their mental health and 13 per cent until the relationship was close to breaking down.
Almost three in 10 Australians, or 29 per cent, said they never seek help.
Men were more likely than women to say they never seek relationship support, at 31 per cent compared with 26 per cent.
Women, meanwhile, were more likely to wait until a relationship affected their mental health, at 28 per cent compared with 20 per cent of men.
“What we don’t want to see is people only thinking about support when a crisis is looming,” Shaw said. “This research shows that people are waiting until a relationship is already in regular conflict or worse, and men are the least likely to reach out at all.”
The research found relationships can also have a significant positive impact on wellbeing, with 62 per cent of Australians saying healthy relationships made them feel less stressed or anxious, while 61 per cent felt emotionally supported and 57 per cent felt more confident.
RANSW is using the campaign to encourage Australians to take smaller steps towards connection, seek relationship support earlier and put relationship skills and support on the broader prevention agenda.
Among those who had used different forms of support, 75 per cent found talking to a friend helpful, compared with 37 per cent who found online forums and peer support groups helpful.
The organisation also found 39 per cent of Australians would consider couples counselling as a regular check-in if it were accessible and affordable, while 34 per cent would consider a relationship health check and 33 per cent support recommended by their GP.
Shaw said relationship support should be considered alongside other forms of preventative healthcare.
“We get regular check-ups for our teeth and our hearts, but not our relationships,” she said. “That’s despite us knowing the quality of our relationships is closely linked to our health. If relationships are part of what keeps us well, they should be part of how we think about prevention.”
Credits
Client: Relationships Australia NSW
Campaign lead: Sarah Munro, Head of Strategic Communications, Relationships Australia NSW
Concept and production: Home Prod Co (homeprodco.com)
Animation: Martha Halliday (marthahalliday.co.uk)
Research: YouGov
PR: Makatoa Counsel
