NMTAFE cares a lot about making sure students feel good mentally and physically. We want to help students grow and feel supported. Standing by our corporate values, we believe in being inclusive and supportive, making sure everyone feels welcome no matter who they are. By putting mental health first, we make sure students can learn well and become successful in their personal and professional lives.
NMTAFE Wellbeing Framework
The NMTAFE Wellbeing Framework is a plan for helping everyone achieve good mental health and well-being. It has three important parts that guide what we do to help staff and students. You can access the NMTAFE Wellbeing Framework (870 KB) (PDF document) here.
Students with an existing diagnosed mental health condition
If you are a student with a diagnosed mental health condition and are on medication, or require other support recommended by your medical practitioner to manage your studies, then you are encouraged to contact our Accessibility and Learning Support team
9427 1314
access.support@nmtafe.wa.edu.au
What do I do if I'm experiencing a mental distress?
NMTAFE has a Student Support structure in place to ensure you can access the help you need to reach your goals of completing a qualification and obtain work relevant to your skills.
If you are experiencing mental distress, such as anxiety or depression, you can access NMTAFE’s Student Assistance Program (SAP) which offers you 3 free counselling appointments with an external counsellor from PeopleSense.
To access the service, students should:
- request a referral from an NMTAFE staff member, who will send you an email with Consent for Counselling
- provide your consent by forwarding an email response to the Wellbeing email
The Wellbeing Support team will contact PeopleSense to confirm your referral. You will need to contact PeopleSense to book your own appointment.
Please be aware, if you make an appointment and then do not attend or cancel the appointment within 24 hours, you may be responsible for paying the costs of the appointment.
School students who are registered with the VETDSS program need to contact their High School to access support.
Mental illness is a health issue. It can affect your thoughts, mood, and/or behaviour. It can impact the way you perceive the world around you and can cause distress. It may affect how you cope at work, how you function in relationships and your ability to manage everyday tasks.
Changes in sleep, weight, personal hygiene or activity at school or work may hint at a mental health issue. Do seek help from a doctor if signs don't go away after two weeks.
It is important to understand that for certain mental illnesses, when left untreated, may lead to suicidal ideation. Take all thoughts or threats of suicide seriously — seek help immediately if someone talks about suicidal thoughts or is engaging in high-risk activities.
If you have a mental health condition(s), it may impact on the completion of your course successfully. Contributing factors include:
- difficulty paying attention or understanding the content taught in class, due to symptoms of the illness and/or effects of medication
- fear of failure or discrimination by classmates
- frequent absences due to the nature of the mental illness
- life issues that impact on your ability to study, such as financial difficulties, relationship challenges and/or housing stress
If you can access help to improve your mental health, and overcome these challenges to your studies, research in the vocational training sector shows that reaching achievable goals, such as a certificate at TAFE, helps people to develop valuable life skills that may improve strategies to cope with mental illness.
WA Mental Health Commission's Think Mental Health
If you want to find out what mental health services are available in WA, NMTAFE recommends WA Mental Health Commission's Think Mental Health(opens in a new tab) website.
The Think Mental Health website assists WA community to connect with the best information, support and services for their particular situation.
Its primary focus is to provide information on how to maintain mental health and wellbeing, provide information on what you can do when things aren’t going so well and where to get help when it is needed.
You can find out more about the following topics:
- Information about mental health and wellbeing(opens in a new tab)
- How to support your own mental health(opens in a new tab)
- How to support other’s mental health(opens in a new tab)
- Accessing mental health emergency helplines(opens in a new tab)
- Accessing other mental health services in WA(opens in a new tab)
- Seeing a GP for support and develop a Mental Health Treatment Plan for counselling(opens in a new tab)
Australian Federal Government’s Head to Health website
The federal government website Head to Health(opens in a new tab) can help you find digital mental health services from some of Australia’s most trusted mental health organisations. Provides apps, online programs, online forums, and phone services, as well as a range of digital information resources.
Other Mental Health, Alcohol and other Drugs, Community and Social Support Services in WA
You can also access the following WA sites for a library of services available for community and social support, including accommodation, food, financial and medical assistance.
- WA Community Services(opens in a new tab)
- WAConnect - Community Services Directory(opens in a new tab)
- My Services Community Directory (WA Mental Health Commission)(opens in a new tab)
Apprenticeship Mentoring Services
As an apprentice or trainee, you have access to free and confidential mentoring services through your Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN).
Please view the support tab on the Apprenticeships and Traineeship page.