The Four Rs of Wellbeing: Reconnect, Reimagine, Renovate, Resilience

October, as many of you know, is Mental Health Awareness Month. To encourage conversations around mental health in the workplace, we hosted a Talk Tuesday event with David Germond.

David is a dynamic facilitator dedicated to transforming organisational cultures and energising teams. He is the co-founder of Teamship SA™, a company that helps leadership teams create high-performance environments that drive innovation and growth.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, David presented his insights in a thought-provoking talk titled "My Wellbeing: Reconnect… Reimagine… Resilience… Renovate."

He opened the session with some striking statistics:

- 61% of employees experience mental health issues at work

- Mental health issues cost the global economy $2.5 trillion annually

- 75% of mental health disorders in developing countries go untreated

Although these figures are concerning, David emphasised that the numbers alone aren’t the focus. They don’t convey the humanity behind mental health – real people are affected every day. Mental health is a living, personal experience, not just statistics. Here, his Four Rs of Wellbeing come into play – Reconnect, Reimagine, Resilience, and Renovate. Focusing on people over numbers is the first step in dismantling the stigma around mental health and starting meaningful conversations.

David Germond’s Four Rs of Mental Health

1. Reimagine

By reimagining mental health as a living experience that affects everyone, we can deepen our understanding of what it means to be well. Reimagining why we engage in practices like exercise, therapy, or meaningful work allows us to move from merely surviving to thriving, from treatment to prevention.

2. Reconnect

Isolation is a core contributor to anxiety and depression. To counter this, reconnecting with people and communities is crucial – both for support and for the assurance that we’re not alone. Through reconnection, we build relationships and inner alignment that offer solace in times of stress.

3. Renovate

Renovation is about building new habits. At different stages of life, different practices serve us best, and sometimes we need to “declutter” old habits. Renovation involves defining what we want our future to look like and actively working towards it rather than dwelling on the past. In doing so, we build new personal and collective systems that support lasting wellbeing.

4. Resilience

Resilience is one of the most powerful skills you can develop. It allows us to recover from setbacks stronger than before. A resilient mindset enables us to see ourselves as victors, not victims, and to view challenges as learning opportunities. Resilience helps us recognise that life has highs and lows, and when things are down, they can only go up. With resilience, we find the strength not only to recover from hardship but to grow through it.

David concluded his talk with a moving reminder: “Reach out and reach forward.” Remember, you’re not alone – reach out to others and ask for help when needed. And always reach forward – bounce forward from setbacks, using them as a springboard for personal growth.