Leadership is a Health Intervention: Psychologically Healthy Leaders Sustain Teams
Tracks
Ballroom 2 - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, June 23, 2026 |
| 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM |
Overview
Sarah Walsh, The Health Effort
Presenter
Sarah Walsh
Director
The Health Effort
Leadership is a Health Intervention: Psychologically Healthy Leaders Sustain Teams
Presentation Overview
Leadership is a frontline health intervention. This session will present emotionally regulated leadership as a practical, scientist–practitioner approach to sustainable teams.
The quality of leadership shapes whether teams thrive or fracture, and leaders now carry explicit responsibilities to protect the psychological health of their workforce. This is not aspirational, it is a present‑day requirement.
Yet many organisations still treat psychological expertise as a last‑resort clinical resource rather than a core capacity for everyday leadership. That siloed approach leaves leaders underprepared to meet regulatory expectations while managing fast‑paced, high‑demand workplaces.
This session will make the case for bringing psychological skills off the couch and into everyday leadership practice. Combining evidence‑based psychological approaches with psychosocial health and safety principles, the session offers a scientist–practitioner framework for workforce sustainability The focus is on upskilling leaders in emotion regulation, relational practice, soft skills, and applied psychological strategies so leaders can protect their own wellbeing and better support their teams. Attendees will see how regulated leadership reduces turnover, protects wellbeing, and strengthens cohesion, even when clinical care and commercial priorities compete.
Through real‑world examples, brief worked demonstrations, and accessible toolkits, participants will practise low‑burden interventions they can use immediately. Practical guidance will also show how to frame the business case for psychologically safe leadership to stakeholders. This session is for team leaders, senior clinicians, and managers seeking pragmatic, theory‑informed skills to support workforce mental health tomorrow.
Three Key Learnings
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Reframe leadership as a population‑level health intervention and describe its implications for workforce sustainability.
2. Demonstrate two emotion‑regulation or relational skills leaders can use in real time.
3. Promote psychologically safe practices within their organisation by articulating their value, both clinically and in business more widely
The quality of leadership shapes whether teams thrive or fracture, and leaders now carry explicit responsibilities to protect the psychological health of their workforce. This is not aspirational, it is a present‑day requirement.
Yet many organisations still treat psychological expertise as a last‑resort clinical resource rather than a core capacity for everyday leadership. That siloed approach leaves leaders underprepared to meet regulatory expectations while managing fast‑paced, high‑demand workplaces.
This session will make the case for bringing psychological skills off the couch and into everyday leadership practice. Combining evidence‑based psychological approaches with psychosocial health and safety principles, the session offers a scientist–practitioner framework for workforce sustainability The focus is on upskilling leaders in emotion regulation, relational practice, soft skills, and applied psychological strategies so leaders can protect their own wellbeing and better support their teams. Attendees will see how regulated leadership reduces turnover, protects wellbeing, and strengthens cohesion, even when clinical care and commercial priorities compete.
Through real‑world examples, brief worked demonstrations, and accessible toolkits, participants will practise low‑burden interventions they can use immediately. Practical guidance will also show how to frame the business case for psychologically safe leadership to stakeholders. This session is for team leaders, senior clinicians, and managers seeking pragmatic, theory‑informed skills to support workforce mental health tomorrow.
Three Key Learnings
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Reframe leadership as a population‑level health intervention and describe its implications for workforce sustainability.
2. Demonstrate two emotion‑regulation or relational skills leaders can use in real time.
3. Promote psychologically safe practices within their organisation by articulating their value, both clinically and in business more widely
Biography
Sarah Walsh is the Founder and Director of The Health Effort, an Endorsed Health Psychologist, and an AHPRA Board-Approved Supervisor. She brings extensive experience as a Clinical Lead and national team manager in corporate allied health, where she led the growth of the psychology team. Sarah has partnered with the University of Queensland to support postgraduate placements and early-career endorsement pathways. Her work focuses on making psychology more accessible and translating psychological theory into practical tools for everyone to be able to utilise. She is deeply committed to workforce sustainability, occupational wellbeing, and building psychologically safe, values-aligned teams.
