AIA renews commitment to mental health initiatives

As part of renewing the partnership, the life insurer will commit another five years of funding to SuperFriend to help educate individuals, employers and workplaces about improving their mental health.

Over the past year, AIA Australia has also had representation on SuperFriend’s sub-committee to assist with its project to develop best practice guidelines for the management of psychological claims.

AIA Australia chief executive Damien Mu said the partnership was integral to achieving best practice in early intervention and rehabilitation of workplace mental health claims.

“Occupational rehabilitation has been a huge focus for us as a business, and we’ve conducted significant trials in this space to establish the key principles essential for successful intervention and management of workplace illness and injury, particularly mental health,” Mr Mu said.

“By ensuring employers and workers are properly educated in how to identify, understand and manage mental health issues, we are better able to ensure early intervention before these issues start to seriously affect a worker’s everyday life and ability to do their job.”

SuperFriend is a nationwide initiative aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of “all profit to member” superannuation funds, employers and staff.

The life insurer first signed with SuperFriend in 2006 as part of its push to provide targeted intervention, support and assistance for members suffering from mental health issues.

Mental illness is one of the top three claims in the life insurance industry and it is estimated to cost $160 million a year in income protection and disability claims.