A mental health expo will be held in Newcastle on Saturday to increase awareness of available services, reduce stigma and foster wellbeing.
The inaugural Hunter Mental Health and Wellbeing Expo will be held at Newcastle Racecourse.
The Lake Macquarie and Newcastle Suicide Prevention Network will host the expo, which is free to enter.
The network's chief executive Bradley Dunn said mental health concerns had risen in the Hunter with "traumatic events in the last five to six years".
"There has been an increased focus in the media over the past few months on the rising mental health and suicide rates in the Hunter Region and rightly so," Mr Dunn said.
The Newcastle Herald recently reported that the Hunter New England district recorded 1331 suicides from 2012 to 2021.
National health data shows almost 150,000 people in this district have a mental health condition.
And the Hunter health network, including Central Coast, recorded 6594 intentional self-harm hospitalisations in the last five years.
Mr Dunn said this included the pandemic, bushfires and floods.
"So it is important to ensure our community is well connected with the support they need," Mr Dunn said.
The expo will include psychologists and counsellors, art therapy, fitness experts and nutritionists, with a focus on physical as well as mental health.
Presentations will also occur from organisations including Headspace Newcastle, Healing Path to Wellness and BU Happiness College.
Declan Edwards, founder of the Hunter BU Happiness College, said he would represent "a positive psychology approach to mental health and wellbeing" at the expo.
"We look at how to get people who are struggling to feeling OK," said Mr Edwards, who holds a masters degree in positive psychology.
"Life's about more than just feeling OK.
"We need to also look at skills, resources and tools to help us feel like we're happy, thriving and flourishing."
A couple of decades ago, mental health was about "getting people from minus 10 to neutral".
"We're now realising there's more to the spectrum of mental health than that," he said.
"The goal is to go towards mental flourishing, thriving and happiness - to go from neutral to plus 10.
"We also need to look at happiness, wellbeing and thriving from an evidence-based and scientific lens."
He said positive psychology was "an emerging field of research".
"It started in the '90s in the US, with Dr Martin Seligman as a pioneer.
"He was credited with saying we've spent most of the 1900s putting most of our research into what is wrong with humanity and how to treat it.
"And that we've put barely anything into what's right with humanity and how to cultivate it."
Mr Edwards said positive psychology was "born as this scientific movement to start researching what makes life worth living".
"We need to research how we help people fulfil their potential and feel well, good and happy."
Mr Dunn said the expo was an "opportunity for the community to see some of the great services the Hunter has".
"We are so pleased to bring people together who all share a common goal to help others and allow them to reach their goals."
The event runs from 9.30am to 3.30pm.
