Introducing SustainHealth’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Division: Meet the Team Behind the Mission
Mental health and wellbeing services across Australia are under intense pressure, and it’s affecting clinicians, care teams, and even the patients waiting for support.
Workloads are rising. Staffing ratios are inadequate. Burnout remains a real concern.
Yet, finding the right match remains challenging. Skilled professionals can’t find sustainable workplaces, and organisations struggle to find the right people.
A role might look right on paper, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is right for the clinician, the team, or the people receiving care.
At SustainHealth, we kept seeing this play out in our conversations with healthcare organisations and professionals.
So, we made a deliberate decision to build something dedicated to it.
The result is our new Mental Health and Wellbeing division.
Through it, we connect qualified mental health and wellbeing practitioners with organisations where they can make a genuine impact.
When the Market Told Us It Was Time
For years, placing mental health and allied health professionals was simply a part of our wider healthcare work.
But as our conversations with clients grew more urgent, a clear pattern emerged.
The need for dedicated, nuanced mental health and wellbeing support was outpacing standard recruitment models.
Instead of meeting this demand through multiple teams, we decided to build dedicated capability, bringing in specialists to fill critical gaps in the mental health and allied health fields.
As our Founder and Director, Kay, puts it: “We created the division in direct response to market demand. We were already seeing increasing demand for mental health professionals across our existing client base, so the opportunity was clear.”
The need isn’t simply more candidates.
Healthcare organisations require professionals who understand their models of care and would fit into their teams. Likewise, candidates want to understand the organisations they’re considering and whether a role genuinely aligns with their interests and goals.
That requires a different kind of conversation; one we were ready to have.
“Mental Health & Wellbeing is a natural extension of our broader healthcare workforce strategy,” Kay says. “We’re building SustainHealth to be a trusted workforce solutions partner across the areas of greatest need in Australian healthcare. Mental health is unquestionably one of those areas.”
With a dedicated division, we can give those conversations the time and attention they deserve.
What the Division Actually Does Differently
Until now, we handled mental health and wellbeing roles alongside other healthcare job opportunities.
But recruiting for these roles is vastly different from general healthcare recruitment. It requires an understanding of professional requirements, clinical environments, team dynamics and niche professional licensing.
Knowledge of those nuances helps a consultant have better conversations with professionals and organisations.
Amanda Quinn, Head of Workforce Solutions, believes that a specialist division gives SustainHealth the opportunity to do exactly that.
“Having a division that lives and breathes in the wellness space means we can finally serve it the way it deserves to be served. Clients get consultants who actually understand the sector, who know the intricacies of the roles, who can have a proper conversation about workforce planning rather than just candidate availability. And candidates get someone in their corner who gets it.”
A generic healthcare recruitment consultant won’t possess the knowledge depth required to have those conversations.
And in a field with acute talent shortages, the last thing you need is a partner who disappears after the placement. With our dedicated Mental Health and Wellbeing Division, we aim to serve candidates and organisations in the long run.
Meet the Team: Maddie
Maddie joined SustainHealth as a Candidate Coordinator supporting NSW Nursing, but within weeks, she found herself drawn to something close to her heart: mental health.
Her background in social sciences and personal experiences reinforced just how life-changing the right clinician can be. It caused her to naturally gravitate toward psychology and push for a path where she could do meaningful work.
Three months later, we trusted her to recruit psychologists for permanent roles across Australia.
Today, Maddie’s focus sits firmly within the mental health side of the division, supporting psychologists and social workers.
Spend five minutes talking to her and you’ll realise how curious she’s about the profession.
She spends her days having conversations with mental health professionals across Australia, learning about their experiences, specialties, and the kind of work they want to do next.
Maddie’s vision for the new division is simple: become one of the country’s most trusted specialists in the mental health space.
“I want psychologists to know that I’m not the recruiter who sees them as just another target or a candidate to fill a role. I genuinely care about finding the right opportunity for each person and being their biggest advocate throughout the process. I recruit with my heart, and I’ll always go above and beyond wherever I can to support my candidates.”
Meet the Team: Esther
Esther brings a different area of expertise to the division.
Her background includes two years recruiting in the Special Education sector.
Today, she is focused on the allied health side of SustainHealth’s Mental Health & Wellbeing division, supporting professionals across disciplines including speech pathology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
Her approach is shaped by her lived experience, and the memories of being treated like a number on a spreadsheet by recruiters when she worked in sales.
She believes the best relationships, with both candidates and clients, are built on honesty, integrity and trust.
That means having difficult conversations, whether that’s explaining why a role isn’t the right fit or encouraging an organisation to think differently about their workforce requirements.
“I truly believe in being an extension to organisations’ existing talent attraction teams/strategies”, Esther says. “I want my division’s relationships with hospitals and businesses to go beyond just placing candidates, I want us to be a long-term resource. Too often, I think the ‘consulting’ part of being a recruitment consultant falls to the wayside but that is how we add value, beyond simply filling a role.”
For Esther, success is all about creating matches that last, reducing turnover and ensuring continuity of care.
Her advice to allied health professionals reflects that philosophy: don’t choose a role based on salary alone. Look at the staff turnover, travel expectations, and whether the organisation will support you to thrive.
What Candidates and Clients Can Expect
Whether you’re looking for your next clinical home or trying to stabilise a stretched service, you’ll find a reliable partner in our Mental Health and Wellbeing division.
Maddie and Esther will take the time to understand your clinical passions, boundaries, and preferred working styles.
From psychology and social work to speech pathology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy, they’ll connect you to permanent, casual, or contract roles where you can build a sustainable future.
You can count on them for honest advice when an opportunity isn’t the right fit.
For healthcare hiring managers, the relationship goes beyond filling urgent vacancies. Instead, you’ll get a workforce partner who understands clinical nuances, team dynamics, and retention realities.
Maddie and Esther will work as extensions of your team, helping you plan your mental health and allied health workforce to deliver consistent, high-quality care.
Bringing Recruitment with Heart to Mental Healthcare
Mental health and wellbeing are personal. The recruitment process around them should be personal too.
Our Mental Health and Wellbeing division was created with that idea in mind. We’re here to build genuine relationships, champion sustainable careers, and strengthen the organisations delivering care to our communities.
When you get the workforce right, the entire system benefits.
Whether you’re a psychologist, social worker, speech pathologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or a healthcare organisation, we’re here to help.
Speak with Maddie or Esther today to discuss your career goals, clinical interests, or current hiring challenges.