Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) veterans, Tim Curtis and Ben Pronk from the Resilience Shield organisation, recently delivered a resilience and mental toughness workshop at HMAS Stirling. Their talk was aimed at empowering Navy personnel to better understand and strengthen their mental resilience.

Organised by the command team at HMAS Stirling, Western Australia, the session was attended by officers and sailors from across the base, along with Australian Public Service and contractor support staff.

Command Warrant Officer Danny Burgess said the workshop reinforced the importance of investing in people as a core capability, noting that mental resilience underpins performance and culture.

“In our pursuit of operational excellence, we often focus heavily on systems and platforms,” Warrant Officer Burgess said. 

“Yet the most vital capability we possess is our people. Ensuring they feel supported, respected and provided with appropriate resilience training directly contributes to our collective performance and culture.”

Mr Curtis said the workshop was designed to help participants gain greater insight into how mental toughness could be developed and sustained.

“This workshop is about helping people understand themselves better and giving them practical strategies to build mental toughness they can apply in demanding environments,” Mr Curtis said.

Mr Pronk said the strong level of engagement from HMAS Stirling personnel highlighted the relevance of resilience training within the Navy environment.

“The conversations and engagement throughout the session reinforced just how important resilience is to sustaining performance and wellbeing in Defence,” Mr Pronk said.

The workshop is part of HMAS Stirling’s commitment to supporting the professional development and wellbeing of personnel, recognising mental resilience as a key component of operational effectiveness.