.jpg)
NSW Small Business Month: Behind Every Small Business Is a Person Carrying the Responsibility
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
1 October 2026
AAMHP welcomes NSW Small Business Month and calls for greater attention to the mental wellbeing of the people behind small businesses
The Australian Association of Mental Health Practitioners (AAMHP) is supporting NSW Small Business Month 2026, reminding communities that behind every small business is a person, or a small group of people, carrying responsibility for customers, staff, finances, compliance and the future of the enterprise.
Held throughout October, NSW Small Business Month brings together government, industry and community organisations through hundreds of events designed to help small businesses build skills, make connections and access practical support.
Small businesses are central to the NSW economy. New research released by the NSW Small Business Commission at the beginning of Small Business Month shows that small businesses employ close to 1.7 million people, around 40 per cent of the NSW workforce, while 63 per cent of NSW small businesses now employ fewer than four people.
AAMHP Chair Shane Warren said those figures also reveal something easily overlooked in conversations about business resilience.
“When we talk about small business, it is easy to talk in economic language such as turnover, productivity, growth, cash flow and employment. But behind all of those numbers is a human being carrying responsibility, often with very little distance between their business life and their personal life.” [Shane Warren]
“For many small-business owners, there is no large HR department, finance team or management structure to absorb a difficult week. When something goes wrong, the owner may be the person dealing with the customer, worrying about payroll, solving the staffing problem and lying awake at night wondering how to make next month work.” [Shane Warren]
The NSW Small Business Commissioner acknowledges that owning a small business can involve long hours, unpredictable cash flow, multiple responsibilities and significant stress, with potential consequences for both the wellbeing of the owner and the viability of the business.
The Commission’s 2026 Small Business Momentum Survey has also identified rising costs, weak customer demand, government charges, compliance burdens, workforce challenges, cash-flow pressures, economic uncertainty and mental-health impacts among factors weighing on small-business confidence.
AAMHP Secretary Susan Sandy said that pressure can become normalised because business owners are accustomed to solving problems.
“Small-business owners are often extraordinarily capable people. That strength can sometimes make it harder to notice when the load has become too heavy, because pushing through is part of how they have learned to keep the business moving.” [Susan Sandy]
“Stress, disrupted sleep, irritability, constant worry, exhaustion or losing enjoyment in work can easily be dismissed as simply part of being busy. They are also signals worth paying attention to before somebody reaches burnout.” [Susan Sandy]
Service NSW similarly warns that financial pressure and sustained business stress can affect sleep, physical health, decision-making, relationships with staff and the way a business operates.
Mental-health practitioners are small-business owners too
For AAMHP, NSW Small Business Month also has particular relevance because many counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches, supervisors and other mental-health practitioners operate as sole traders or small-practice owners.
Shane Warren said professional care work does not exempt practitioners from ordinary business pressures.
“We can sometimes imagine the helping professions as existing outside normal commercial realities. They do not. A practitioner running a private practice still has rent, insurance, software, professional development, supervision, taxation, marketing, cancellations, administration and unpredictable income to manage, while also holding responsibility for the quality of care they provide.” [Shane Warren]
“Looking after practitioner wellbeing is therefore not indulgent. A sustainable practitioner is better placed to provide sustainable care.” [Shane Warren]
AAMHP encourages small-business owners, including practitioners within its own professional community, to use NSW Small Business Month as an opportunity not only to develop business skills, but to review the sustainability of the way they are working.
That might mean strengthening professional and business networks, seeking financial or business advice earlier, setting clearer boundaries around working hours, building peer connection, using supervision appropriately or seeking mental-health support when needed.
The NSW Small Business Month program itself recognises this need, including dedicated events addressing small-business owner mental health and wellbeing, stress and sleep during October.
Susan Sandy said one of the most valuable things small-business communities can do is challenge the idea that asking for help represents business failure.
“Support should not be something we seek only when everything is falling apart. Strong businesses use accountants, advisers, lawyers, mentors and specialist expertise because nobody can know everything. Mental-health and wellbeing support should be understood in much the same way.” [Susan Sandy]
AAMHP congratulates the NSW Government, NSW Small Business Commission and participating organisations on NSW Small Business Month 2026 and encourages small-business operators to take advantage of the opportunities available throughout October.
Small business may be built on independence, but it should never require isolation.
Media Contact:
Shane Warren, Chair
Susan Sandy, Secretary
Philip Armstrong, CEO
Comments