Rugby icon’s mental health talk brings tradies to tears
Sir John Kirwan shares story of restoring wellbeing
Sir John Kirwan brought tears, hugs, dancing and laughter to a room full of Hawke’s Bay tradies while telling his story of mental health and wellbeing struggles.
The former All Black winger is a popular public speaker, and strives to normalise these topics and encourage people to reach out and look out for one another.
One of Hawke’s Bay’s largest trades hubs, the TW Group has access to many professions under one roof, from property development, building and planning through to finishing touches.
This year the TW Group has been working on a full health and wellbeing initiative ingrained into its business strategy, alongside a Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ model.
Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ is a holistic Ma¯ori model emphasising the four dimensions; taha wairua (spiritual health), taha hinengaro (mental health), taha tinana (physical health), and taha wha¯nua (family health).
As part of opening discussion of mental wellbeing in the work place, TW Group organised rugby icon and mental health advocate Sir John Kirwan to speak to more than 360 people, both live and live streamed across the country through 14 business divisions and their partners.
TW Group marketing and communication manager Rebecca Chatham said bringing Kirwan in to talk on mental health and wellbeing was an important introduction to the Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ model for staff.
“He was a great bloke, he was real, mesmerising, inspiring and just raw.”
TW Group’s foundations were based around rugby and teamwork, so Kirwan was well received by everyone who attended, she said.
When sharing his story of mental health struggles and how he overcame those issues, Chatham said it brought “life’s ups and downs to the forefront of everyone in the room”.
“Tears were shed and hugs were given, we danced and we laughed — it was a great event and we are proud to have been able to give this back to our team.
“Feedback from TW Group’s staff has been positive and has opened avenues of conversation around normalising the topic of mental health and wellbeing.
“From here our support will grow stronger with internal mental health and wellbeing offerings to all employees at TW Group, from discounted gym memberships to free counselling sessions and health care.
“We take the mental health and wellbeing of our team seriously.”
A big takeaway from the event for the TW Group team was remembering that everyone gets busy.
However, having time for themselves, being vulnerable and reaching out remains important for a long and happy life.
TW Group has launched a women’s leadership group tasked to look at how the company can best support and develop careers for women in the male-dominated industry.
“Within this we will look to bring more speakers into our business to create broader outcomes and opportunities,” Chatham said.