SUPPORTING THE MENTAL HEALTH OF OUR WORKFORCE
As a valued member of our Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) team, Nichole puts the wellbeing of our people at the centre of everything she does.
Her ‘no nonsense’ approach has earned her admiration and respect from her peers as well as the many employees across the company whom she has helped to manage injury or illness.
Nichole is especially passionate about the mental wellbeing of our workforce, and her efforts in this area are making a real difference in raising awareness of mental illness risks in the workplace.
She has championed Ventia’s partnership with MATES in Construction, supporting several of our Sydney teams in gaining accreditation, including the M5 East and VBAJV Rockdale teams. Nichole is guiding many of our other sites through the accreditation process and is managing the roll out of suicide awareness training.
She also helped to build a bespoke program for our Incident Response Traffic Patrollers and Incident Responders which addresses the unique challenges our teams face in dealing with crisis and trauma as part of their day-to-day role.
Nichole has also influenced the development of our inaugural Ventia Mental Health Plan. This includes designing a course on creating a mentally healthy workplace which will be rolled out to our leaders, and a peer support model that will include building a network of 20 peer ‘champions’ across the company.
Many employees who have faced difficult, and often sensitive health issues, can attest to the dignity, empathy and respect they have received from Nichole. Recognition for her efforts extend beyond Ventia, too: this year Nichole received the MATES in Construction NSW ‘MATES Champion Award’.
