The HeadFit Awards are about recognising and celebrating those doing good work in workplaces around mental health, its creator says.
The convenor of the awards, Spark lawyer Grant Pritchard, told Breakfast his own mental health journey started when he lost a colleague to suicide.
“I told myself that I wouldn’t work somewhere that did nothing,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard says there are now one in eight people in the mental community at Spark, who workers can ask for help.
“It’s changed the game in terms of workplace culture, it’s created safety for our people to better understand their own mental health, to ask for help really early and to be a practical support for people at work,” he said.
“I want everyone in New Zealand to care deeply, deeply about this topic before they get kicked in the guts by it.”
The awards are open now, with Pritchard saying “we want to hear your stories, your little victories your big breakthroughs” in the hope they can inspire other workplaces.
“The whole purpose of these awards to is to lift up and recognise and celebrate people who are doing good, good stuff,” he said.
“To encourage other workplaces to look on and say perhaps we could do that.”
SHARE ME