The Art of Giving

Kia ora koutou members and supporters of NZISM. I’m rather over watching the news. To be honest, all the doom and crises that is reported nightly is starting to reduce my capacity for kindness and positivity, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment. So it was wonderful to have recent inspiration from the NZISM community.

Last week we had a member who had paid their membership privately, which was paid again by their company. Rather than take the refund, the member elected to ‘gift’ his extra membership to a health and safety coordinator to help them along their career pathway. It seems such a simple thing, yet generosity like that is not forgotten. I would be confident in saying that the recipient will find a way to pay it forward in the future when the time is right.

This isn’t just a ‘one off’, we have a strong, supportive community of health and safety professionals, all of whom help in a variety of ways, including dedicating time and effort to advance the health and safety community and leading NZ to a safer future.

We are by our very nature a profession of ‘problem solvers and helpers’ and the number of volunteer hours that goes into NZISM both formally and informally is astronomical. From Branch Managers to their regional members that support them, to our mentors and peer support and many others that contribute. Not to mention the number of people willing to share their knowledge via the network meetings and webinars. Even just turning up gives confidence to those running events.

We know for our own mental health that volunteering and helping others is a pillar of wellbeing, and we are fortunate to have a supportive environment for that to flourish. Gavin Schiller, NZISM member in Dunedin, recently summed it up rather nicely:

“…giving back, in even simple ways, can help those in need and improve your own health and happiness”.

And as we head into what is starting out to be an ‘interesting’ year, it’s a good reminder that we only have to look our own health and safety community to have that balance in our lives. Perhaps I can watch the news after all.

If you wish to contact me, please do so by email at president@nzism.org

Robyn Bennett
NZISM President

* If you would like to ‘gift’ a membership, please email Mari at admin@nzism.org

* If you would like to join the our team of mentors, please email mentoring@nzism.org