The enthusiastic team from deliberatepractice recently attended OzHarvest’s Cooking for a Cause session. We worked with a passionate group of individuals who are committed to ending food waste and supporting the broader community during times of need.
In their Melbourne Head Office in Port Melbourne, they have a commercial kitchen and warehouse that is humming with activity.
On arrival, we were introduced to the dedicated team and their loyal volunteers, who share the mission of OzHarvest, some interesting information about food waste and get you all set up to start cooking. In true OzHarvest tradition, we were provided with a beautiful yellow apron and set to work on the delicious meals they had ready for us to make.
In all, our deliberatepractice groups made 180 meals of gnocchi and pasties from scratch, using 45kgs of saved food from some of the major supermarkets and other businesses, which would have normally gone to landfill.
It was a day full of laughs, stories, shared experiences and of course amazing smelling food! This is not the first time we’ve attended one of these sessions and definitely won’t be our last, however this particular session struck a chord with us due to a story that was told while we were all busily working away.
The story was about a person who had attended one of their sessions and felt comfortable enough to share their experience with the OzHarvest team. They had been going through quite a tough time, having recently lost an executive position in a top tier company. They had been unable to secure work, had become withdrawn and felt shame in their current position. They had gone from being very professionally successful and financially comfortable, to having food insecurity.
We were reminded that, unfortunately, this isn’t a rare story, as more people are hit by the current impacts of cost-of-living crisis.
The Foodbank Hunger Report 2023 revealed that 3.7 million households (36%) in Australia experienced food insecurity within the last year and 48% of the general population feel anxious about accessing adequate food.
With this in mind, deliberatepractice’s career transition services are especially pertinent. It really hit home to us how job loss can disrupt a person’s entire world. This individual was feeling a range of emotional responses to their loss of employment, which impacted their ability to obtain further work and their interactions with the broader community and their network: a cycle of a lack of self-belief, confidence and their feelings of value.
These stories reiterate how important it is for outplacement and career transition support to be a vital component of the employee lifecycle for individuals who are faced with job loss. Career transition support not only deals with the practical elements but also the emotional ones. Having a dedicated career coach, someone in your corner, that is external to your personal networks can be of immense value when experiencing emotions such as shame, misplacement and a loss of identity.
Through the deliberatepractice transition program, the insecurity and stress of redundancy can be transformed into an opportunity to develop career stories and to move forward positively.
It’s in moments like these that we’re forever grateful for people sharing their story. This drives our passion to support people, teams and organisations to reach personal and organisational goals and future success. We know life can throw curve balls at us, but there are lots of wonderful supporting networks and organisations out there who are trying to make a difference.
Our team is thankful for the experience we shared at OzHarvest, as it brings food waste to the forefront of our minds, connects us as a team and allows us the opportunity to make meals for the broader community. Their cause is a noble one, and one that deliberatepractice whole heartedly believes in.
If you’re looking for your next Team event, we highly recommend OzHarvest’s Cooking for a Cause and if you would like to discuss Career Transition Services, please drop us a line at 1300 335 423 or email us at careers@deliberatepractice.com.au
Support and connection are at the heart of what we do and a large part of why we come to work.