Our apprentice team recently attended ATNZ Apprentice Day, held at FMG Stadium in Hamilton. The day was designed to help apprentices build skills, knowledge and awareness on wellbeing, and to help keep them and their workmates safe and healthy at work and in life.
Tawera Nikau, former rugby league star and guest speaker, talked about what it was like when he was young. With just 6 months to go in his fitter turner apprenticeship, he was offered the opportunity to play professional rugby league. He had to make a hard choice – his trade or Rugby League. His advice – put your hand up and ask for help when the going gets tough.
The lesson being – things don’t always go to plan in life. When life dishes out a curve-ball, there can be some tough decisions to make.
OCP Employee Assistance Training and Support talked about staying fit and healthy – ensuring apprentices eat and sleep well and take time out to enjoy life with family and friends. Again, to not be afraid to ask for help or talk about stress, depression and health worries.
ATNZ speakers demonstrated the new incident reporting app. They also covered the new Family Violence Act 2018, which ensures victims are kept safe and people who use family violence are held to account.
“It was an informative day. I learned that everyone faces difficulty at some time,” said second-year apprentice, Manaea Anderson, “The big thing is to talk to someone or ask for help when the going gets tough. You don’t need to face things alone”.
The day provided a great opportunity for the team to mix with more than 130 apprentices from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions.
Find out more about our apprenticeship programme.
