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Lead with Courage
Together with your hosts Cherie and Andy Canning, you'll dive into the minds of the trailblazers, the risk takers and those who embrace life with a growth mindset .
Get ready for real and raw conversations where authentic truths are revealed, uncovering the struggles and resilience required to bounce back.
We invite you to see this podcast as your compass to embracing your own courage to live your biggest, best life!
Lead with Courage
Nadine Moore | From Trauma to Triumph | Lead with Courage
Nadine Moore is having massive impact on the world around her.
She’s a philanthropist, a trauma survivor, a kindness advocate, a mum, a wife, a resilience champion, Founder of the Sapphire Committe, as well as the Director of Philanthropy and Government Relations Queensland Children’s Hospital Foundation.
For the first time, Nadine is sharing her life story, going into great detail about mental and physical health challenges bought on by an eating disorder in her teenage years, and how that helped shape her career journey and the values and habits that she has cultivated in her life.
Her honesty and humility shows the significant impact that small acts of kindness can have, and the ripple effect they have created in the world around her.
Through this episode with Nadine we discuss some deep themes including depression, eating disorders and traumatic events which may be triggering for some listeners.
As always we encourage please take care when listening, and if it's any way triggering, then please take a break, and seek out help from a mental health care professional.
Nadine Moore Linkedin
Support the Childrens Hospital Foundation
See the incredible work of the Sapphire Committee
Did you enjoy the episode? Send us a text!
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Thanks for joining us on the Lead with Courage podcast, bought to you by Luminate Leadership. We trust this episode has given you some insights and joy to empower you live your biggest, best life.
If you enjoyed it, we'd be grateful if you like, share and subscribe to hear our future conversations.
To find out more about the work we do Luminate Leadership connect with us:
Luminate's Website and LinkedIn and on
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Until the next episode, we hope you live and Lead with Courage!
Cherie and Andy x
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Luminate Leadership is not a licensed mental health service and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice, treatment or assessment. The advice given in this episode is general in nature, but if you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional, or call lifeline on 13 11 14.
Nadine Moore, have I said that right?
Speaker 2:No, I think I did. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:Nadine Moore. Thank you so much for joining the Lead with Courage podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, thank you for being here.
Speaker 1:I'm very excited I heard this is is it your first podcast? Very first Fantastic.
Speaker 3:First of many people are going to hear this and you'll get all these invites to come in on podcast now, no doubt.
Speaker 2:The thing I like best is you can't see me. You can just turn up in your sweats or whatever you want, and you can just do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's so true with podcasts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally, totally Love that First question I'd love to kick off with today. What does Lead with Courage. Mean to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought about this prior to coming in and I think for me, courage is always doing what's right. It might not be what's popular, but it takes a lot of courage to do what's right, with people at the centre of your decision making. I think that is true across my professional and personal life. So whenever I'm thinking about to be truly courageous, quite often you have to make really hard decisions, but if you do what's right, what sits right, you always end up knowing that you've answered the questions around integrity, credibility, respect. So I think the most important thing for me when I'm leading is to do what's right, and right can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but for your personal wellbeing and how you look at the world, I think for me, doing what's right and thinking about people is important and is courageous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. Thank you, Right. I kind of go through my mind in terms of right and what I believe is right and how I would use that to govern a decision. What is it? You touched a little bit on it, but I'm wondering what is it for you Like? What does the process look like to determine what's right for you?
Speaker 2:And I think when you talk about what's right and wrong and we say inherently are people know the difference between right and wrong. Some people don't, depending on their life experiences and how they're being brought up and their values and their beliefs and what they've experienced themselves to imprint that into their brain and influence their behaviours. But for me, inherently it's about being kind and empathetic and compassionate and trying not to harm people intentionally or unintentionally, and I'm not talking about physical harm, it's that emotional wellbeing and psychological security. You have to make decisions that will always have a negative effect on someone, but I think inherently, when you do what's right, when you try to care for people in that way, when you're decision making around, being kind, being compassionate and empathetic, you'll always make the right decision.
Speaker 3:Yes, I love that. What a beautiful guiding principle, so great. I know, the first time I met you and I think that's how our paths have crossed with Children's Hospital Foundation and it's so clear what I'm so fascinated, and will unpack and talk more today, is your kindness and your genuine warmth when you're in a room, of your curiosities. What I've observed working with you is your absolute curiosity of what's everyone's story and making people feel comfortable. And then also one thing that I love is how much you just constantly grow yourself like, always studying, always learning, always curious, and yeah, it's something that really it's a beautiful balance. Whereas I think sometimes we can be thirsty for growth intellectually, but maybe not always, everyone has the emotional intelligence as well, and you've just got this both sides of the. It's just magic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think. Well, my early career I was a teacher and I think special people are drawn to professions like that. It is a very caring and nurturing like professions. So I think, first and foremost, I always had that nurturing, guiding understanding that I wanted to help or leave a bigger imprint on the world than just traveling through, and my career has been totally focused on what can I do. That it's not about money or people, it's actually about how can I leave a bigger impact on the world. What's my legacy?
Speaker 2:And I thought teaching was that for a very long time and it does fill a space. But then as I grew, I needed to understand more and I think, as I've gotten older and experienced more, it's led me in different directions that are just as well meaning as teaching and I've got a lot of transferable skillsets. But I have this undeniable thirst of knowledge all the time where I want to learn more, and that's why I think I've gone back and I know it's so cliche. People go, oh, I'm a lifelong, long learner, but I actually am and I constantly even how busy I am. I know I function best and I'm more well balanced when I'm learning and that can be anything. I can pick up a book and I actually was talking about different types of learning. So I've tried tap dancing. I've gone and I played the piano again as an adult, mature age, and I played that for like three or four years, but I just haven't had the time and you've really got to practice piano.
Speaker 2:Not so much to tap dancing.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:That was a year and I can tap dance, but it was something I did when I was really little. I thought I can do that again. And obviously, the piano I absolutely love it, but I've got to have time to practice. I'll jump on Duolingo and I'll have a go at languages French, italian, whatever.
Speaker 2:But I found this passion from my previous job when I worked in child protection, around the impact of trauma on the brain and in children and their development and how that really changes their outlook, educationally, economically, their well-being, and it left a really big imprint on me.
Speaker 2:And now when I meet people, I never assume that you know their story, because you never know what they've encountered that day or what hardships they're encountering on a daily basis. Or I think the learning that I do I can take and I can apply now in a real life setting to so many things. It might be centered on children, but when you meet adults, they were all children once and how they've grown and the experiences they've had I actually know have shaped their thoughts, behaviours and influenced their actions. So I've got a really good deep understanding of, in one aspect, human psychology. But yeah, I really loved that so and education's always been at my core. So I always, like you know, I'd never thought after I went and I changed from being a teacher up through the ranks and then getting into development in schools and community liaison, because I do love to talk.
Speaker 3:you'll probably notice that I love that about you, I know.
Speaker 2:I talk under water. I think my team gets sick of that. But yeah, so I then went and thought I really like this space and I love being with kids and, for me, being able to talk to parents about the benefit of investing in education. I firmly believe that it is the most powerful weapon we have to change the world. The reason why we have wars and famine and technological advances everything we know is through either a lack of education or we've used education to advance ourselves, and I think women and girls all over the world in some areas haven't had that opportunity and I'm very, very passionate about changing that for women in particular and girls, and giving them good role models and things to strive to be like, because you can't be what you can't see. So I think it's really important to have those powerful women in leadership. But yeah, and so then I went on and I was able to talk to parents about investing in education and an opportunity came up and, of course, any job I do, I want to be qualified and able to speak, to speak.
Speaker 2:So I went back to university and did my Masters of Business and majored in marketing and communication and before I did that, I did a postgraduate in PR, just so I had the speak, and so five years later I finished that and I then went and worked in a child protection not for profit, and that's where I was face to face with some of the most horrible aspects of humankind, especially when it's young children and small children that are being harmed, and I had a real thirst for understanding of what does this do to a children, be, families, ecosystems and, more broadly, society.
Speaker 2:And QUT offered this amazing degree back in education a Masters of Education specialising in trauma aware education. So I thought, purely out of interest, this is not a professional road or advancement, I just wanted to learn, and it has changed my life. It changed how I relate to people, how I interact with my colleagues. I have had so many opportunities to use this, knowing that children and families in the hospital are enduring traumatic events in their life, and it can be a short term crisis. It can be something that's happened through a long period of time. I think my own mental health has played a huge impact on my entire life around, having that empathetic insight into people's trauma and understanding at a deeper level what it's like to struggle, so I think that's really helped as well.
Speaker 3:Wow indeed.
Speaker 1:There's a bit there, there's a lot there. I love the approach to learning from a curiosity standpoint as opposed to it being more outcome based in search of a profession. I think if I've few short years on this planet, as my hairline would suggest, if I've learned anything about this life, it's the curiosity based learning is maybe the best way to retain information and then apply it. I'm wondering could you share a little bit about what it was, or what it has been specifically that you've learned about relating to people or changed maybe the way that you've related to people since you've had those learning experiences?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the biggest thing is always can't always be positive, and I think you know we've got this real sense in society that if you're bubbly and happy all the time, if you're not, there's something wrong. But I think we have to embrace the good and the bad days and be okay with that. Not everyone's happy all the time, I would say. Now my approach to people is always when you meet someone, I'm really grateful. Every day I get up, a to be here, b. You know we are so lucky to live where we live. I'm healthy, touch wood, my kids are okay, and so when I go to work or inherently every day I meet people, I always take that outlook that it's a pretty good day, I'm really lucky. And when I meet them, I don't know their story. So always approach the conversation as positive, listen, just listen to people and try and give them the space to reply to your questions and be kind.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's pretty simple.
Speaker 3:It is. I think when we really drill it down it's simple, but I feel like so many of us are in there as well. People are in their bubble and they're thinking about self too much rather than okay what is underneath for someone else. Not trying to solve that mystery, but just the kindness and the compassion.
Speaker 2:And really I think I'm the lucky one I get to talk to people in my job now, in my previous job and when I was teaching about amazing things these aren't to help sick kids. I mean, I'm blessed to be able to talk about that and to talk to people and tell people about how they can help Child protection, to tell people about the things that we can do little tiny things to change the outlook for kids. And then when you're a teacher, you're always striving to tell and help kids get from point A to point B, but how you can help them do that, how they can better themselves and give them the courage and motivation to do that with you.
Speaker 3:Can I ask about the time in the child protection space? How did you and we'll go in deeper about mental health and maybe a bit of background and different experiences in the past shortly, but just specifically in that job how did you manage, I guess, the mental load of what you would have been exposed to and hearing and imagine it would just, and knowing you are such a compassionate, empathic person, so how do you deal with the weight of all of that?
Speaker 2:You compartmentalize and because I hear and see the stories and I read them and you get to meet families, it's not until you actually go into centres. So there was a preschool attached to a school that was for very small numbers of children and they were all pre-prep, and colleagues that I had worked with in the department then worked at that school and they were specially trained to deal with children that had been abused and neglected. And we see the huge numbers of children that often don't fit mainstream education, even in prep, because of their behaviour, and they're excluded. So where do they go? So this was a little kindy, where they could go and they had all the structures in place to deal with their behaviours on a daily basis and really that is the safest place for some of those kids in their day because when they leave that environment and go home there's dysfunction or there's abuse, neglect, not all the time, but they've been exposed to it in their life and therefore their behaviours and the way that they're acting out has been a reflection of that.
Speaker 2:For me. You can't solve everything. That's the hardest. I'd love to just fix everything and it's a systems problem across education, health, and I think there's a lot of work to be done, and I personally feel that if I can help one person or one child, the same if you can teach one child, you've done your job. And so I try and leave work and not think about the worst case scenario, because I think part of my mindset and we'll touch on this later is I have to always self-correct negative thoughts. So those negative thoughts, I've got to constantly self-talk about the positive and say well, you know, I went to work, I did what I could today for one, and if I help one or a couple, that's better than not doing anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, wow teach me more about that.
Speaker 1:I kind of think about a journey through my own life in terms of negative thoughts or in terms of just the circular merry-go-round, if you like, in terms of activity up there that largely goes until recently unharnessed and undisciplined and just sits there and just sits on a loop. But it's that. What I've taken from what you've just said, is that intervention almost to being like I'm doing. Okay, I've done what I can today and I high-five myself and I celebrate that and we'll give it another crack tomorrow and.
Speaker 1:I'll be a little bit. Maybe I'll be a little bit better tomorrow, maybe not, but either way, you just kind of love yourself through it and that seems like, from what I've understood, you say maybe the fastest way to get to self-care. Yeah, we're our biggest.
Speaker 2:We're our own biggest critics. And do you know, the one thing that has stuck with me this year was from the Ignite conference, when I think it was Layle he said when you're driving home in your car stop if you're telling yourself how bad was that. Layle yes yes, how bad you've done. Give yourself two minutes.
Speaker 2:She did and give yourself an up cut and say after two minutes that's it no more. Yes, I've taken that and actually embedded it now and I tell everyone two minutes is the cutoff. You can load yourself and criticize everything you've done, but after two minutes you stop. And that has just so resonated with me because I think I am my own West critic. I have always been, and you strive for this perfectionism sometimes and I don't. It's not what other people hold me to, it's what I hold myself to, and now I've given myself permission, so I go two minutes and then I'm done and then move on and I loved that.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's so great I love. I'm going to make sure that we send Layle a little note when we publish this one going, layle, you're in this, but yeah, yeah. Well, one thing that I feel fortunate to have been exposed to is probably the wrong word, but invited into a conversation was working with you and the exact team at Children's Hospital Foundation, and we had a very closed door thing. We won't bring up for anything for anyone else, but an experience as a team, sharing different experiences growing up, and you were extremely courageous and extremely generous to share some challenges that you had to do as a teenager and as a young person, I guess, with self critic and mental health and with an eating disorder, and I know we spoke about before coming on here that you'd be willing to maybe share a little bit about that journey, because you know it's a challenge, and it's for a lot of people, this is their reality, or they might have children going through similar things.
Speaker 3:So if you will and you can, can you?
Speaker 2:take us back, maybe wherever you want to start, wherever you want to start with that, but yeah, and it's funny because I've never spoken about this publicly, I think I still think people are going to judge me and think about who I am, and so you kind of get really nervous because you think, well, they're going to take something from that and apply it to who I am now and it. If it wasn't for the experiences I've had, positive and negative, I wouldn't be who I am so.
Speaker 2:I have to embrace that and know that that's okay. I was very young when I started to have different behaviors, I suppose that were most noticeable and they came about by, I think, what I perceived at that age traumatic events. So my dad was in the police force and we were transferred every three or four years and my first time that I had to move I was eight years old. So we moved to a different location and, as you know, when you move you have to create new friends. I had to reinvent myself, so I was always trying to prove myself and I grew up in an era where your parents well, my parents used to say you've got to be a good girl, you've always got to be good. You know, everything was about being good and doing the right thing and saying the right thing, and so I always was trying to live up to that expectation of being a good girl and having everything perfect.
Speaker 2:And I suppose when we moved internally something in me broke, because I became so overwhelmed by trying to live up to a particular persona that the only way I could control externally that was things that were happening to me was to internally try. And what is my brain telling me about this kind of situation. So I had these idiosyncrasies which, looking back now, might have been like OCD, and so I would do little things. I'd walk through doorways a hundred times, wash my hands a hundred times. I mean I understand what that is now.
Speaker 2:I was so frightened of negative thoughts popping up in my head that the only way that I could get rid of them was they would override me and they would say things like you need to wash your hands 500 times so that's not going to happen. To offset the bad, negative things and I think because I grew up with my dad being a policeman they were always telling me you know the boogeyman will get you. Don't do this, you know the worst things will happen. I mean that all the fear and I don't think they meant that, but they just just being caring parents put the fear of God in me seriously.
Speaker 2:I was frightened of everything my mum even, right up until I had kids. And when I had kids I was very nervous mum as well, because I was so scared something was going to happen. So I lived this kind of fear and the only way I could get through a day was to try and offset these negative thoughts that as a little person at eight, I grew up at a time too where my parents didn't act on that. They actually kind of thought and this isn't their fault, they were kind of really traditional and they went oh, it's just a phase She'll grow out of that so they just kind of thought I was just doing some crazy little things and she'd grow up and move on.
Speaker 2:But by the time I was 12 that had morphed into an eating disorder. So I couldn't control things that were happening to me and I had this really negative voice that constantly overrode things, and so I wanted to control what I did in my environment and the only thing I had control over was what I ate, I suppose. So that was the very beginning of a long, long journey with an eating disorder that I couldn't understand or unpack until probably in the last five years. And people say, oh, it's your mother's fault or it's something you've experienced. But I think now, having done the recent study I've done about the brain and the impacts of trauma and how experiences shape what we perceive and believe, I just honestly believe that I was hardwired to have this environment, with parents that constantly frightened you, with you know, don't do this and this expectation of being perfect, that my brain just didn't. It just was wired to listen to the negative thoughts over and over again, and I had a really hard time of trying to break that cycle of negative thought and because I didn't know how to express that as a younger person too. You can't really go to your mum and dad. I've got this little voice in my head that tells me not to eat, and I'm sure they would have thought I was crackers like, because they just didn't understand. And my dad really didn't understand.
Speaker 2:I can remember sitting in the kitchen and I would have been 16 and to eat a wheat big was like a two hour episode, like it took us so long and he would just be so frustrated with me and I really wanted to eat and please him. But it was just so hard to get to do that and I didn't know why, because all I ever wanted to do was please them and make them happy. But this was the one thing that I couldn't do and I don't know. I don't know why I couldn't do it. It got really bad by the time I was in grade 11 and 12. I was down to 39 kilos, so trying to do senior and study, and it's almost like we didn't talk about it at home. They realized I was getting sicker and really sick and they took me to a psychologist and it just I don't know if I was too young. I didn't understand, but she wasn't. You know how you have to have a relationship. Yeah, the right one.
Speaker 2:And back then we're talking in the 80 or 90s. No, it was the 80s actually by the time I was 88. Just before that You'd go in and then I went to the psychiatrist and they'd put you on the scale every time you went there and for someone who is judging their worth on their weight, looking at those numbers, I was like I almost couldn't look the weeks because I knew that if I looked and I was heavier the next week or whatever, it played tricks with my brain.
Speaker 1:So reliving your trauma, yeah.
Speaker 3:Making it worse, isn't it yeah?
Speaker 2:it was really difficult and mum and dad, we just didn't talk about it ever. It was just not talked about. And when you have an eating disorder and not everyone has anorexia and bulimia at the same time Is that right yeah.
Speaker 2:So you then, whenever you did eat, I would throw up and they would know that. So they'd follow you to the toilet. And then you have this lack of independence and I tried to hide things from them then because I didn't want them to know. So now, when I look back and I hear you know other families going through that, I know how incredibly hard that is. And having my own kids, it's this helplessness.
Speaker 2:But I can remember waking up some days and just wanting out because I couldn't keep going doing what I was doing but I didn't know how to stop and I felt I honestly felt like I was trapped. I was in this cage and there were just periods where it was really bad and you have no one to talk to and help you, except they'd take you to the doctors or to the psychiatrist and I didn't think that was helping either. Somehow I got through grade 12 and being out of school for me maybe lightened my load, because I always I over exercised as part of having an eating condition and I would tell everyone I can't eat this because of this reason, I can't eat that because of that reason. I'm just really thin because I train all the time. Were you believing that yourself too, I was trying to tell myself that was it.
Speaker 2:But now you know it wasn't. It was all part of a behaviour that I was trying to mask everyone from understanding that I had a really serious eating disorder. I think there's just so many times and things now that I look back, you know, allowing myself to have one apple a day, eating food and hiding it in the fridge and going back and having little bits of it later in the day, not allowing yourself to eat at all, lots of over exercising and going to the gym and people. Really, I took on this identity of being this really super fit kind of person that trained all the time and I found that I liked to have that identity. However, they didn't know what I was doing at home and things to keep that up.
Speaker 2:Eventually. That was from when I was 12, all the way through, on and off, until you wouldn't believe I was 20. Even when I was 39 kilos after I left school, I put on a little bit of weight and I probably hovered around 42 to 45, which kept me out of hospital and kept me out of, you know, going to the doctor and that so you've been in hospital during that time as well that you've just described.
Speaker 2:They put me in a clinic kind of situation, which was an outpatient thing, where back and forth and I used to have to sit and be monitored during meals and things like that. And then I think, the anorexia I could hide it more if I ate and then threw up. So then they locked bathroom doors and stuff. So it's just awful, you know you just yeah, and it stops you from doing so many things. My personality changed dramatically because you're sick and you're trying to hide that side of you. And so going out and eating with your friends drinking alcohol what everyone wants to do when they're younger I didn't drink, not because I was, you know, approved. Everyone thought it was because I was super fit and that sat with the whole story. But that wasn't why. It was the thought of putting on weight or having all those calories consumed that just stopped me from doing that. So I really missed out on so many things as a teenager and so many experiences because I wouldn't let myself do that and I always had my guard up. Yeah, and I think everything came to a huge crashing halt.
Speaker 2:I was out at a nightclub and I was 20 and with my current husband and we'd been dating right for I don't know, maybe three months, and we're out at a nightclub and I used to love to dance, I still do and I had this really bad pain in my stomach. But it just got worse and worse. And I said to him I've got to go home, I feel really bad. Anyway, we were out the front of Fridays at the time, back in the day, and we were in this really big long queue and just by pure chance, we got in a cab and he said I don't think you're well, I'm really unwell, and he took me to the hospital. Anyway, we arrived at the Royal Women's Hospital and they triaged me in and all I could tell them was I had this really bad pain in my stomach. Anyway, after a lengthy wait, they came in and they said oh, we're just going to do your bloods. And I went yeah, okay. Anyway, they took an arterial blood sample and then, out of nowhere like these people were coming from everywhere we had crash teams, we had doctors, we had nurses Darren was virtually pushed out of the room.
Speaker 2:The bloods had come back that I had very little potassium or magnesium left in my body. So then they just stuck needles straight through the veins to try and get a better sample. And the crash unit came and they had to call mum. I had like two milligrams, I think left of potassium left. So what I learned after that is without potassium and magnesium, the synapses and the electrical currents in your body stop working, so you go into major cardiac arrest. So I was shocked more than anything because I had no idea of the impact of all the years of what I was doing would eventually have on my body and in that split second I was put into ICU for three days. So even now, when I look back, it's such a weird thing to think that this little thing that I did at home and mum and dad, no one talked about it. We went to the doctors and we tried to and Ebb and Flo came to this critical point where had I gone home, I wouldn't be here today, like I would not have made it through the night.
Speaker 2:So I think for me, having those experiences allows me to appreciate things a lot more. And people say how did you get better? And I don't know how to explain it. After I got out of hospital I was with this beautiful man who was new and I suppose he knew in some ways I'd hit it from him in a lot of ways. But he kind of knew and he just gave me this unconditional love that was outside of my family unit, totally separate from mum and dad and family, and at that point in my life that must have been what I needed, because with him I was able to get better Through his unconditional love. I think that's what saved me, because I was willing to do the hard yards and get better. And when I say get better I mean I was able to put on weight. I still exercised. I will always be mindful of what I eat. I don't think that ever goes away. I don't think you just throw that outside, but I know how to monitor it now a lot more.
Speaker 2:The health implications from all of those years of depriving my body.
Speaker 2:They said that you probably will be very lucky to have children because I never had a period such a long period of time.
Speaker 2:And then my teeth have had and these are the little things that you don't think of my teeth virtually rotted in my head because of all of the enzymes and things from constantly vomiting.
Speaker 2:They kind of erode your teeth. So I had all of these health worries post recovering that you deal with on a daily basis, but the kids. One for me was really hard to think that because of what I'd done when I was younger, I might never have kids, and I didn't let myself go in that space because the negative mindset's not good for me. And then Darren and I were really lucky and fell pregnant because I'd got quite healthy and we fell pregnant with Charlie. And I have to say the one defining moment in my entire life that has kept me on the straight and narrow is having my own children. They give me the strength to get up every day and be the best version of myself, not for me anymore, but for them. They need me more than I need me. So that gave me everything I needed from the time I was 24 until now to forge forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, digest for a moment and thank you for that. I was having. There's a lot there as well as there was from the first thing. How?
Speaker 3:do you feel talking all that out just now, I'm exhausted, yeah.
Speaker 2:I just went, oh wow, because I've never said all that in one sentence or one kind of session where I've actually just gone blah, this is everything. It's very. I'm almost scared Like, oh my God, who's going to listen to this? Yeah, but it is who I am, I think. Yeah, it's a weird feeling, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, if you don't want to go ahead with publishing this part at any state that's also okay. But it's amazing, isn't it?
Speaker 2:How yeah?
Speaker 3:maybe the vulnerability hangover of it in some ways, but I think the power and the strength that you've already stated before sharing that around, knowing that this is who you are today, is because of those experiences, and I just feel like people have different stories, as we know, but we've all got something in there that, yeah, they're like genuinely the courage to share that whole story and is massive and it's so massive and thank you.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I just I actually can't believe the part with Darren at the nightclub.
Speaker 2:I actually like what?
Speaker 3:Like he just had a sixth sense, I suppose. Yeah, no doubt he probably wasn't sober either.
Speaker 2:like only when you're 20 years old at Fridays.
Speaker 3:So to have this clarity or whatever it was that he went, you've got to go like that. That's just mind blowing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mind blowing. And I think when Mum and Dad got to the hospital, I think everyone was in shock to think that it was so close. It just needed to go home and that would have been the end, because you can't put potassium and magnesium back into your body in the quantities in a really fast way, yeah, hence why I was in ICU on Watch for so many days. But I think having mental health issues from a very young age does shape how I respond to other people with an empathetic understanding. It's a bit of a superpower now, yeah. Well, yeah, I often think, why me, like, why me? But then I think I'm the lucky one because now I understand it and I can help other people maybe and just be a little bit more in tune that everyone has a story that you might not know about.
Speaker 3:So be kind and listen and yeah, have you done much work in the eating disorder space since, I guess recovering, if that's the right word, and being healthy? Have you gone back and connected in communities or what have you, or is it something that kind of? Once you've gotten out of that, it's kind of good to not be back in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, inherently, if I had an opportunity to work in the space or help in the space or talk to people who have been through similar things to me or are going through them, that I would always be really open to that. I, just as I said, I've never really told this story or talked about it much at all. It's like this hidden part of me and that came I think that comes from via people really knowing you. So it's just yeah, it's the first time I've really talked about it. My actual deepest, closest family and friends know, but apart from that, it's like this little shield that you keep your little story safe and don't tell anyone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Do you know? Are you conscious of, then, what has given you the permission, internally, to share today?
Speaker 2:I'm in a really happy place in my life where I can accept who I am and I think if I can accept who I am, everyone else should accept that too, because all of these things have made me who I am today, and I think we worry about how people see us all the time and that's inhibiting, what stops you from doing things, and I don't want to be that person anymore. I'm exhausted sometime from overthinking. My brain is constantly thinking about well, you know this and that. So I'm just really at peace at the moment and I think that's okay. I think with age comes wisdom. Had I had this wisdom back then, it might have been different. Yeah, it's just a journey and it's never over, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:And in the last couple of years since I started, would you believe, working in the not-for-profit or in since I changed careers as a teacher, I've had two workplace environments where I've had two men who have been my bosses, both who have intimidated, coerced and been in a powerful position over me. That when I talk about doing what's right and what's not popular and things, I left one of those workplaces, which was my dream job, because I couldn't work under a person that didn't share my values and I thought it was me, and when you're already plagued with self-doubt and have a history of mental illness, it's a really challenging space to be in, but over time, I realised that that person was investigated and moved on. That was actually them. That was a workplace issue and we hear about workplace issues all the time and working environments that aren't healthy and, would you believe, within four years later, I was in the same position under another person, another male boss.
Speaker 2:This time, though, I was courageous and I'm really proud of myself, because I had to stand up and say no, this is wrong. Instead of the previous time, it was easy to walk away and go and get another job and not say anything and just go. You know what? I don't have to do this. I can go and do another job, and you know. But the next time I thought you know what, I can't keep running and I'm going to stand up and say enough's enough. And I did. An investigation ensued and that person left, but by me taking a stand, it was personally going to possibly change my work environment and my employability by doing that, but I didn't care. I had enough support from my family and everyone who believed in me to say, hey, you do what's right and we'll back you to the Hilt.
Speaker 3:And almost like I don't know if I'm connecting things that don't belong. But what I'm taking from this as well is all those years with mental health and eating disorders. The self-worth is obviously low. And so then this first example, where then it's kind of, yeah, you turn it back on yourself and where you might be, I don't know whatever role you've played, but the self-worth isn't there.
Speaker 3:But what I'm hearing with that second one is like no, like that belief in yourself and the worth is there and that you can't have that courage without that worth. I don't think you know like. You don't make those stands without believing in yourself and the people behind you. Yeah, that's incredible. You can, you would be able to see then your own growth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, wow. And I feel that mental health like that little person that talks to you in your head all the time. You know how I talked about the negativity of the talk and how you have to constantly keep that in check. I don't think that ever goes away. So when you've come through an eating disorder and then in your workplace you're challenged as well with people who are making you feel less worthy or doubting yourself. It's really hard because you're already a vulnerable person to that negative talk. So it takes a lot to overcome that.
Speaker 2:And then when I look back now, I think during those times I was a mother to four children, I was doing a master's degree and I was holding down a full-time job while dealing with stuff like that. And I think, man, I can do anything now Like seriously I say that in jest, but I think I reckon we don't give ourselves enough praise for things that we do at certain times in our lives. And when you look back, if I had have realized at the time how incredible it was, yeah, it might have given me more power then. Yeah.
Speaker 1:What do you want to be famous for in life?
Speaker 2:Being a good mum. Yeah, I absolutely adore my children and my biggest fear I have to touch wood, because I have got these superstitions is to die before my kids. I don't think I could continue in life. It is my biggest fear.
Speaker 3:I wholeheartedly oh, the other way around, do you mean, if they do, oh, if they die, yes, yeah For them sorry, yeah, for them to die before me.
Speaker 2:And I think when I talked about that negative mindset and coming from a family that put fear in you, when my kids were little, I was the one that they had every injection possible. No one to man, I would take them. They were the kids that weren't allowed to have sleepovers till they were 10 because I was scared. My dad had told me you know, you don't let them go into strangers' houses unless you really know them. There's no thing to sleep over. So you can imagine my kids growing up with me and their friends' parents would ring and I'd go yeah, sorry, 10's our limit. And even then I wasn't going to let them go. You know, strange danger my kids wouldn't walk outside the house because you project onto them unknowingly, these fears and, funnily enough, they're quite all really well adjusted. But yeah, it's that whole negative mindset you've got to constantly overcome in all the different things you do in your life, if it's a mother, if it's a teacher, if it's a friend in the workplace. So I think mental health is a really you've got to keep yourself in check.
Speaker 2:What I learn now, the way that I keep myself in check, is I have a routine and it's really, really important for people like me, because when I have a routine, it's almost like a daily checklist. I can do these things and I know when I do them that I'm my best self and it puts me at total ease. I can go and go oh, I've done that today, I'm okay, it's all good. And when I say it's like a checklist, it's going for a walk in the morning, it sets me up for a really positive day. A, because I know it's good for me, and B, I know it's good for my brain to put it at rest and say, yeah, I've done that About a week.
Speaker 2:I know that I've got to have check-ins with my kids because I work really hard a lot of the time, but I do need to have those check-ins with the kids and make sure that they're okay and then, as part of your daily routine, just trying to have times where the exercise in the morning but going to bed and sleeping and making sure I get good rest. That doesn't always happen, but if you can do some of those really basic, simple things, it will put your mind at rest and allow you to go. Okay, I've done that and I know that's okay. That routine is really important.
Speaker 3:And do you meditate or journal or those kind of activities, or is it more the exercise and the connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do do the exercise but, as I said, I do things now that are gentler on my body. And I like to do things with my friends, with exercise and stuff. The piano was really good for me to just take time out and focus, learn and play. I would love to journal. I'm spending a lot of time still because I haven't finished this masters. I've got a couple of subjects to go, so my free reading time is very boring.
Speaker 2:It's journal articles and textbooks, but I love war history, so when we went overseas recently with the kids, I loved the ability to read more about World War II and things like that. I don't know, I just like lots of different things. Yeah, great.
Speaker 1:Kind of keeps that wheel turning over with learning.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Doesn't it? And just activating different parts of your brain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, awesome, I have talked a lot, no.
Speaker 3:I'm just looking over at. Andy, andy is quite. Yeah, what's running through your mind?
Speaker 1:I'm feeling lots of things, kind of like an egg that's half cracked open, if you will, and there's some more cracking to do there that I think I'll share at a different stage. But yeah, no buts to it, but lots of learnings. I think it's you. Sharing today has kind of rewound the clock for me on a few things in my life, growing up in particular, and it probably comes with a warning, doesn't it? That when you talk about real stuff, there are some triggers there. So for me it's been, yeah, a few things along that way, and maybe for a couple of listeners too, it might invoke a few things, but only beautiful, positive things, because we sit here today and we know that the routines I can really relate to if I don't walk the dog in the morning and do some meditation.
Speaker 1:I might as well not leave the house. And it's the sun too, being out in the being in the sun, feeling it on the smack bang just above my eyebrow, if you will. So yeah, it's that too being outside and kind of getting the body moving and having your favourite podcast in, or music, or just hearing the birds, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:I think I mean being older is great, but when I started to unpack and understand how I got to where I was and all the mental health challenges that I'd had along the way, the one thing that took a little while was understanding. I came from this amazing family that I know has unconditional love. Mum and Dad would do absolutely anything for my brother and I. So why then did I not get it? And why did I have an eating disorder I didn't like when I was younger. What was it?
Speaker 2:And I think it was that whole. It was all about me. It wasn't necessarily about them or the environment. It was about me having to reinvent myself and having to prove myself in new situations and wanting to have friends and you know, and somewhere along the line I just. That happens so often that it just became part of the way I thought I think. Early in my, when I had kids, I asked the question how did Mum and Dad, knowing how sick I was and stuff, just think it was a phase, like if my kids were doing that at age there's no way I'd be going.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's just a phase you know, and I tried to unpack that with my mum but she just couldn't talk about it. I think she found it really hard. Now, having come so far with mental health, they just didn't understand. In the 80s there was a real lack of understanding and knowledge in that space, and it wasn't because she didn't care, it was just that they didn't. They just were so naive around. Oh, it's just kids, they've just got a phase, they'll grow out of it. Yeah, I think. I think now I just shake my head and really think how lucky we are that we do get these things and we understand them a lot better so that our kids in the next generations will have the support that they need and at least the understanding.
Speaker 3:And I'm curious, I don't know, if we know this answer, but, like now, that there's more education and more awareness and more conversation around it. But it seems that more people are more people having these challenges and I don't know the stats around eating disorders solely but, like mental health in general but, I think also eating disorders.
Speaker 3:There's more. It seems to be more prevalent. Is it because now we're speaking about it more and people are more aware? Cause this is where I'm kind of like oh, it's great that we're speaking about it more, but then if the numbers are going up, or were the numbers always there, but we didn't acknowledge it or report on it or speak about it?
Speaker 2:I think it probably was there in a lot, but we called it different things, yes, yes, okay. When kids showed behaviours that weren't well I don't like to use that word normal, but weren't familiar, or a little bit typical they'd say, oh, that's just an idiosyncrasy or that's just a little tick or something.
Speaker 2:They didn't actually acknowledge that it was a problem. It was just something with that child. And my parents always used to say, oh, she's neurotic or she's just a phase, or you know. But had they actually probably stopped too, had really busy lives and they had two kids and they were moving around and I just didn't know how to deal with it. And my dad had a really high-powered job. He looked after 30,000 men in the police force. He was one of the highest ranked officials and he couldn't help me, you know. So I'm sure with him he couldn't understand why. You know, he had all this power and was able to maneuver people and do things, yet he couldn't help me. I think he felt really vulnerable himself in that space.
Speaker 3:Are both your parents still with us now?
Speaker 2:No, my mum passed away three years ago. I think that's the hardest thing for me is not having her here to see me so well and have achieved so much. Yeah, because I know she would have been really proud of who I am Not that she wasn't then she lived for us and my kids. But yeah, I miss her every day because I just, I just wish she could see what she's given me. Even though it's been really hard along the way, I'm just so grateful and I miss her.
Speaker 3:And I don't know what your spiritual beliefs are, but in there somewhere I kind of always believe that she would be seeing you somehow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So and I it's funny, you know, it's not thing you don't know things about your parents until they pass away. And I was talking to her sister recently and she said, oh, your mum struggled a lot with mental health as well and I've gone really Like I actually didn't know that. And she said, yeah, after she had I think it was after she had my brother, she had to have some time out and in those days she went to stay with family at the beach and my brother and I stayed at home and obviously my auntie and stuff looked after it because she needed some mental health time out.
Speaker 2:And then in her later life she'd had depression all the time and on and off, but had hid that from all of us too, because she felt that taking medication and things like that was a weakness and people would judge her and I think the stigma around that has to change. Yeah, I had a really lovely chat with my doctor and about that and he said, oh, she said to me you know, if you were in a room filled with smoke and you had to put a gas mask on or something over your face for you to breathe, would you do that, nadine? And I went yeah, and he goes. So if I said to you to get you know you back on track and to balance out the chemicals in your body and help you think clearly and do stuff you got to do, this, would you do that? And I still had to think about that, because there's such a stigma attached to taking medication and mental health.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly with that example with the smoke you wouldn't think twice. And we talk about the same thing with physical. You know, if you had a bone poking out of your leg, would you just hop around or would you go and get it seen? Of course you're going to go get it seen too, but when it comes to our brain, people don't always see it. And yeah, the stigma and the shame and the fear and the realities, I think we're all going not all having the same mental health experiences, but we all have the way we're wired and the way our brain, the amygdala and our fears like for varied levels, that we all need to deal with. What goes on in our brains.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, now more than ever too, that we have to understand as parents and people the impact that we have on children's brains from the minute they are born, that attachment bond and how the brain forms and the repetitive patterns. So the brain's really clever If you are exposed to certain experiences and you see them through your eyes, it translates them through the brain and it recognises them as it's almost like a serve and return. So if a mother looks at a baby and smiles, the baby responds and smiles back. It's learned behaviours.
Speaker 2:The same is said for when that child experiences adversity or poverty or abuse or substance abuse too, the fact that if you've got a child and you don't interact with them, that's when you see that the brain doesn't stimulate, doesn't learn those patterns and behaviours and expressions and the brain's really clever at them, starts to prune them away, things that aren't used and reused.
Speaker 2:So when we have children that grow up and we look at behaviours, behaviours are just a symptom of brain development and if we get early intervention for some children that have experienced adversities, and now we're learning that adults, one in four, have experienced adversity at a level that will impact them later in life. So the statistics are pretty high and when I said to you be kind, because you don't know what's going on. That's why there's lots of kids out there that turn into adults that have had lots of things go on. And when we talk about abuse and neglect, that's not the only thing. It can be the death of a parent, it can be a road accident, it can be a serious injury, it can be mum and dad having a mental health issue, a substance abuse, domestic violence, poverty, homelessness. They're all forms of trauma that impact on how they experience the world and then shape their beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours.
Speaker 3:Can I ask a question, Nadine, knowing this and the compassionate side of me, you just want to walk around and give everyone a hug and be so kind and without judgment and assume the best intent and all of these things from a humanitarian perspective, from your experience as a leader as well, is how does it go in the workplace when, then?
Speaker 3:I find this tricky when people say, okay, I've got someone in my team who's experiencing mental health conditions, or there's something underneath the surface that obviously they're not the psychologists to go down that path with them.
Speaker 2:But the line between how do we support people in the workplace through mental health and mental illness versus also needing to get work outcomes yeah, there's one thing that you touched on there too, that as the type of leader I am and the way that I lead, I do lead with a very empathetic kind of approach to leadership. I'm not authoritarian, and sometimes people can see that as a weakness because you're not hard-assed and demanding, but that's not the way that I lead. The way that I lead is that I set an example and I inspire people so that I don't have to tell them they come on the journey because they believe.
Speaker 2:They want to follow and they want to do what we're setting out to do as a team. It's the same as, like they say well, how do good teachers teach kids to get them to do what they want? It's the same philosophy. You inspire them to want to do something or achieve, and I think it's not a sign of leadership. It's actually smart you don't want to be working against force all the time and it's actually inspiring people to be the best versions of themselves. In the workplace, I have come up against team members that have had mental health, and there's so much that you can do A from an organisational perspective, around providing them with EAP and support. B in being understanding about time and giving them space and environments in which they are able to work and deliver. I think what falls into a hard basket is when their mental health impacts their work, and we're not talking about situational crises that occur here and there but across a long period of time.
Speaker 2:I think if they open up to you and tell you that that's the reason and you have those discussions, you can work through it, but there always has to be because there's a deliverable expectation in a workplace that you still have to have outcomes. I think that's around using the power of conversation and really talking through it and saying how can I help you anymore? What do you need in order to move forward? If we can't come to an agreement on this isn't changing. They're not getting any better. We're not delivering because it's not just about them. When one person in your team has an issue and work is reduced, other people absorb that. It affects everyone in the team dynamic to then carry the load. So it's just hard conversations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, because I feel like sometimes, from a friendship perspective or a human to human, people may have one reaction of being really supportive, but then when it comes into delivering outcomes and impacting the rest of the team, it's complex because, you want to be supportive and you're empathetic and seeking to understand and giving people what they need. But yeah, I guess there's going to be boundaries and restrictions, but reminding yourself that's okay too.
Speaker 3:I think it's me from a I don't want to. I always just want to make sure everyone's supported in what they need, but it's not always practical.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I feel bad even saying that out. Loud. Doesn't feel right to say that, but I think that's true.
Speaker 2:I think, too, you have to think from the perspective of if you've got a team member that are coming to work and they're not delivering, deep down inside they know yes, they actually know that they're turning up, probably because they need the paycheck but, deep down.
Speaker 2:they know that they're not delivering and it takes Courage A from you to address that, because, as a leader, that's your job and I think that's the hard conversation because but you're not doing them any favours by because they'll be going home and feeling bad about themselves and then saying you know, I'm letting the team down and I'm not delivering on what I'm supposed to. It's probably quite a relief to call it out and go. You know what? This is what I need from you. I will help you. This is what we're going to do every day.
Speaker 2:but after a period of monitoring and performance evaluation when you get to the end of that period where you've done what you can. I think that's an honest conversation.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's really hard because that person's already in a bad place and then you think you're impacting them again.
Speaker 3:but yeah, yeah, and I think that's possibly sometimes a fear of well-meaning leaders when you don't want to compound that, but actually what you've just said there about, well, they're probably already thinking, recognizing this. So in a way, it could be a bit of a gift, a difficult one, but for some awareness or some real conversation to come forward.
Speaker 2:And although you might think that you're doing the right thing, you're being observed by all the other team members and they might not be as empathetic as you when they are burdened with additional work. I've had that happen many times and then they hold judgment, and that's hard, yeah, so it's not just the one person you're dealing with. You then have all this fallout from other team members that are going, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, and then not to then forget, even like the customer or the family or whatever world you're in you know, the next person impact as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's important.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for putting that into a language that I understand. I probably cover more at a, I guess, like a human centred but left brain leaning, if that makes sense, and I'd probably struggle to bridge the gap there and maybe some of our listeners, you know, kind of might be in that, might be in that bucket as well, in terms of where we kind of see an immediate challenge you know that affects work performance, for example and we just don't quite know, I guess, what to do or how to nail it or sort of move through there for their sake and for the business' sake. So that's helped me understand that and probably reflect on different stages in my career where perhaps I maybe being in a leadership role, might have been able to show a little bit more support. So thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you've got to be in the right place too, to be in the mindset that you've got the tools at your disposal to offer support. So if you're in a work environment that doesn't encourage, you know, that type of response, it's hot. Unless you've got it in your toolkit and you've used it before, it doesn't come naturally.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think, as leaders, we've got to build our toolkit and so all the different experiences that we have and the things that we learn and I say this to new young teachers your learning doesn't stop when you finish your university, degree or whatever qualification. That's just where you've got your tool built on and now you're starting to fill it up with all the different things that will help you go out and build and do things. So you're building your toolkit constantly and I remind myself of that too. You never stop building your toolkit because you'll always draw on different things at different times.
Speaker 3:Well, I see that in you. I think, when we work together in the workshops we do with the foundation, you're often the one, wide-eyed, like pen, ready. Okay, what am I going to learn? How can I contribute? How can I connect? What can I learn? Constantly, and you could be up the front teaching everything for sure, but it's always. I love that about you, just that constant learning. What else can I add, what else can I take away? Which is beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we sit back and we go to all these things and you only get it out of it what you put in.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I love interacting in China oh, what can we do with this? And you know, it actually excites me, and to see other people contribute is really exciting.
Speaker 3:So great, I feel. Just one second how long have we been going? One hour and 11 minutes oh okay, okay, cool, if I jump into CHF and what you're doing in the job now, is there anything that you'd prepared, that we haven't touched on, that you want to touch on or you're feeling that we've covered?
Speaker 2:I actually just came today going off your email to talk just naturally about stuff.
Speaker 3:So I just didn't want you to have anything where you're like oh you didn't ask me about that and I had that, but like you, feeling good where we're at so far.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as long as you think, it's like, oh, it's incredible, it's incredible.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, I just didn't. You've got him to tears a couple of times.
Speaker 1:I mean, even if it's just for me, it's all worth it. So grateful for your time.
Speaker 2:So thank you, because I think who'd be interested in my story Like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anyone who hears it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everyone who hears it. Everyone who hears it.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, I'll cut that part out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I do, I do. Oh, I mean we don't have to, but I'm like, yeah, I just I wanted to just check there was nothing that you had mentally, because I've written a few things. I'm like I think we've touched on these, but not like Direct question, but I do, I do. Maybe we talk about Speaking of work and working with you, I think, just pivoting the conversation ever so slightly, but looking at the impact and collaboration, I think that's one thing, that you do so naturally Well, and I just wanted to give you a moment of airtime around what you're currently doing in the philanthropy space and what.
Speaker 3:What I think is magic Because maybe, maybe it's my age and what I'm seeing and noticing, but often, when it comes to philanthropic adventures and fundraising and different things, it's often maybe people older than me who are more involved, maybe because you know the more riches behind them. But you're doing some incredible stuff with the foundation around the Sapphire Committee and the legacy. Can you just tell us a little bit of a highlight and a bit of a shout out, because it's really unique and it's phenomenal?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think that philanthropy inspires generosity of all kinds. So it's not just about wealth, it's about sharing knowledge, it's about sharing dropping the ladder down as you would say to other people as well.
Speaker 2:As you know, if you have the ability to give five dollars or fifty thousand dollars, they're both as valuable as each other. There's no limit to that. And if you can't give financially, the fact that you give in time or services or goods or, you know, time is a really, really precious gift. So all those people that volunteer and help out, that's extraordinary in our busy lives. The thing I think that has allowed me to be successful in my role is I don't come into the role as if I'm just selling something.
Speaker 2:I wholeheartedly believe in what I do and I have years of qualifications and lived experiences where I genuinely want to change the outcomes for kids, Even though it was in education, then child protection and now health. I can talk across systems about the importance of change and what we can do together to create change. I didn't know the first thing about health or research, you know, apart from what the general public would. And now I am so inspired every day. I am so inspired every day I learn about all these amazing research projects, these, absolutely incredibly, I just think their brains must be the size of the earth, Like they're just so smart and and I get to work alongside them and what I do is a privilege because I just get to share their story. It's got nothing to do with asking for money, it's sharing stories and believing that we will change the outcomes for kids If together we do something.
Speaker 2:And when I had that in mind, I thought the foundation needed lots of friends. That's the first and foremost, because when they've got lots of friends, there's one of me. If I can create whole communities of people that know the story and talk about it to other people across Brisbane, then we'll get twice as far in our reach. We'll be twice as brief. So the Sapphire committee I really wanted young people or younger people, not that old stuffy feeling like you just talked about all the old people who were into philanthropy and go to the. We'll take their money too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, but you know, it's not even about that, it's just the perception of the word and stuff that's not what philanthropy is. I want people to think of philanthropy as inspiring generosity of all kinds.
Speaker 2:And I think what we need to do is get all the younger people involved and especially, you know, connecting to cause. Now that is really important for younger generations and you have young kids and there's lots of people out there that can go well, you know. That can really resonate with me, because at any day or any stage you can wake up and something you know can happen to your family in that space with a disease or an accident. So we mobilised all of these amazing women and men who had young families or were thinking of having kids and asked them to join us on a journey to A spread the word B create networks and more friends and, along the way, have some fun in raising money for causes that they wholeheartedly believed in and Loeb.
Speaker 2:It just has blown me away that the SAFIRE committee came together like 23 incredible people who share a like-mindedness of what we're trying to achieve in Brisbane, and I think Brisbane people are really unique too.
Speaker 2:They've been waiting for this to happen at the Children's Hospital Sydney and Melbourne. They've had their committees and had that kind of thing happen for a long time, but Brisbane has gone through this real change in the last three to five years post-COVID, with a huge change in immigration and people coming together, and I think COVID, too, made us more connected to local community, and I think that's been great in Brisbane, because we're on the precipice of this maturing, I suppose, of a state or a place, and the committee have been really pivotal in creating these luxury events similar to Sydney and Melbourne, which is an untapped audience that we really have never had at the Foundation before, and they had their first one was the Supper Club in May at SK and that was just beautiful. And now they're about to launch their very first gala for the Foundation in October. Now that's not even five months apart and we only formed in February, so the heavy lifting that they have done is phenomenal when you consider that my team is two.
Speaker 3:Yeah, your team at the Foundation is two of us.
Speaker 2:There's two of us doing events and that kind of stuff, like, yeah, so they've done that. And then the legacy advisory. I just thought you know we need some people who can open doors, share similar values, have done some years in senior positions whether that be corporate, business, government, across a whole range of industries as well and be our friend essentially and, through that friendship, invite others along on the journey. And I mainly just wanted them to share the message, create awareness and try and elevate our profile, because I think we've been under a bushel for a very long time.
Speaker 2:Not many people since we became their children's hospital. They still say to me when I go to events oh, are you from the Mata? No, I'm not from the Mata. So there's this perception of who we were, our identity, which I think the more friends we have who talk about the Children's Hospital Foundation, then they go oh, I know, that was the Royal and the Mata came together and that's the first Children's Hospital. Itself it's 10 years old and last week we were announced 10th in the world for pediatric care. So they're doing some big lifting over there and I think that deserves inspirational people to help support that, and Brisbane people are just the people to do that and they're turning out like we had our first legacy advisory boardroom lunch Stunning.
Speaker 2:And that was just friend raising, Like people got to be. Where do you get this friend raising?
Speaker 3:I love that friend raising. Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1:It's my own made up word.
Speaker 2:I've made that word up and people at the foundation keep going oh, I like this friend raising. I said, well, that's our job.
Speaker 2:We want a friend raise first and foremost and fundraise, and the fundraise has to have the word fun in it, because that's part of it. You know, we want to create this environment where it's fun, it's authentic and you tell stories that people believe in and people want to create impactful change. This has got nothing to do with the old stuffy about money stuff. It's about together we can create some really incredible change. Yeah, an impact.
Speaker 3:An impact in society.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's incredible. It's incredible and I know you're saying they and the team and I acknowledge your acknowledgement of that but without you that wouldn't have been created. So, yeah, it's incredible. Well done to you and the whole team. Thank you, it's incredible. Thank you, nadine. One question we love to ask at the end of a podcast. I feel like we could keep going, but we may now need to. We may now need to just allow you to have a break, but one question that we'd love to finish off with is what is the kindest thing someone has done for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have to say there is never one kind thing.
Speaker 2:Every day my heart is like I walk along the Esplanade and someone will smile at me and that makes my day.
Speaker 2:So I think life's full of lots of small moments of kindness and, depending how you're feeling and how you're open to receive those, they're everywhere and I don't think there's one kind thing that I could point out, because people do things for you all the time. I just think that every day that the committees give me their time, their acts of kindness, I'm constantly in marvel of what people do for other people. Like you hear all the dark stories on the news and stuff, but inherently we're all trying to do good things for each other. But yeah, I think there's a lot of kindness out there and it's little things, like when my husband brings me a cup of tea in the morning when I'm getting ready, I really notice it and I think that's so kind and thoughtful. You know when the kids come up and they'll bring the washing in, or someone un-packs a dishwasher, it's still the mundane stuff that brings you joy and you think, oh, that's really nice and what you just said there really resonates about.
Speaker 3:you've got to notice it because it's happening everywhere. But if we're not actually open to it and observing it and taking it in, maybe we're missing just the smallest things that can make a big difference.
Speaker 2:It's like when someone brings you a cup of tea, or when someone you know gets the mail out of the letterbox, or at work, you might be doing something and they go oh, I'll do that for you. You know like it's those little things that make every day nice and enjoyable.
Speaker 1:And thank you in advance for unpacking the dishwasher and bringing in the washroom when we get home, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:That's my dream someday.
Speaker 3:And he's very good at all that I need to up my game. Yeah, sure, I'll do that this afternoon, but not because you've asked me. I'll do it tomorrow instead. Random acts are coming. You'll do it when you go to Melbourne tomorrow.
Speaker 1:There you go. It's been an absolute gift of mine, I think, for you to be here and share on this podcast. You know for me I've gone through all the feels on this podcast and lots of the highs and lows of my own emotions and reflections, and it's just been a real honor, I guess, for you to share and maybe hold a tiny little bit of space in this world for you to do so. So thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you both. I was so nervous about coming today and sharing my story. I'm actually OK. I'm really glad I did, and I am so honoured and privileged to have shared your time and done this Likewise.
Speaker 3:I don't love the word busy, but you've got a full life. You've got a full life and that you've come and gifted us with your time and your story and your emotion and your honesty and courage. Yeah, it's truly an honor and I feel very blessed that we are in the same orbit and you're in my life. Yeah, I'm very grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you, bye.
