Troy takes on the OneStaff “OneLife” Pulse Challenge

I'm taking part in the OneLife Pulse Challenge. As well as the 100 days of wellness through the Virgin Pulse Challenge, I am also training to complete the Auckland Marathon, which takes place in October. I will be raising funds for Key to Life throughout this challenge and in the lead up to the Marathon!

Our company is undertaking an individual wellness initiative (addressing personal physical and mental wellbeing) through the Virgin Global Pulse challenge. This is an international Wellness initiative run over 100 days from May 23rd onward. It is designed to get people moving and motivate them to start thinking about mental wellbeing and getting the most out of life. This is the second year we have run this as an organisation, however this year we have taken the extra initiative to combine this with a charitable contribution to a cause that resonated with our staff across the country. After a nationwide poll and vote within OneStaff, the Key to Life was selected as the charity we wanted to support.

Key to Life is a fantastic initiative geared around opening communication and discussion to start addressing the horrifying statistics of suicide in New Zealand. Three families lose a loved one every two days in this country. Key to Life aims at opening the dialogue around "why" and taking a direct approach to addressing issues associated, with and from people with direct experience.

As well as supporting our staff with their personal health efforts we have extended our support to an external contribution to help motivate and provide give back to the communities in which we live and work every day. While they undertake the initiative for 100 days, OneStaff will be sponsoring each staff member to be successful in their efforts - all money raised goes to Key to Life. In addition, we want to make as much of contribution to Key to Life’s excellent efforts as possible, so we have put in place this external sponsorship component to help drive a greater result by opening up this channel of external fundraising.

We have 70 individual staff participating across the country, and if they hit their weekly targets we are confident we can make a massive difference to the number of people Key to Life are able to get in front of, New Zealand communities everywhere, and ultimately in helping reduce the loss and despair suffered by so many.

This entire exercise builds on raising mental health awareness not just in OneStaff but also across the country - which is also a feature of the Virgin Global Pulse campaign. Please help us make a difference to get the message and assistance out to everyone who may need it in the country through Key to Life.