Recovery College Principal becomes Award finalist
On Monday 11 October, the Minister for Mental Health the Hon. Stephen Dawson announced the finalists for the annual WA Mental Health Awards. Each year, this highly coveted event is presented by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH) to showcase the steadfast commitment and contributions of individuals and teams to mental health in our workplaces, schools, and the community. This year, our very own from Recovery College is an Award Finalist!
We are very proud to confirm that the WA Recovery College Alliance (WARCA) Principal, Ms Naomi Carter, has been announced as a finalist in this years ‘Employee Excellence Award’ category! Sponsored by Act Belong Commit, the ‘Employee Excellence Award’ goes to an individual, either employed or volunteer, who has delivered outstanding contributions in the mental health sector of WA.
Naomi has shown unrelenting dedication to the development of the WARCA. After being appointed as principle of WARCA in July 2020, Naomi and her team have delivered:
- Training to over 87 educators, all of whom participated in the 5-day Educator Foundation Program.
- Recovery oriented courses to over 170 students.
- Community information and input sessions across Western Australia.
Naomi’s efforts have been well received by both WARCA students and staff alike.
Laura Fitzgerald, an Educator at WARCA writes:
“Naomi leads our team using the same values and practices as WARCA. She is a wonderful leader and mentor, who is approachable, inclusive, professional and trustworthy. Her passion for the work WARCA does is infectious, especially when she works with WARCA educators. Her generosity of spirit and genuine passion for sharing power and promoting recovery as rights-based participation and belonging shines through in all her interactions and I am proud to be a member of her team.”
In a recent testimonial, this student describes the experience as “wonderful” and feeling their mood lift “almost immediately”:
“Meeting a donkey in a metropolitan area was unexpected and a wonderful opportunity. It was a unique perspective on animal therapy and allowed us to get to know more about an animal that, I believe, many of us don’t know all too much about. I had never truly considered and evaluated the effect spending time with animals can have on your mental health and wellbeing and through attending this course, I was able to track the elevation in my mood almost immediately.”
We congratulate Naomi Carter for becoming a finalist for the Employee Excellence Award and we wish her and all the other finalists the best of luck at the upcoming Awards!