100 and counting- looking back in order to see forward.

I started writing posts on LinkedIn as a way of sifting through my thoughts and gifting a voice to all that I was seeing. The reason I named the first post Monday Muses is incredibly simple- I wrote my thoughts on a Monday and I was just musing about issues.
Thus on November 10 2014 Monday Muses came into being.
A lot of water has as they say flowed under the bridge since then, I have gained friends too numerous to count and lost loved ones. My view of what could be shifted sharply when an invitation arrived to visit one of my most respected mentors David DePaolo and to speak at the 2015 Comp Laude Awards (if you haven't nominated someone for this year Comp Laude please do so)
Over the last 99 posts I have told you about the A Team as they set up the Bags of Love Op Shop and I have told you of the despair on Friday evenings of the Bags of Love emergency food project pantry being all but empty.

I have welcomed each of you into the Centre and (hopefully) helped each of you to understand that there is a true alternative to what is considered to be mainstream return to work opportunities for injured workers.
I have taken the direction that the Marksman gave me all those years back and turned his words into a reality. It is odd at times sitting in my office at the Centre surrounded by books and reports and thank you cards and fridge magnets (that is a story for another day) and photos; in the silence that fills the Centre at the end of the day, just in those few seconds that I sit to gather my thoughts, I can still hear the Marksman say "Rosemary if you don't like it, change it!" I can still see the smile that was hidden behind the cold stare and I can still feel the indignity the rose up in me.
I can still feel the tears threatening to fall and my knees start to buckle under the weight of the challenge.
And I can still remember the defiance of the authority.
Now; in all honesty if the Marksman had not thrown the challenge at me at point blank range, I would have never peeped over the edge to see what was doable and what was the path my life would follow.

Over the past 99 posts you have come to know a tad more about me and some of the odd ways used to move "obstacles" from the lives of injured workers.
I hope you don't mind if I share 2 stories with you.
A wife called me-lets call her Mary- her husband was an injured worker and she was on the brink of leaving him-lets call him Colin.
Colin had become obsessed with all the faults that could be found within the workers compensation industry.
Colin spent days at the library, scanning the national and international daily papers for stories of injured workers being broken by the system.
Colin would print the pages out and he would research and he would follow court challenges.
Colin's whole life was filled with anger, their adult children rarely visited as all Colin could talk about was the bile and the injustices and everything else that was wrong within workers compensation.
Colin overlooked the fact that his own medical requirements were being covered, his income payments were always on time, his own workers compensation claim was totally under control.
Mary was as I said at breaking point, what had once been a spare bedroom was filled with files of workers compensation issue from anywhere and everywhere.
Mary told me that even though Colin had regular contact with a leading psychologist nothing seemed to be working; Colin was just fixated on finding wrong and proving wrong.
Even now remembering it, I still don't know how I came up with the circuit breaker, I remember driving to meet with Mary and Colin and not knowing what I would say or attempt.
As I arrived the junk mail had just been delivered, there was a catalogue for a local supermarket and on the front page was the special of the week a 4litre tub of chocolate ice cream.
I was invited into the kitchen for a cup of tea, there on the bench was a brand new folder and a brand new writing pad and brand new pens.
(Every time a new something for workers compensation arrived, Colin simply started a new file)
We had a cup of tea and then Colin started on his tirade of workers compensation.
I sat and simply held up my hand in a stop sign manner and said something along the following "Mary called me to help you, you believe I can help you resolve all your workers compensation issues, and you have agreed to do what ever I recommend."
Colin nodded and was about to speak again.
Instead I continued.
"I want you to go to the supermarket and buy this 4litre tub of chocolate ice cream and for the next 7 days have a bowl of ice cream for breakfast- I will be back in a week"
With that I stood up and left.

I drove my car around the corner and waited for about 20 minutes- I saw Colin drive past and then about another 15 minutes I saw Colin return.
A week later I went back as promised.
Again we went into the kitchen, the bench was clear.
On the kitchen sink was an empty chocolate ice cream tub.
We had tea, then I reached into my bag for my notepad and pen and started to ask Colin about his workers compensation claim; he stumbled for a few minutes and tried to make sense of what he was saying.
After a short time Colin simply stopped trying and asked "what was the ice cream for breakfast about?"
I answered "it was just for fun, it was a little bit naughty, it didn't do you any harm, and for a week it gave you something else to think about."
Colin sat there stunned, he came to the understanding that in all the searching he had done to prove all that ails the workers compensation system, he had fallen into the abyss and that ice cream for breakfast had simply taken the focus away and given him and given Mary the break that was very needed.
Within weeks Colin had resumed his life, he was a fun person to be around again, and if he felt a backwards slide, he just had ice cream for breakfast.

Not every injured worker is welcomed back by the rest of the workplace.
Let's call him Richard; he had sustained a broken ankle and broken tibia as well as severe bruising to his knee caps.
Richard was a highly trained and highly skilled diesel mechanic- where he was employed Richard was the only one who could service a particular piece of equipment that had been imported to do a specific job. -Richard had been sent to Germany in order to learn everything that was required to maintain the piece of equipment.
As such the employer needed Richard back at work as quickly as it was physically viable for Richard to be there.
The return to work schedule was tailored so that the only work that Richard did upon his return to work was to maintain the top end of the diesel machinery within the workshop and to train the apprentices. The rest of the work was being done by the other mechanic's.
At first everyone was happy to see Richard return, although his hours were short, he was able to get a lot of work done and the workshop was safe from losing a vital contract.
However things started to go awry.
The other mechanics were annoyed that Richard was being favored, he spent 4hrs a day 3 days a week at the workshop, he rarely spoke to anyone other than the apprentices assigned to work with Richard for the shift.
The employer was well aware of what was going on but seemed unable to find a solution.
Between the employer Richard and myself we hatched an idea that again we were not sure if it would work.
As the workshop was open on Saturday mornings to allow the clients to come in to either collect or drop off new jobs, we thought why not have a sausage sizzle for the workers and anyone else who just happened to be there.
Richard was tasked with doing it all on his own.
By the time sausage sizzle was finished Richard could hardly stand up, he was pale from pain and was sweating profusely from discomfort.
What this showed his workmates was that even though Richard was only working short shifts and the apprentices were doing most of the work that Richard then double checked, Richard was actually working as much as he could, he was not loafing or sponging off the rest of the team.
The change that came from the sausage sizzle was enough for everyone to see that Richard was still a much required member of the work team and he wanted nothing more than to get back to work.
Footnote: Richard never made it back full time to pre-injury employment, but he did remain employed with the pre-injury employer and trained many apprentices.

Enough of looking back:
Where to from here?
To be honest I don't really know, there are new conversations happening all the time. And with new conversations new opportunities to show case what injured workers can achieve when the system is set to one side. Even after all this time I am still amazed at how injured workers simply get on with their own lives when they have the support of their peers and the support of the Centre.
There is still much more that can be done and that needs to be done.
The Bags of Love Op Shop keeps growing, every week there are more high quality donations either delivered or collected. As does the need for the Bags of Love emergency food project.
I am still doing radio interviews  such as this one with Dave Waterman and Trevor Scott from 5RM (somewhere in the middle of the segment is some serious stuff) and the very serious interviews I did with Mark Stipic (0ne Two )
Now that the Deceased Workers Memorial Wall has been Dedicated I need to pull all of the history together so it is not lost.
The Project continues and new information is being added on a daily basis.

I am still as enthused by writing Monday Muses as I was when I first started all that time back- I still try to find each week a highlight to share so that each of you can know that the A Team is a force to be reckoned with- they don't back down from the challenges in front of them; they seek answers and they seek opportunity they seek life post workers compensation- yes they are injured, but they are not their injury.

I am sorry for this rather long 100th post. It just seemed that a lot needed to be put out into the wondrous world of the interconnected internet.

As for now it is time for a cup of tea as I ponder what to get for dinner.
Somehow I think it might be spiced pumpkin soup and a crumpet.

Yours in service
Rosemary