Another Purple Co Success Story

It is with great joy and pride that we can share with you today that we have closed another client file.

Another client has returned to his pre-disability income and no longer needs services.  

Our client, an Income Protection beneficiary, experienced a significant mental health diagnosis while abroad as a part of his role as global CEO. Like many people who have not experienced anxiety with panic before, he was frightened by what he considered to be heart attack like chest pain.

At the time of referral to Purple Co, our client had chosen to resign from his pre-disability employer and had returned to Australia. 

Despite being a CEO with global experience, having managed teams of hundreds of people in various continents, he had limited knowledge or understanding of anxiety and depression. All he knew was that he felt bad and didn’t want to keep feeling bad.

He was also very concerned about his reputation. Reputation management being a significant factor in helping executives and senior professionals return to work following a health event.

He also required significant education about his symptoms, and how work would be a positive treatment activity in his recovery.

The thoughtfulness of his insurance company allowed us to collaborate, make decisions quickly and meet this client where he was at – that being, needing information presented in such a way that made sense to him and in a timely manner. Kudos to the insurer who made the referral to us within 4 weeks of the claim being lodged. Yes, this is an early intervention success story!

Unfortunately, our client had expressed that his first attempt to seek treatment from a psychiatrist did not go well for him, where he left that session feeling shamed of his experience and as though there was something inherently wrong with him for experiencing symptoms of anxiety. Gaining our client’s trust regarding treatment was the most significant barrier to engaging in recovery.  

What was important to our client was

• Normalising his experiences
• Treatment from someone who he could trust
• Treatment from someone who was not intimidated by his work experience and his social connections
• Timely accurate information
• Transparency - making sure that the insurer, Purple Co and our client all had the same information at the same time.  

We offered a range of other services including Executive recruitment; Linked In profile development and social media training, however once our client started to notice his function improving, he took control of his employment situation and created a new role for himself. 

Within 6 months of the claim being lodged this client had ceased needing any benefit, had recovered to the point where treatment was no longer necessary, and had created a new role for himself implementing what he had learned through treatment to help manage his triggers for another mental health episode. 

Well done to our founder & CEO Jo Muirhead for your incredible work and desire to help people make work, work well.