Volunteering for Mental Health: Enable-Supported Initiatives

Enable works hard to support our team’s holistic health and well-being. From offering a Work from Anywhere for eight weeks per year policy to supporting employees who want to take an extended break to flex some other muscles, Enable leadership supports life outside of work.

As a 富士通 company, Enable is part of a larger family with access to the established initiatives from Fujitsu's Office of Purpose . Office of Purpose is an inspiring program that encourages diversity, inclusivity, and giving back to the community. Through this initiative, Enable employees can volunteer and participate in various social outreach activities that align with their passions and values.

Over the past year, our team of rockstars took time out of their busy schedules to support giving-back initiatives. Here are some heartwarming stories of our Enable employees and their experiences with our social outreach programs!

A holiday with meaning in Bali

Meet Zoey C. , one of our talented ServiceNow consultants. Recently, Zoey took the opportunity to take some time off from work for a holiday-with-purpose volunteering to teach English in a Balinese kindergarten.

Zoey began searching for international volunteering programs when she became aware of her desire for an extended break from work and an experience that would give her a sense of meaning and purpose. Knowing Enable supported such endeavours, she began researching online and discovered IVHQ , an NZ-based organisation offering volunteering opportunities in over 50 locations globally across 300 projects.

Her first step to make her big idea happen was to talk to her direct manager. They were encouraging and supported her request to take a longer break from work. With that side of things ticked off, Zoey took the plunge. She settled on Bali as her volunteering destination due to its proximity to Australia and the opportunity to work with children.

For two months, Zoey lived in a local Balinese community. Each day she would liaise with local teachers to learn more about what they were doing with the children and find ways to tie lessons in with English. For example, she would pair English lessons with a class learning Malay so the children could learn what a particular word was in Malay and then in English.

“Enable really cares about people’s well-being, not just physical but emotional too. Leaders will encourage people to participate in these kinds of activities. They don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk and will actually arrange it and make it happen for you if you are really interested.” - Zoey

Zoey would love to go back and participate more in the organisation side of IVHQ, and we’ve heard whispers in Enable that some people are already thinking about how they can get behind the project! Watch this space! ??

Mentoring with Fujitsu Office of Purpose

Continuing with the theme of inspiring and supporting the next generation, two Enablers, Rachel Sparkes and Babitha Gourishetty , were recently involved in a mentoring program supporting young women in high school years 10 and 11. ?

Via Fujitsu’s Office of Purpose initiative, Enable partners with The Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN ) to provide award-winning, fully facilitated mentoring programs for students. Not only do the students benefit from connections with role models that provide examples of leadership and future career pathways, but mentors also benefit from the chance to refine their coaching skills, stimulate their creativity and deepen their understanding of different generations and cultures.

We’re thrilled to share their experiences with the broader community; and as is often the case, they said it best, so we’ve taken this section straight from the source:

Rachel:

“It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with and encourage students in year 10 who are starting to consider what leadership is to them. We met the girls over two virtual sessions and one in-person workshop. We discussed important topics like what leadership looks like in female leaders and how they can also recognise that in themselves. The students also heard about our career journeys and, importantly, our challenges along the way. As a mentor, the best part was seeing the students connect the dots between their own strengths and those of their female role models, as well as the relief in hearing that they don’t need to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives at 15!”

“The best part was seeing how the confidence in the students grew over the few weeks we had together. Light bulbs of realisation about what they may be capable of because they now had met real examples or heard real stories of people who were just like them making their way in the world of business, technology or leadership.”

Babitha:

“I consider this a rewarding experience, to share the room with a talented bunch of young women and my Enable-Fujitsu colleagues. An opportunity to share my career journey, talk through my goals, aspirations, my approach and thought process behind my career-shaping plan. I had the privilege to share a few experiences on self-reflection - the ability to put a few things into perspective by helping them recognise that highs and lows are inevitable during the school years as their emotions fluctuate was a key to reaching their best potential.

I was amazed to see the curiosity in these students, who were passionate about exploring how we navigate our professional journey while constantly learning/upskilling, juggling work and life balance, handling tough situations while aiming for new heights.”

What’s next for our mentors?

Rachel plans to continue her coaching professionally and continue to mentor others in her career to empower the next generation of female technology leaders:

“This is becoming kind of a personal career mission for me.”

Babitha will also continue to pursue her passions in this area:

“Social volunteering is something I’ve been doing for almost five years now and will continue to do so, for years to come. I always find joy in giving back to the community and build social connections with people I’ve never had an opportunity to meet or work with!”

Enable worked with Babitha and Rachel to schedule the mentoring sessions around their busy work weeks in a way that worked for the mentors and the students.?

“Although working full-time on an engagement, I felt very supported throughout to be able to participate in this program. Enable has opened the doors for us to explore and participate in different events outside billable Client work, with support from the leadership team. The ability to swivel chair between Client work and volunteering events like this makes me feel content.” – Babitha.

We love to see Fujitsu’s Office of Purpose goals regarding sustainable development in action, in this case specifically goals of reducing inequality and promoting good health and well-being! You can check them all out here .

Tree planters unite in Singapore

We embrace a trailblazing mentality at Enable, and while tree planting might not yet be a commonly recommended way to support mental and physical health yet, we’re betting that it will be soon!

Recently our team in Singapore ( Zoey C. , Wei Chuan , Mun Koo Law and Fu Hua Lim ) took part in the Plant-A-Tree initiative aiming to plant a million trees in 10 years. This activity was also part of Fujitsu Asia's 50th Anniversary celebration and a great opportunity for Enablers to get outdoors and do something positive for our environment. The earlier downpour did not impact the mood or stop our team from planting a total of 50 trees in one morning!

More tree planting anyone? We feel like this activity is going to catch on.

Hiking to help a mate

We couldn’t end this edition of Enablers in Action without calling out Paul Thomason ’s Mental Health fundraising initiative. Paul, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Enable, is walking the Amazon and Inca Trail to Machu Picchu to raise money for Spoke to a Bloke , an Aussie charity aiming to reduce the shocking level of male suicides in Australia every day.

Paul does an annual sponsored event to give back to his community. You can check out Spoke to a Bloke here or by clicking on Paul's fundraiser above!

You’ve inspired us Paul, we can’t wait to see how you blend adventure and fundraising next year!

Has this edition ignited your desire to try something new while giving back to our communities?

This Spring, Enable and Fujitsu are once again participating in Starlight’s Tour de Kids cycling challenge to raise money for sick kids.

As part of Enable's commitment to empowering the future generation, members of our team will soon set their goals and get peddling!

If you’ve been inspired by the Tour de France or Giro D’Italia recently, consider joining Team Enable and doing something for your well-being while fundraising for an important cause.

Find out more here.

Enablers who have had their interest piqued by other initiatives mentioned article can reach out to Fujitsu OOP via [email protected] to get more information or request to volunteer.?

Want to join the fun and give back?

By joining Enable, you'll become part of a team that cares about your well-being, values collaboration, and believes in making a positive impact. Together, let's create a brighter future through the power of social outreach.

Have a look at our open roles: Browse opportunities at Enable