For Robert Boschetti, owner of the regional, family-run electrical business BOSCHETTI, supported by his wife Erica, the decision to engage in Workplace Mental Health Coaching was driven by a desire to build what he describes as a “choice workplace”. The aim is not simply to say the right things about wellbeing, but to listen, learn and create conditions where people felt genuinely supported.

As Robert reflected, if just 1% filters down the team, that is still a world of difference for somebody.

The challenge: growth, responsibility and complexity

“We’ve gone through a lot of growth, growth-rebuild and rebuild cycles,” says Robert. “This is definitely part of a rebuild cycle.”

Robert acknowledges that each cycle allows the business to learn something new. Over time the cycles have helped surface that strong technical capability alone is not enough to sustain the business long‑term. Each cycle revealed gaps in resourcing, capability and psychosocial safety, which were difficult to adequately address while continuing to run projects and grow the business.

“We’ve got some pretty full‑on brains working in the office and some pretty full‑on construction people,” Robert says – a mix that brings both opportunity and complexity.

Erica notes that as the business has expanded, demands have changed. With more staff comes new responsibilities around workplace wellbeing, performance management and difficult conversations.

While both Erica and Robert bring strong but different skills – Robert on the business and operations side, Erica on the people and psychological side – they saw a need for support that could bridge the two.

As Erica put it, “It’s hard to be an expert in everything in business… sometimes it’s better to have a third party in there to bridge that.”

The role of coaching

To support growth, BOSCHETTI engaged in Workplace Mental Health Coaching, delivered by Transitioning Well and proudly supported by the NSW Government. The program is available to NSW businesses with up to 200 employees and not‑for‑profits of any size, making it accessible to a wide range of organisations seeking to strengthen psychological health and safety at work.

From coach Anna Kijowska’s perspective, the focus has not been on introducing entirely new values, but on creating structure and consistency around practices already happening organically. Coaching has helped translate intent into practical systems that could meet psychosocial compliance requirements while remaining authentic to the business.

Anna describes this as building “the skeleton around anchoring these practices into day‑to‑day experiences.” This included developing a clear mental health policy and providing accessible frameworks for navigating conversations about wellbeing at work.

From values to systems

Coaching supported BOSCHETTI to move from good intentions to documented, repeatable practices.

Rather than relying on Robert’s personal skills or informal relationships alone, the business began formalising how psychosocial safety would be embedded across the organisation. This meant:

• Creating simple, easy‑to‑understand mental health policies
• Linking ways of working directly to documented expectations
• Ensuring consistency as delegation increased and new managers were appointed
• Supporting leaders to recognise and respond to psychosocial risk early.

This ensured that positive practices would not be lost as the business grew or as new personalities joined the organisation.

Managing psychosocial risk in practice

Psychosocial risk at BOSCHETTI is most likely to emerge during moments of pressure – particularly around difficult client interactions, performance conversations and the need to balance care for people with the realities of running projects and meeting commitments.

Anna highlighted that while Robert naturally navigates difficult conversations and negotiations with clients, not all staff felt equally confident in these situations. Coaching addressed this risk by helping leaders support team members through challenging interactions that could otherwise expose them – and the business – to psychosocial harm.

Through coaching, leaders strengthened their ability to balance care with boundaries, particularly when performance issues, personal challenges or difficult decisions arose.

As Erica observes, coaching has helped Robert move from handling issues intuitively to being more intentional: defining boundaries, preparing for hard conversations and distinguishing between his role as a supportive colleague and as a business owner.

Impact on culture and leadership

The impact of coaching was evident not only in policies, but in every-day behaviour.

BOSCHETTI’s leaders describe a workplace where conversations about family responsibilities, life events and stress are increasingly normalised. Decisions about parental leave, medical procedures or personal loss are treated as part of doing business responsibly – not as exceptions or inconveniences.

Over time, coaching also changed the way Robert and Erica worked together. Robert noted he was now more likely to bring back reflections and lessons from situations, rather than just problems – a shift that strengthened leadership alignment, role clarity and simplified decision‑making processes.

Growth with intention

Unlike many organisations that introduce wellbeing systems reactively, BOSCHETTI chose a proactive path. While acknowledging mistakes along the way, Robert described the organisation as intentionally using this phase of growth to “do it properly next time.”

Coaching allowed the business to focus on excellence rather than perfection. As Robert explained, “Perfection is an outcome. Excellence is a process.”

This mindset made it easier to engage with coaching meaningfully – focusing on progress, learning and small changes that could still significantly affect someone’s day, year or life.

Reflections and lessons

For BOSCHETTI, Workplace Mental Health Coaching has not been about outsourcing responsibility, but about being resourceful.

Coaching has helped create space, clarity and efficiency – particularly for a regional, family‑run business balancing operations, growth and family life. It also reinforces that psychosocial safety is not separate from productivity or performance, but integral to both.

Erica emphasises the broader ripple effect of this work, noting that healthier workplaces influence families, communities and future generations – especially in male‑dominated industries where mental health is still often difficult to talk about.

By building structure around care, strengthening leadership capability and embedding psychosocial safety early, coaching helped BOSCHETTI move from intention to action — creating a workplace where safety, wellbeing and performance evolve together.

As Robert sums it up, “Don’t try and change the world. Just try and change someone’s day.”

The post “Don’t try and change the world. Just try and change someone’s day.” appeared first on Transitioning Well.

Across NSW (and arguably the rest of the country), small and medium-sized businesses are facing a complex challenge: understanding – and acting on – their psychosocial risk responsibilities.

For many, despite psychosocial risk obligations being in place in NSW since 2022, this is unfamiliar territory.

Coach Kresh Pidial observes that many organisations – particularly those without HR, OHS or risk departments – don’t yet have a strong understanding of psychosocial hazards and how they apply in the workplace. Yet, she adds, their commitment to staff wellbeing and mental health support more broadly, shines through.

Coach Oliver Zwalf explains that one of the key challenges for leaders striving to foster a mentally healthy workplace is helping them understand “where the boundaries of their support start and finish,” particularly in small businesses where relationships can feel close or “family-like.”

Coach Tessa Bailey sees similar themes, noting that leaders often don’t know where to draw the line between being a supportive employer and referring staff to professional support.

 “You’re not here to fix,” she says. “You don’t mend broken legs. If the bandage doesn’t work then get practitioner support … and make sure you’re looking after your own boundaries as well.”

The challenges organisations are facing

Organisations are operating in an environment of continual change and disruption.

 Transitioning Well’s coaches cited common pressures across organisations, such as:

• The economic landscape and cost of living impacts on staff wellbeing
• Role instability and workforce anxiety
• Difficulty navigating performance and mental health together
• Limited capability in having difficult conversations
• Poor or inconsistent communication across teams.

Many organisations are also struggling to interpret what psychosocial legislation actually means in practice.

Tessa notes that a common question from clients is: “Am I fulfilling my obligations?” – with coaching helping to translate codes of practice into something usable and relevant.

How coaching helps

Proudly funded by the NSW Government, the Workplace Mental Health Coaching Program provides free, structured one-on-one support to NSW businesses with up to 200 employees and not-for-profits of any size, helping businesses make sense of these challenges.

“Coaching helps build a framework that can meet compliance requirements,” says coach Anna Kijowska, “But it also anchors practices into day-to-day experiences.”

For Program Lead Gagan Mudhar, one of the defining benefits is access:

“There are very few programs of this quality, this level of rigour… available to small and medium-sized businesses.”

Unlike traditional training, coaching is flexible and tailored.

Gagan explains that the program allows coaches to “walk them through complex challenges, sit with their problems… and not push them down a particular route.”

This adaptability is critical for small and medium sized businesses, where no two workplaces – and no two problems – are the same.

The power of incremental change

Coaching doesn’t rely on big interventions. It works through incremental, practical change.

“It’s almost like coaching bites,” says Kresh. “It’s a little bit every few weeks, and before you know it, they’ve transformed their company.”

That transformation might include:

• Building confidence to have difficult conversations
• Introducing clearer boundaries for leaders
• Identifying psychosocial hazards and responses
• Strengthening communication across teams.

Importantly, coaching helps organisations move beyond documentation.

“We want to help in a really pragmatic way,” says Anna. “Leaders don’t have to feel like they have to do it all themselves.”

As Tessa explains, “It’s not another policy… it’s how the shared language in the organisation puts it into practice.”

Helping leaders be well and lead well

For many small and medium sized business leaders, coaching also provides something they don’t often have: a safe space to think.

Gagan highlights the value of having “someone in their corner… a safe, confidential space to talk about what’s actually going on in their business.”

This is especially important when leaders are managing:

• Complex people issues
• Conflicting demands
• Uncertainty around compliance.

Coaching allows them to build confidence before acting – rather than reacting after something goes wrong.

Tessa notes that for many leaders, a lot of the support comes down to communication.

“There are no healthy relationships without healthy communication,” Tessa says. “If you want good outcomes, you need healthy communication.”

The impact

“For many organisations coaching helps cut through the ‘information overload’,” says Anna. “Many clients say that there’s a lot of information out there, and it can take a lot of time to get through it all. Coaching helps cut through that. Clients can discuss what they’re struggling with, get support and guidance and ultimately be better placed to take action.”

Over time, coaches see a consistent shift in how organisations approach workplace mental health.

Reflecting on the five years Transitioning Well has delivered the program, Gagan notes that more clients are owning their responsibility to build a mentally healthy workplace:

“We’ve started seeing businesses come in saying, ‘I think I do actually have a responsibility… I want to do the right thing – can you help me?’”

And the numbers speak for themselves. Since 2021, more than 3,000 businesses have engaged in Workplace Mental Health Coaching, reaching more than 53,000 employees.

For coaches like Oliver, the impact is most visible when clients return having applied what they’ve learned:

“They say, ‘I tried that thing we spoke about and it worked… what’s next?’”

Tessa sees this play out quickly in small and medium sized businesses, noting that it’s one of the benefits of being a smaller organisation: “You can shift very quickly… day to day, week to week, month to month.”

As Kresh reflects, the most rewarding part is seeing organisations take ownership: “They gain the knowledge… and transform their workplaces to become more psychologically healthy and safe.”

The post From Complexity to Clarity: How Workplace Mental Health Coaching Supports Businesses appeared first on Transitioning Well.

Your second six months of DEI activity for 2026

To support your ongoing DEI activity in 2026, we’ve mapped the last six months of the Ultimate HR Calendar against our range of workshops. These sessions are designed to help you respond meaningfully to key days of note, while building sustainable capability across your organisation. 

Contact us to book a series of workshops, or to talk about other ways we can help you drive successful outcomes in 2026 and beyond. 

August Workshops

Safe to Speak: Cultivating Psychological Safety  
This session introduces three practical approaches to building psychological safety and helps leaders develop a culture of high performance, growth and learning within their teams. 
Aligns with Bullying No Way: National Week of Action (17-21 August) and World Kindness Day (13 November). 

Communication Essentials  
Covering such topics as active listening, how to give and receive feedback and reducing incivility (a precursor to bullying), this 1.5-hour session provides participants practical insights they can use to communicate well. 
Aligns with Bullying No Way: National Week of Action (17–21 August) 

September Workshops

It’s the Best Time in History to Be a Dad 
Delivered by our partner, The Father Hood, this workshop explores how modern fatherhood is evolving, and how dads have the opportunity to define themselves more broadly than previous generations – for the benefit of all genders. 
Aligns with Father’s Day (6 September). 

Why Menopause is Everyone’s Business 
An all-employee session designed to raise awareness and open up conversations about menopause at work, supporting inclusion, understanding and psychological safety. 
Aligns with Women’s Health Week (7–11 September), World Menopause and Work Day (7 September) and World Menopause Day (18 October). 

Setting Life‑Work Boundaries 
This session deep dives the techniques of setting clear boundaries between work and home to create a clear delineation between entities within life to support health and wellbeing. 
Aligns with Women’s Health Week (7–11 September).

Menopause Training for Managers and HR 
Equips leaders and HR professionals with the tools and confidence to support employees through the menopausal transition. 
Aligns with Women’s Health Week (7–11 September), World Menopause and Work Day (7 September) and World Menopause Day (18 October). 

Check-In Culture: How to Ask Someone R U OK? 
Explores how to build a ‘check-in’ culture where peers feel equipped to create safe spaces, regularly check in with one another, and ask R U OK in a meaningful way. 
Aligns with R U OK? Day (10 September). 

Safe to Speak: Cultivating Psychological Safety 
In this interactive workshop, leaders build awareness of the small, often automatic behaviours that shape whether people feel safe to speak up, take risks and learn. 
Aligns with R U OK? Day (10 September). 

October Workshops

Wellbeing Foundations 
This workshop helps creates a shared language around mental health, reduce stigma, and equips participants with simple, evidence‑informed strategies to support themselves and others at work. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Leading with Heart 
Supports leaders to navigate the emotional demands of their role by building skills to have supportive conversations, set healthy boundaries, and care for others without compromising their own wellbeing.
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

The Art and Science of Taking Breaks 
Acknowledging that people work effectively in different ways, this session provides practical strategies to build restorative breaks into everyday rhythms of work. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Leadership Tools for Preventing and Responding to Customer Aggression 
Provides leaders with practical tools and strategies to support their teams to prevent, manage and respond to occupational violence and aggression in the workplace. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October), World Mental Health Day (10 October) and World Kindness Day (13 November). 

Leading Through Ages and Stages 
Moves beyond generational stereotypes to offer inclusive, evidence-based strategies for leading age-diverse teams. 
Aligns with International Day of Older Persons (1 October), Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Retiring Well 
Supports people to prepare for the psychological transition to retirement, focusing on wellbeing, identity and life beyond work. 
Aligns with International Day of Older Persons (1 October)  

Health Reset 
Explores why wellbeing habits can slip over time and offers practical strategies to reset and sustain healthier ways of working. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Caring for the Carer: Supporting Self in the Carer Role 
Focuses on caring roles across the employee life cycle, and how individuals can navigate the often-competing demands of caring for others while working. 
Aligns with Carer’s Week (October). 

Compassion Fatigue: How to Curb the Cost of Caring 
Provides participants with insights informed by current research and tools focused on understanding compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma, what it is, who is at risk and – critically – ways to prevent and manage it. 
Aligns with Carer’s Week (October). 

November Workshops

Emotional Intelligence: Interpreting Your Feelings to Understand Others 
Provides practical tools to build awareness of emotions in ourselves and others, and develop a shared language for discussing them. 
Aligns with World Kindness Day (13 November). 

Family and Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Training  
An introductory session to help leaders recognise the signs of family and domestic violence, understand its workplace impacts, and respond appropriately. 
Aligns with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November). 

December Workshops

Fatigue Antidote: Preventing Burnout 
Supports leaders to understand the cultural drivers of burnout in modern, blended workplaces and adopt practical approaches for sustained wellbeing. 
Aligns with end-of-year trends. 

Job Crafting: Working SMARTer, Not Harder 
Offers teams a structured forum to redesign work in ways that support mental health while still meeting role deliverables. 
Aligns with end-of-year trends. 

Contact us to discuss your 2026 learning and development needs.

The post Your second six months of DEI activity for 2026 appeared first on Transitioning Well.