An ordinary person thrust into the spotlight of extraordinary circumstances’ – that is how I would describe my situation.

The path that my family have had to traverse is not one that we would have chosen – we were given no choice. Like most people, the goals and dreams that my husband and I envisaged for our family did NOT include the chaos that comes following a workplace fatality.

For the first seven years following my husband’s death, I was focussed on rebuilding a ‘normal’ life for our three children, following through with the legal repercussions of my husband’s death, completing my university degree (with a renewed sense of urgency) and documenting our journey.

Despite the inevitable heartache and grief that has become such a ‘normalised’ circumstance for my family, the overwhelming motivator for me comes from the potential opportunity to prevent others experiencing what my family have had to endure. We so often take for granted what we have until it is too late.

‘With adversity comes strength and resolve’ – we’ve heard that said often, but this is not the way that you want to discover whether you possess these qualities.

Now that my three children are independent, I now have the opportunity to devote more time to this passion of mine – a desire to do whatever is humanly possible to prevent others having to experience what my family have endured. This also includes ongoing activities toward the development of improved support networks for families and individuals following a workplace fatality and this developed out of the realisation, through contact with other family members and associated agencies and subsequent research, that the system has remained largely unchanged and has many gaps that must be rectified.

I am now also a qualified Grief Counsellor, so if you or your organisation require some assistance in this regard, please contact me.

Meet HELEN FITZROY

Chief Business Advisor