Travellers Aid: Creating a safer, more supportive workplace

Travellers Aid is a registered charity and social enterprise that helps people with diverse needs travel across Victoria’s public transport system, access events and participate in their communities. Its services include connection assistance, travel companions, mobility equipment hire, personal care and crisis travel support, delivered through metropolitan and regional service hubs and at Melbourne Airport.

Operations Manager Maria Groner has worked with the organisation for 19 years. She says Travellers Aid’s commitment to care extends beyond the people who use its services to a diverse workforce of around 80 staff and more than 150 volunteers.

What prompted Travellers Aid to get involved in the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program?

“Our organisation is all about care, and we extend the care we provide to our service users internally to our team,” Maria says.

Changes to workplace regulations provided an additional prompt to take part, but the organisation’s focus on mental health had grown well before then. The experience of COVID-19 reinforced how strongly mental health can affect people at work, while Maria’s own experience of post-traumatic stress disorder gave her a personal understanding of the difference a workplace can make when someone is going through a difficult time.

What was your understanding of workplace mental health and psychosocial risks before participating?

Travellers Aid entered the program with a solid understanding of workplace mental health and a strong culture of care. However, the team wanted a more structured way to assess psychosocial risks, test its assumptions, and identify which actions should be prioritised.

What were you hoping to gain from the program?

“We already had a good knowledge base. What we were lacking was the tools and the opportunity to bounce ideas around. How could we address this, and where should we really focus?” Maria says.

Travellers Aid was looking for practical guidance that could turn its existing commitment into focused, achievable action, particularly within the resource constraints of a not-for-profit organisation.

What was your experience of participating in the program, and what was most valuable?

The employee survey and its results were the most impactful part of the process for Travellers Aid, giving the organisation a clearer picture of its strengths and showed where improvements could make the biggest difference.

“It reconfirmed that we are doing quite well in a lot of areas, but there is always room for improvement,” Maria says. “The program was not framed around identifying where you fail, but around where you can have the biggest impact with limited resources. I found that really helpful.”

How easy was it to fit the program into your day-to-day operations?

Maria says the program arrived at the right time and provided a manageable level of support for work Travellers Aid had already begun. The program’s staged approach and midpoint check-in helped the team review what had been implemented, identify what was working and adjust actions that were not yet achievable.

What did you think of the support and guidance you received?

Access to experienced professionals gave Travellers Aid useful direction without taking ownership of the work away from its team. Maria says the guidance provided practical ideas, helped maintain momentum and gave the organisation’s board confidence that the work was being informed by specialist expertise.

“Having access to professionals to help us along the way was invaluable,” Maria says. “We did not have to do all the work ourselves, and the check-ins gave me helpful pointers to keep moving in the right direction.”

Were there any tools or activities that particularly stood out?

The survey, risk assessment template, and recommended training providers were among the most useful resources for Travellers Aid. These tools helped the organisation strengthen risk assessments for new and existing programs, and give greater consideration to the mental health impacts of the environments in which its people work.

The organisation has also introduced training for staff and volunteers, particularly those based at train stations who may be exposed to occupational violence and aggression. To support this work and make those environments as safe as possible, Travellers Aid has developed an Occupational Violence and Aggression Framework.

Would you recommend the program to other businesses, especially leaders?

“I would absolutely recommend the program to anyone,” Maria says. “If you do not know where to start, it gives you a good starting point. If you are already along the journey, you gain additional insights and a clearer understanding of where you can have an impact.”

Maria says that especially for leaders, the program offers a practical way to move from good intentions to informed action.

In three words, how would you describe the program?

Relevant. Helpful. Impactful.

About Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program

The Mentally Healthy Workplaces Program is a free initiative designed to help small and medium-sized Victorian businesses identify and manage psychosocial risks, reducing the risk of mental injuries and building mentally healthy, high-performing workplaces.

Delivered by AP Psychology & Consulting Services in partnership with the Victorian Chamber, the program provides expert guidance and digital tools tailored to the needs of each business.

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