Our Stories
People have always used storytelling as a way of preserving and documenting the human journey....here are some of our Real Life stories from First Responders
Graham Norris
Graham Norris was a Detective in the NSW Police Force for 17 years. He worked in Mount Druit in Western Sydney and eventually found his niche in the Homicide Squad. He was involved in the investigation of a number of horrific murders, but found solace in providing support to the victims families. Graham strugged with a physical injury and was forced to leave the job he loved. This unfortunately led to mental health issues down the track.
Since attending the Beyond The Badge Career Transition Program Graham has found a new career that gives him the satisfaction he had being a policemen. He works for Lifeline Australia and has recently been promoted to a Team Supervor role.
This is Graham’s story.
Michelle Glascow
Michelle was a Sergeant in the NSW Police Force and had a 13 year career. She resigned from the job due to the impact it was having on her wellbeing. She found it very difficult at the beginning and struggled with the loss of identity that often comes from leaving a first responder agency. After attending the Beyond The Badge Career Transition Program Michelle interviewed for and obtained a leadership position at a Womens Domestic Violence support service. Within 6 months, Michelle had accepted a promotion to manage the service and using the skills learnt throughout her policing career has brought about significant operational and employee morale improvements
This is Michelle’s story:
Stephen Knight
Stephen was also a NSW Police Detective and worked his way into the much sought after Homicide Squad. He excelled at his work and was bringing up a young family. As a result of a particularly horrific murder that he worked on as an investigator, Stephen was unable to work and stayed at home whilst he underwent the NSW Police injury management process. After 7 long years Stephen was discharged from the NSW Police Force. He was lost and had become disillusioned due to his loss of identity.
After attending the Beyond The Badge Career Transition Program Stephen took some months to regain his confidence and is now in his third role as a Senior Investigator with a NSW Government Department.
This is Stephens story:
Michelle Gibson
Michelle had a great career in the NSW Police and made her mark as a Sergeant in the Major Events area where she was responsible for the planning and managing events such as Sydney New Years Eve.
Michelle was on an early program with us and just before Covid struck was on her way to working for a Major events company preparing Olympic media events across Australia. Due to no games – the opportunity fell through. but the whole experience provided her with a newfound confidence.
Michele has got busy raisng and supporing her high school and Uni aged children and when she is ready will no doubt find a great role in her area of expertise.
This is Michelle’s story.
Steve Dunlop
Steve was on one of our early programs and after a career in the NSW Police set up his own landscaping business where he excelled and built up a strong client base.
Looking or a change, he came on the program and subsequently intervewied and obtained a role as a HSEQ Manager for one of our corporate Partners, BGIS. He has recently been promoted and is working on a NSW Government major account.
This is Steve’s story.
Craig Ham
Craig was a very senior Detective in tge NSW Police and prior to leaving with stress induced issues, ran major task forces in the Central Coast area of NSW.
Being forced from such high profile operational command and responsibility to sitting at home waiting for the medical discharge process to work through, Craig became quite despondent and as he describes “lost his mojo” which in turn affected his family life and his very being.
After attending the program and specifically after the first day, Craig returned home and his wife described him as “a new man”. such was the impact of our program on him.
Craig was finally discharged and has chosen to retire and spend more tome with his family.
This is Craig’s story:
BGIS Corporate Partner
BGIS have been a huge supporter of Beyond The Badge from our beginnings in early 2018.
Chad Stockwell was the second AU/NZ Recruitment Manager that we were working with and he certainly looked after us and all our participants. BGIS have genarally hosted Day 1 of our program and have actually hired 4 former first responders through us.
Chad has since moved on to a new opportunity.
Chad tells the partnership story.
Club Central Financial Partner
Club Central (Menai and Hurstville) has been a major supporter of Beyond The Badge since 2018. Brian Cloney, the club President has provided advice and introduced us to CLubs NSW and several other clubs. Ben Williamson and CEO Paul Richardson have provided their time and expertise by presenting to our program partipants. We have also had ongoing support from Kylie DiCesare and the amazing staff.
We have been fortunate to receive several Club Grants which ensures we can continue to run our programs.