Delegates from the Prison Officers Vocational Branch (POVB) were given strategies to help cope with their stressful jobs a recent talk held at

PSA House.

In the lead up to the regular Delegates to Management meeting, the POVB members heard from retired rugby league Australian representative Mark Coyne, who now works on personal injury claims management with company EML. He had entered the industry after extensive experience in injury recovery while a professional athlete.

Mr Coyne gave advice to Officers who may be forced to change career about the importance of not focusing your identity on your job. He gave the example of how he coped with the end of his career as a rugby league player.

“Even though I had a degree in business and had worked for nine out of 12

years, I still found it really, really hard to transition to the next stage of my life,” he said. “One of the lessons I learned while I was transitioning from my career was something my wife, a counsellor, told me: rugby league is something you did, not who you are.

“Just because you are doing a job, it is not who you are. It is just what you are doing at the moment.”

Mr Coyne said instead of identifying solely as a retired sportsman, he took skills from his previous job into his new career.

“Overcoming adversity is important,” he said. “Things happen. To me, what

happens next is the most important thing. How quickly can you cycle through that blame game and recognise that the only one who can help you come out of that is going to be yourself?

“Overcoming adversity is an important thing.”