KADYN apprentices and mentors from across New South Wales all came together for an ‘all in’ group session on Thursday 23 February at Impact Gym Erina on the NSW Central Coast, where KADYN Managing Director Adam Rose officially introduced two new KADYN mentors in Chris Hicks and Sam Wykes, who will work closely with the apprentices as part of the KADYN Youth Mentoring Program.

Hicks, a former NRL and UK Super League player, who also represented NSW Country, is now based in Newcastle and will focus primarily on mentoring KADYN apprentices from the Newcastle region, whilst Wykes, a former Super Rugby player, both here locally and internationally, will be primarily focused on mentoring KADYN apprentices from Western Sydney.

Hicks and Wykes joined fellow KADYN mentors and staff Adam McCormick (Central Coast) and Anthony Watmough (Northern Beaches) for the group session, which included a presentation by Owen Clark from Lifeline’s SOKS (Save Our Kids from Suicide) program, who spoke about how everyone can all work together to combat youth suicide and provided some extremely valuable tips on how to recognise signs of need and how to best reach out when times are tough.

Also presenting to the group was Owen Seabury, who is a Project Manager at John Holland – Australia and New Zealand’s leading end-to-end integrated infrastructure, building, rail and multi-modal transport company. He outlined pathways and opportunities beyond the KADYN apprenticeships program and detailed the key qualities that both he personally and also John Holland as a business look for when seeking employees. Owen also expressed how impressed he has been by not only the hard work and dedication he has seen from KADYN apprentices, but most notably the positive attitudes they continue to bring to the workplace each day (through KADYN’s hands-on involvement with John Holland and their projects).

Following the presentations, Impact Gym Founder and Director Mick Ostini and his team got the group moving, putting everyone through an intense physical session on the gym floor.