Deborah H Dickinson is president of Kulture Hive, a not-for-profit organisation in Williams Landing which runs social cohesion programs and job training. She is also a life coach and runs Deborah H Dickinson Coaching. She chats with Alesha Capone.
Tell me about yourself.
Where I am right now as a mindset and life coach, how I got here was by going through personal development. I was in the corporate world for 20 years. I’d started on the factory floor and worked my way up to general manager in Sydney, and they brought me to Melbourne to run a site here. I moved to Wyndham in 2012, to Point Cook. I am in Werribee South now, it’s beautiful here. I am originally from New Zealand, and of Maori descent. In my early twenties I moved to Australia, that’s how I landed in Sydney. I have three sons of my own, two step-sons and three grandchildren.
What personal development did you experience?
The personal development I went through came from a place of realising I had success without fulfilment. I went into a bit of a spiral myself, asking: ‘Was I worthy?’ I felt passionless. I kept saying to myself, ‘I have done 25 years, I don’t have 20 years to start again’. I went to do a neuro-linguistic programming training program. It was my own first experience of having breakthroughs, back to my first breakthrough experience, where I realised the things I wanted were possible, that everything was possible. Then I realised there were so many people I had to help, who were successful but passionless. I did three courses to become qualified for what I do now.
What do you like about living in Werribee South?
The beach, the water. My background has always very much been about Mother Nature. I do love the fact that you get off the highway, drive to Werribee South through the (Werribee Park) gardens, everything is flat and you can see the water.
Do you do any volunteering?
I’m actually on the board of Kulture Hive, here in Wyndham city. I’ve been vice-president and now I am president. I am also on the board for the Hayden Butler Foundation, which is aimed at suicide awareness and prevention. As I’m in coaching, I use my expertise and skills, looking after education and running workshops and things like that.
How did you get involved the Hayden Butler Foundation?
It actually started when I created my business and wanted to be in a space of helping. It wasn’t until I became more involved that I realised how impacted many people are by suicide – through wider family and work colleagues, if not immediate family members. I very much realised I had been impacted too.
What inspired you to start volunteering?
For me, it needed to start off with a community base. I must admit, it all came from asking: ‘How can I help?’
