Angela Garvey – recently named Female Aviation Leader of the Year at the Aviation Awards – has launched the first-ever general aviation wellness survey.
Garvey is the founder of Navigating Aviation – a business that provides industry-specific counselling and support for workers in the general aviation industry.
She recently received backing from the Department of Infrastructure and Transport to roll out a national general aviation culture and wellbeing survey.
In a video announcement, Garvey reveals she identified a need for greater wellness support within the general aviation industry after she suffered trauma at work and felt unable to speak up about it.
“As you all know aviation is the most highly-regulated industry in the world,” Garvey said. “Yet we do not look after the most vital safety element – our people. Historically for many valid reasons, people don’t speak up.
“They don’t voice their concerns, they don’t communicate and they most certainly don’t allow themselves to be vulnerable in the workplace. They don’t talk about what is going on for them.
“My own personal journey meant that I didn’t talk about my own traumatic event in my general aviation business for well over a decade. During that time, I looked completely fine. I was stoic. I didn’t rely on anyone. And I most certainly didn’t show any vulnerability just in case someone saw it as a weakness. But I struggled. I struggled with jobs, relationships and finance and with life until I finally took responsibility for my own help and sought the help I needed.”
Whilst commercial airlines do provide robust support for their employees, the same can be lacking in the general aviation space.
The health and culture of general aviation have never been measured before, Garvey said on a LinkedIn post.
“We need your input,” she finished. The survey is to be revealed in the coming weeks.
