Converge International is one of Australia’s most trusted mental health and wellbeing providers, supporting employees and organisations across the country with counselling, coaching, crisis response and workplace wellbeing programs. With over 2,000 qualified clinical professionals available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they are in the business of caring for people … and that care, it turns out, extends well beyond the workplace.

For every new employee who joins the Converge team, a native tree is planted in Australia. It’s a simple but meaningful way to mark the arrival of someone new – a welcome to the organisation, and a small contribution to restoring the natural environment that everyone shares.

Converge have partnered with Fifteen Trees as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability and creating a positive impact for future generations. By planting a tree for every new employee, Converge is helping to restore native habitats, improve biodiversity, capture carbon emissions, and support healthy ecosystems.

This initiative reflects Converge’s dedication to responsible business practices and its role in helping build a more sustainable and resilient environment for communities across the country.

Stuart French | People and Culture | Converge International

It’s also a fitting gesture from a company that understands, the connection between healthy people and a healthy planet.

Site 1 | Midlands, TAS | 60 trees | 2026

Fifty of these trees have been planted in memory of James Cripps, as acknowledgement of his contribution to Converge International and the esteem in which he was held by his colleagues. And ten trees have been planted as a welcome to 10 new employees – Rachael Craven, Amanda Pepper, Stacy Gernetzky, Lewis Turvey, Sasha Truehl, Tabitha Veness, Shaily Doshi, Isha Roy, Lakshan Wijeratne and Patricia O’Neill.

The Midlands in Tasmania/Lutruwita is one of Australia’s most significant biodiversity hotspots, a landscape of temperate native grasslands and grassy woodlands that have become increasingly rare across the country. For thousands of years, palawa people managed this country through seasonal movement and cultural burning. European settlement from the early 1800s transformed much of it into grazing land, making the Midlands one of Tasmania’s oldest agricultural regions. Today, the work of restoring what was lost, is being taken up by a new generation of custodians, including farmers, conservationists, students and volunteers.

Twenty-eight (28) people gathered for the planting day. A diverse group that included students from the Big Picture School, volunteers from Nipaluna Nursery, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, Landcare Tasmania and landholders.

The species planted reflect the ecological diversity of the Midlands and they included; eucalypts, wattles, Dolly Bush, Hop Bush, Black Peppermint, Cabbage Gum, Hakea, Tea Tree and Bottlebrush. In a landscape characterised by native temperate grasslands dominated by Kangaroo Grass and Wallaby Grass, and grassy woodlands of White Gum, Black Gum and Black Peppermint, these plantings will help restore the layered habitat structure that local wildlife depends on.

Tree planting is about far more than restoring the landscape, it’s about bringing people together to care for the places we all value. Thank you for your generous support for the farmers, students, volunteers and conservation partners who are helping create healthier habitat for Tasmania’s unique wildlife.

Your contribution will leave a legacy that will grow for decades to come.

Nel Smit | President | Nipaluna Community Nursery

Tasmania is known for its wildlife. And the wildlife here is extraordinary. This is Tasmania, after all! Bennett’s wallabies and Tasmanian pademelons move through the property. Common wombats and echidnas are regular visitors. The Eastern Quoll (endangered and all but gone from mainland Australia) still survives in parts of Tasmania, including here. And the Tasmanian Devil, is still found across much of the island, including the Midlands. The new plantings will provide food, shelter and nesting sites for all of these animals, as well as for the woodland and grassland birds that depend on this ecosystem such as the Superb Fairy-wrens, Grey Fantails (featured image/photo credit Rewild), Yellow-rumped Thornbills and Grey Shrike-thrushes.

Writer: Colleen B. Filippa

With a background in Environmental Science (Melbourne Uni), Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as LandcareTAS.