Social Work Spotlight - Episode 136: Aishwarya

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

In this episode I speak with Aishwarya, a passionate social work graduate from India, currently pursuing her Master’s of Social Work at RMIT University in Melbourne. With hands-on experience across diverse sectors including community development, youth education, aged care, and mental health services, Aishwarya brings both compassion and insight to her work. Deeply committed to advancing mental health and hospital social work, she’s driven by a desire to make meaningful, systemic change. Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly - https://brenebrown.com/book/daring-greatly/Lillian Watson’s Light from Many Lamps - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1270698.Light_From_Many_LampsDr Carol Dweck - https://psychology.stanford.edu/people/carol-dweckThis episode's transcript can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H6Fh6hilNny8EHz96IMHVPaDJv0IyK2gfFdFS4KiWLU/edit?usp=sharingThanks to Kevin Macleod of incompetech.com for our theme music.

I begin today by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eura Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I record this podcast, and pay my respects to their elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people listening today. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have an intrinsic connection to this land and have cared for country for over 60,000 years, with their way of life having been devastated by colonisation. Hi and welcome to Social Work Spotlight where I showcase different areas of the profession each episode.

I'm your host, Yasmin Lopus, and today's guest is Aishwaria, a passionate social work graduate from India, currently pursuing her Masters of Social Work at RMIT University in Melbourne. With hands-on experience across diverse sectors, including community development, youth education, aged care and mental health services, Ashwaria brings both compassion and insight to her work. Deeply committed to advancing mental health and hospital social work, she's driven by a desire to make meaningful systemic change. Beyond her professional path, Ashwaria is an avid traveller, tennis player, hiker and cyclist,

always seeking connection, adventure and inspiration. She is a keen reader and writer who loves engaging in conversations around justice, equality, and shared human experiences. Through her voice and her actions, Ashwaria hopes to do her bit in making the world a more empathetic and equitable place. Hi, Ashwaria, thank you for joining me on the podcast today. Looking forward to having a chat with you about your experience so far. Yeah, thank you so much, Jasmine, for inviting me. It's an absolute pleasure and honor to be here.

And thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about my experience. Thank you. Yeah, I want to know, firstly, when you got started in the field of social work, what interested you in this profession? Yeah, so actually my journey began back when I was in my 12th grade, surprisingly, because I remember my subjects was psychology and sociology, and particularly the human behavior theories and theories of sociology really, like, interest me towards learning more about human behavior.

behavior and how the society functions and why are we experiencing the problems, the social problems and how can we improve going forward? So that was just the beginning, I guess. That's how it all began. And then there was a time to choose between, in my bachelor's, the time to choose between bachelors of social work and bachelor's of psychology. And that's how keeping in mind the practicality of bachelor's of social work and how it kind of gives more importance to the larger social context of human behavior and human problems

and does not like narrow it down to like individual problems. It blames the individual more. The psychology part likes to like blame the individual and holds the individual responsible for the problem. But when I studied about social work, it was more like a whole. holistic approach to problem solving. And that was something which really intrigued me at the time back then. So that's how I was like, let's give social work try. And also the fact that social work degree gives you more real life experiences through field placements. And I thought it would

build my overall personality as well. So as to how can we deal with humans in their natural environment and how can we improve our communities. So that was how I guess the whole journey began, and that's how I am here today doing my master's of social work. Yeah. And how is the bachelor structured in India in terms of do you have practical elements of it? Is it all theory? Yeah. So from where I did my bachelor's from Mumbai, it was more like we followed the US guidelines or the US framework of social work. So yeah, we do have theory and practice. Both were given equal weight age, but field work placements were given more importance in terms of marks because that was the most important part of social work, how you work on the field and what are your values and

principles and ethics and, you know, stuff like that. So, yeah, bachelors was a really, I feel, while I'm doing my master's now, I feel bachelors was a really important, foundation to build those foundation of the principles of social work and, you know, how can we move forward? So that was a really good foundation for me to base my practice on because after my bachelor's, I had one year of break and that was the time when I actually did full-time work as counselor, case manager and volunteered as well at one of the non-profits working in red light areas of Mumbai. So yeah. Doing these kind of work really made me realize that there was so much left to do. There is so much work for social workers and there is so much scope of improvement.

So that's how I realized that I need to move forward in the field because again, during my bachelor's, I was confused whether I should go ahead to do master's in counseling or do master's of social work. So, yeah, my lived experiences and working in the field slums of Mumbai really helped me to make that decision of doing masters in social work rather than counselling. Before you started your placement experience through the bachelor's, did you have an idea of what kind of social work you were interested in? No idea. Nothing. I was like a blank slate when I started my bachelor's because, again, I was more interested doing direct practice. It was during my 12th grade that I realized that I need and I am more in tune towards direct practice and working one-on-one with people and working on their things that are bothering them and how can they improve. So it was during that time I realized one-on-one practice is best, but yeah, I had no idea where social work is going to lead me. I had zero idea that I'm going to go overseas.

It was all like happened in a span of that one year. one year break which I took and that's how the whole thing, the planning and applying overseas and that's how I landed in Melbourne. Yeah. And what were those placement experiences that you could do in Mumbai? Yeah, I had a variety of placement experience actually. I remember it was lockdown 2021 that I started my placement in a fisherful community of Mumbai. We had to work with a group of S-HG, that is self-help group women, where we had to, like, implement sessions on financial literacy.

And these women, they had no bank accounts. And they were the maximum education qualification they had. Most of the women were, like, eighth grade or fifth grade. Like, that was the average. So giving them financial literacy about savings and... other government schemes. That was how it all started. And that was the time. Again, I realized that direct practice is something which I'm more interested in. And again, group work comes along with direct practice. So I was working as a group worker. I was given two SHE groups to engage with.

That was my first year. Second year was more of an big organization that I was working in. It was an international organization. There I've worked as a community facilitator and mobilizer. Yeah, second year gave me a wider variety of work experience because then I was working in Asia's largest slum, Tharavi, and that gave me a lot of experience because again, that was like 2022 lockdown time. And we had to go to communities. And Tharavi has a huge population of, I don't even remember it's like over 300 or 400,000 people clamped up in like such narrow or such a densely populated place. So working there, understanding why people are not taking vaccines and doing research, a small little study to understand the reasons of why people are resisting vaccination, the second dose

of vaccination, who again made me realize that there's so much scope for social workers, and there's so much scope to do general awareness about the importance of certain things, importance of basic things like vaccination, people were resisting it because of superstitions. So things like that made me realize there's so much to do. People, they really need information because sometimes I feel they don't have access to proper information sources and the sources which they're getting information is not authentic to a large extent. So doing that, we did a lot of community health camps in my second year. We did a lot of community awareness sessions.

I organized a lot of fun and fair programs in the community. from like planning to organizing, mobilizing. I had a team, of course, but I was given the opportunity to be the program coordinator for that. So it was interesting. Second year gave me a lot of opportunities. Third year was even more bigger of a platform. So as you can see, the journey progressed really well for me

and I was really fortunate enough to have that kind of progress in my bachelor's time. So third year, complete autonomy was given to me. I was given, again, I was working in Tharavi. I was given the autonomy to pick a group of girls who were, like, residing in a very substance abuse, alcoholic-prone areas where drugs and other substances were, like, accessible very easily. And it was more cheap, unfortunately, these drugs and alcohol were more cheap than water. So it was really accessible for kids. Kids knew names of drugs, which I haven't even heard of in my entire life, they were like telling me, oh, I'll take you. I'll take you.

What do you want? Tell me, I'll give it to you. Free of charge if you want. I mean, it's there. It's out there. It's just down the street. And they knew the names, the local names of all the drugs. They knew them local names of all the alcohol and wape.

There was huge wave culture and it was like really shocking for me to be honest at that point because I have a brother of that similar age and I was working with a similar age group, adolescence so I could actually connect and I could see my brother there like they were literally my brother's age and it was like really heartbreaking to see those kids go through all that at that such young age while they're still developing physically, emotionally and mentally. It was really difficult for me mentally, but that I guess helped me to build up my resilience. I'm still in touch with those kids. We are social media.

Just checking up on them sometimes we talk. I check up on them, how are they doing? It was more like a mentor-mentee kind of relationship which I shared with them. Yeah, so I worked with a group of girls. I used to take group sessions every week about creating general awareness on substance abuse, prevention of substance abuse, the dangers of substance abuse. We used a range of media. Like sometimes I used to show them movies or we used to do some group activities together. We celebrated a lot of festivals together.

I used to take life skills sessions with them and I used to teach them basic life skills like. time management, how can you study better, what are some good study strategies, how can you, like, engage yourself in activities which will, like, really tire you? Playing soccer or cricket, cricket has a really huge culture in India. It's cricket and itself is a huge culture. So engaging in cricket, gully cricket we used to call, playing indoor games. Those kids were really intelligent. They used to play chess. They were really good creative. dancers, they had a lot of creative skills. Some of the girls were so good in Hina design.

They were like really good. They just needed a platform to showcase their talent, you know? And the organization I was working with, they were really passionate to give those kids the chance to portray their skills and talent. And we were like so happy when we got to know that one of the organization I was working with, used to run Sunday morning soccer lessons for girls. And I got to know one day that the girls group won under 16 state level tournament. Wow.

Yeah, with just what, four or eight weeks of practice. What a boost of their confidence. Yeah, oh my God. And it was so, so, so good. Those girls were like over the moon. They were like so happy. And I could see that. the parents were really supportive after that and even the parents used to come and visit the

center and you know it used to appreciate us and the work we are doing in the community. It was really heartwarming to see them happy and enjoy, you know, those childhood life because if the organizations like those didn't exist, they would never get the opportunity to showcase their talent and just to learn new skills because the place which they're living at and the kind of income, the family background and economic and financial conditions they have won't allow them to pursue these kind of, I don't know, luxury hobbies, to be honest. Yeah, unfortunately, this is supposed to be a right for children to enjoy their childhood, but no, not in Dharavi. Did you ever feel unsafe in any of those environments and how did the agency make sure that there was

safeguards in place for you? I never felt unsafe, to be honest, because I was always with my colleagues and team workers. So we used to come at morning and we used to leave by five. So it was never like, I never felt unsafe. And because the kids were like the community guardians, whenever we used to walk home, they used to accompany us till the railway station. So they used to make sure that we feel comfortable in the community. That's a love it. And they used to really make sure every week, one of the kids or two or three used to accompany us, we used to walk together. Sometimes they used to go.

They used to take us to their home and they used to like tell us, Didi, Didi means sister, elder sister. So they were like, Didi, come along, I made this, come check it out. Didi, I made some chai or I made some chai or I made a coffee or do you want to try chocolate or they were really good bakers as well even though they had limited means they used to bake in cooker so they were like i made this cookie i made this come check it out and that's how i never felt unsafe that's good yeah so you finished the bachelor's and you developed a lot of other experience along the way with the internships and the things that you were part of. What created that decision then for you to move to the other side of the world and

pursue further study? Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, I never thought of moving out of India because I thought that India is where social work is needed the most. But then, again, during my one year of break, I realized that I need some kind of overseas work experience or like overseas international exposure. I remember during my first year of college, there was an exchange program that my college was hosting and we had students from the University of Houston and I interacted with them on a long table conference and it was like really great interaction. That's the time that I realized that yeah, it would be great to have intercultural or like different countries coming together and sharing their experience of social work because the social work context of

India is so much different than the social context in the US and in other countries. So I wanted to explore more of how social work is like in different countries and how can I integrate that knowledge when I come back to India and do something for my country. So I wanted a little bit more of an advanced level of education and a little bit of more international explore. just to see how policies are implemented in different nations and how different nations respond to social issues and what role social workers play in those kind of context. And maybe just build my own little model of working and bring that all host of knowledge and experience back to my country and do something for the people of my country. that was the primary reason of moving all the way across the globe and coming here and studying and you know just learning while I'm studying and again going back and doing something for the people of

my country yeah as you were talking earlier about the COVID responses in India I was thinking there's probably quite a lot of parallel between the COVID lockdowns in India how that was managed on a larger level and then how it was managed in Melbourne Melbourne, which as you know had quite a lot of lockdowns compared to other states in Australia. How have you found differences between social work programs even or as far as you're aware so far, how social work is run in different countries? Yeah. While I was working in India, I could see that the social work landscape is really like shifting

from non-profits to more CSR-oriented work. So CSR is corporate social responsibility where, as you know, India is booming economically. And we are now going towards like becoming one of the most economically strong nation. We are at the fifth position, I guess, according to the GDP growth rate. And like it's one of the fifth largest economy in the world. And one of the most investor friendly and the most invested internationally. the most invested country currently and is growing at a rapid pace. So considering the fact that we are growing at such such such pace, the government is focusing more towards making

companies socially responsible. Hence it's pushing for CSR policies where the companies have to give 2% of their profits for social welfare. But when I came here, I could see that the government has a lot of focus on community building and it is supporting little non-profits through schemes like NDS, which is a really good, I don't know, but as much as I know with my limited experience, NDS is a good scheme to support people with disabilities. So I could see huge difference between government policies back in India and how it's shifting more towards supporting corporate and, you know, just through a little department of CSR supporting non-profits. But apart from that, nothing much is happening in the CSR space.

It's just moving more towards sustainability towards CSR, but not much towards helping or supporting small non-profits, which are actually working on ground and supporting a lot of marginalized communities and they are like really working hard every single day. That was my third year placement, yeah. So I know the kind of government policies and the kind of impact it can have on these ground-level organizations. But here again, when I compare, I feel Melbourne has much more inclusive policies for nonprofits. And here, even if you like protest and lobby, government, I guess, does listen and does something,

even if it's like not 100%, but it does something. and the lobbying does have some sort of outcome in the favour, some amount, as far as I know, in the favour of the activists. But unfortunately, that is not in the case of India. We have a long way to go. We are on the way. And I know hopefully we will reach there, but we have a long way to go. I think part of the challenge with that is that there can be a disconnect between these large corporations.

businesses, companies and the people on the ground that would benefit from the support. And you hope that what they're putting their money into is actually of benefit and it's researched and it's informed. I have spoken with a couple of social workers on the podcast actually who work for some of these corporate bodies that are responsible for providing funding and their job is to do research and to work out where their money is best spent, which is fantastic. I think that's exactly how it should be and it is best informed through knowledge on the ground.

I just don't know that it always happens and you just think there are so many things out there, where do you put your money and how do you prioritize? That's the hardest thing. Yeah, I totally agree because I even worked in a CSR department for four months full time and I realize unfortunately maturity of the CSRs are full. more on the numbers than looking at the actual impact that is created on the ground.

So that kind of, I just don't know, that kind of like literally put me back a little. And that was the time I started reflecting on whether I really wanted to do corporate work or do I have to do again group work or one-on-one direct practice. So I tried project management. I tried being a program manager for a little while, and that was the time I realized, no, my values were clashing with the organization's values. And I was like, no, I cannot compromise on my ethics and the way I work for organization. And I was, again, fortunate enough to have that kind of time and resources to quit the place. start to prepare for my masters. So huge, huge gratitude towards my parents for giving me that kind of support and space to think about it, think about myself, my future, and go in the

direction where my heart lies. Yeah. What other support do you need? Because it's great that you've got the support from your family, but again, they're halfway around the world. How do you make this work living in a different country and trying to mesh into the culture as much as you can and just figure out where are you going with this and how do you get through it? Yeah, I feel the biggest part of if at all anyone has played is my friends. I feel I was so much fortunate and so much blessed to have friends here who never make me feel alone. They never make me feel as if, I'm halfway around the world and you know like so so like it's almost like 7,500 miles away from my residence of like in India, Mumbai. So I was like, no, like I never felt alone or lonely or like I'm so far from home.

They always made me feel home here and they helped me navigate the city. They are my real support systems here. we always have social media to connect with our relatives and people staying abroad. So social media has helped me too because I'm always connected with my parents, with my friends in India. We always have call every day. One or two best friends I have, we talk. I talk to them every day. And yeah, like my roommate has also helped me lots initially.

even now, yeah. I'm really fortunate for my friend and my roommate. It's because of their support, their care, that I feel so much at home here. And you're also quite a creative person. So is that an outlet for you to be able to write and your poetry? There's also, you know, ways of understanding the world that you can do through writing. Yeah, for sure, for sure. I feel, Even if I'm like walking on the street and like I see something beautiful. Beautiful can be as tiny as a cloud with like really orange hue during sunset and like if the birds are like going. Something will struck me and I will write it down on the notes. And then later on I'll upload it on my social media.

And then you know getting that validation from friends that oh wow that was great. I liked it. Where were you? You should take me there sometimes. Yeah, and even I didn't mention it before, but the professors at my university, they are really supportive. They are really good. They really listen to our little concerns. You know, just like afterclass is chatting, little support of like, it's all right.

These are the resources I can provide. I can tell you, like, these are the resources that are available. Go check it out. One of those simple little gestures of just staying back five minutes after class. And just chatting gives a lot of mental support, a lot of emotional support. Really fortunate enough to have really blessed to have these professors who are so concerned about international students. And they really do understand that we do face a lot of financial constraints while we come here initially, at least for first few months, because it takes a lot of energy to get used to a new culture, new environment, new climate, new people.

Even like navigating the city sometimes gets difficult. So they do understand all that. And they listen. So that's also a really big support that I have. And they really do appreciate that you do contribute in class a lot. And they always compliment that that was a really good contribution. That was a really good point that you made. and they make sure that they validate every single point that every single student makes.

And that is the culture which is like really warm and supportive. And that is something which gets me going every single day. And I think people often don't understand as an international student, you don't have access to any subsidies, any concessions on travel. You're only allowed to work a certain number of hours a week. So it can be really financially difficult. just to live in the different country and to study here. Yeah, and initially we do not have any jobs.

And so we are spending in our home currency. Yeah? And that is like double the amount which a domestic student spends. And that is like even the fees which we are paying is four times than the domestic student pays. So it's huge, especially initially. Hence I told at the beginning that, yeah, sometimes I do feel like, a little overwhelmed here. But again, my friends help me to calm my nose, you know, just take care of me. Yeah, always grateful to them. And is the work you're doing now in addition to

your study anything related or are you just like, I need to switch off from social work and do something that doesn't require a lot of brainwork? I'm not currently employed. I am looking for work but I would love to work in the same space because I feel I have energy to do one-on-one work more than the energy to do like retail or hospitality work. So I would always love to work in the same space as my education goes just so as to like stay connected to what I'm studying and what I'm doing in real life like in practice. So I would definitely love to work in the same space and not something like apart from social work because I feel social work is very natural. It's like a very normal interaction that you're having unless it's like casework.

Apart from casework, if you're doing support work or if you are doing group work, like taking sessions and stuff, I feel it comes naturally to me. Yeah, because I have worked for two years as group worker working with children and adolescents. So now it's more like second nature to me. And I also have a brother who is a teenager. And I talk to him almost every day. And I always talk in that tone that, oh, tell me what work did you do today? Or what tasks did you accomplish?

Or what are you looking forward to today? And what is in your plan for the week? You know, just checking up on him. Is he on track? Yeah. Just, yeah, I feel it comes naturally to me. Sure. Yeah.

As you get towards the middle of this year, I imagine the next semester will be placement or some sort of experience. Yeah. Feel work. Is there something that you really want to try? Definitely. I would love to work in hospital setting. Mental health space, again, because I always wanted to go in the medical side of things. But again, the medical.

model of diagnosing people is very like deficit-based model. So working as social worker and using the strength-based approach is something I would love to explore and how can strength-based approach actually make difference in the lives of people. So I would love to see that in practice because I've read about it for the past three, four years now. So I want to see how that works out in real life. Yeah. Yeah, that's something I would like to work on for sure. Yeah. And it's interesting you've mentioned something different to what you've kind of already had experience with. It's not just the same because you could very easily fall into something that you're comfortable with, but you're choosing to do something that's slightly

outside of your comfort zone. Yeah. Yeah, I would love to have that experience for sure. And are there any other areas of social work that while you've been hearing about them have interested you? Yeah. I would love to work in age care setting because during my third year, we had one of the assignments to do a little, again, a little research study on the lived experiences of elderly in a particular part, a little community of Mumbai, and see how it impacts their social and mental. So it's basically, it was like a study on the psychosocial well-being of

elderly in a particular part of Mumbai and see how their lived experiences differs according to their age and demographics. So that really, so while interacting with the elderly's that time, really intrigued me. So actually, I want to work with them because they are often neglected parts of like society just because they are not earning anymore. they are not like contributing monetarily. People ignore them or like they are neglected most of the time. So I wanted to like work with the most neglected part of the society. Again, that is a potential research interest to do here maybe.

Because I could see that the government is like really pro age care and like really supports elderly. And Melbourne has a lot of elderly friendly spaces. yesterday only in the class I got to know that they also have retirement villages. Which is still an upcoming part in India. It's not there yet. We are moving towards it, but we already have a very established system of retirement villages in Melbourne and across Australia, I believe. So again, I would love to explore the space and see how it goes and maybe take some idea back home. Yeah.

And do you read much outside of, I mean, you have to read quite. a lot from your degree but are there any resources or things that you've seen that you think you could share with other people that would help them understand what you're interested in. For sure for sure i saw a TED talk of brine brown she is the social worker from houston and she has written a book called daring greatly where she basically summarizes her research around shame and how she says that being vulnerable, you know, in front of people and sharing your authentic side and living life wholeheartedly leads to more connection than wearing mask all the time and putting on a facade and just, you know, being very professional and yeah,

that's how I am. I won't change, stuff like that. So being vulnerable and being open, being authentic can really help you to build more connections. And she says, and I quote that, we are hardwired for connections as humans because we are social animals. We are hardwired for connections. So if you are like hiding or wearing a mask, you won't feel connected to people. And people won't feel connected to you and which leads to a lot of problems mentally, socially, emotionally, right? So in order to live a more authentic and more connected life personally and even professionally, you need to learn how to be vulnerable in front of right people and at right time. Yeah. Without feeling ashamed about it. Even simple things as like having sweaty palms while

having public speaking or public speech, that is very normal. It's normal to have sweaty palms. normal to feel anxiety while having your speech follically. So, you know, things like that and just talking to people that, oh, guys, I'm having sweaty pounds. Please don't mind that. Something like that, it's everybody has it. Everybody experiences it. You do not have to feel shameful about it, right? And unfortunately, our culture is so much shame prone that people do feel ashamed because of those cultural connotations. So she talks about that in her book, and I feel that book really helped me during my bachelor's because even I had a fear of public speaking back then. And I used to feel a lot of anxiety and I used to like shake like literally while I was doing

my presentations during my bachelor's. Almost the whole three years, I took three years to like master speaking and master my speaking skills. I'm not even a master yet. I have like a lot of improvements to do. But I feel more confident now than I was. back during my bachelor's. So that book really helped me. More talks on YouTube, books like the one I mentioned, other books, there are a lot of books, like self-help books. You know, like there's

this book, Light from Many Lambs by Lillian Eshler Watson. It's a collection of real life stories of, you know, resilience, confidence, how to grow mentally and emotionally and how to face difficult situations and how people have faced them and how you can learn from those experiences and just try that when you find yourself in similar situations. So these books, I guess my whole bachelor's was reading and exploring and watching podcasts and watching YouTube videos about self-help and self-improvement. Yeah, I gave a lot of time to myself to improve personally and develop my personality. And Bachelors, hands down, was the best time because, again, I had a lot of time to improve. I had nothing to worry about.

I was living with my parents. So zero zero worries about rent, about electricity bills and stuff, which I have to worry about now. But back then, no worries. I was like a free bird left to ex-exempt. explore the world. So I explored myself. I wrote a lot. I was the most creative that time. Yeah, I explored a lot during my bachelor's. So if anybody wants to start their journey of self-exploration or wants to just, you know, read a little, even if it's like just one or two pages per day or like just wants to like give something a shot, they should definitely watch TEDx first of

Brenna Brown or YouTube video blew as soon as it was uploaded and it was like watched by millions of people and it's like one of the most watched TEDx videos. So that is a good start and then maybe the book and that's how you can move forward in your own personal development journey. That's how I started. Yeah, she also has some really great talks around and research around leadership and And it's so transferable because what she's basically getting at is that it's everyone's responsibility as leaders in society to try to boost other people up. So there's that social consciousness and collective action that she's talking about. So it just takes very small things to make a big impact.

And I think that's what you as mean back in Mumbai, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's also beautiful how you had the foresight at such a young, young age to work on improving yourself because yes, you said you didn't have other responsibilities, but I think as an undergraduate, I was just trying to get through it. It was just, there was so many other things happening for me in my life. And I just, yes, I had the same fortune to live

with my parents, but I was also working and doing 101 social and sporty things. So I felt like just staying above water was enough, yet you somehow managed to improve yourself and you had like this goal and a long-term goal once you finished in social work to be the best social worker the best person you could possibly be. So that's yeah, that's incredible. Thank you. I feel my mom played a huge part in that. You said your mom's nurse, yeah? Yeah, she's a working woman and she's incredible. I mean, she's my role model, to be honest. So growing up watching her, like she was so dedicated to her work and the family she used to wake up at four used to leave for work at five making lunch for us during that one hour and getting ready and stuff like that she used to travel two

hours two or one and a half hour standing in a very very very very crowded train going for work doing eight eight and a half hour standing duty nurses do not have easy jobs like that's one of the most typical jobs, emotionally, mentally, physically, like every single way. It's the most difficult job I've seen, one of the most, of course. And then again, coming back, traveling, changing two very crowded trains, coming home, taking rest for an hour, and then like preparing dinner. And then repeating that for like good 30 years, 30 years in the same hospital, government hospital.

That's just like insane if I think about it now with the kind of lifestyle I'm living here. That is just so, so, so difficult. Two kids, two kids. And taking care of the home, husband, taking care of the husband with, you know, two kids. It's not easy at all, especially in a patriarchal society, which shone's working women.

She was like, I guess she was the, like, the most feminine woman and, you know, the feminist of our family. She is the, like, feminist of our family. So a big salute to her as a person because she is the one who actually inspires me every single day to get out of bed and work. Complete the tasks which you are supposed to. And at the end of the day, lay down on the bed, feeling all accomplished and satisfied that yes, you did work, good work and you completed every single thing. And even if you couldn't complete one or two things on the list, you can always do it the next day. Yeah.

She's the one, maybe she's the power behind my, I don't know, being. Yeah, she's the energy. Yeah. Do you think the society in terms of the patriarchy has improved? Do you think when you go back to India, you might face some of the same issues? No, not at all. I feel we have come a long way when it comes to patriarchy. and things are changing for good.

We are going more towards embracing feminism and recognizing that women are working double the time. They are doing a lot of unpaid work at home and sometimes they don't get recognized for it. But now the next generation, our generation, and after that, we are, and the boys, including all the genders, they are like really recognizing the fact that their mothers are like really hard.

hard workers. Of course, not denying the work and the efforts of fathers, but of course, women have been historically marginalized and they have been historically exploited by the patriarchal norms. So they are recognizing as we become more and more educated, people are becoming more and more, you know, putting a lot of efforts to learn and to understand that these societal structures do exist and we do not have to take that forward to the next generation. So things are changing for good and I'm so happy to see that children are recognizing the efforts of their mothers and helping doing chores at home because that was seen as a symbol of shame to do household chores and boys especially they were like this is not your work this is girls work this is what women

this is women's work you know the boys are supposed to go out and earn they are the breadwinners and the women are supposed to stay home and take care of the family that is like very traditionalist approach. Fortunately, we are not following that anymore. Some societies do, but like we are, at least in the metropolitan cities, we are more like westernized and moving more towards progress. And most of the households, they don't follow that anymore. Most of the households, the women, men, all are working and earning. Yeah. Yeah, nice. You just reminded me when I was in Bangladesh and I was staying with a family and they would have their bua, so they're servant effectively and i would sit down with the boa on the kitchen floor and watch how she was

making things and offer to help and i kept getting pulled away grabbed by the arm and they kept saying you don't sit with the boa that's shameful get up here and move and i just want to learn i just want to be part of what's happening but not culturally that wasn't okay yeah my god i know that that is there to some extent in india as well but not so much but yeah that is still there in in some communities that still exists. Yeah. I feel like you're always working on something you've got so much energy and so much passion.

Are there any programs or initiatives that are either working in the background, you're thinking about them or anything you're actually working on at the moment that you wanted to talk about? Yeah, yeah. Actually, I, this week, Friday, I also have an interview for TEDx speaker talk. What?

That's incredible. That was your goal. That's so cool. Yeah. So it's a TEDx, Melbourne, which RMIT is hosting. So I got selected in first round. And now it's the interview, the second round, out of like 100 applicants. More than 100. Around 30 was selected. That's such a big deal. Yeah. And I was like blown away. Not to make you more nervous about public speaking. But yeah. No, no, I'm actually really excited for it. Yeah. Like really excited.

I know what to talk. I mean, it's all impromptu. I don't have like a script, script. And like, of course I will make some preparations. But I just need a platform and I want to speak. Yeah, so really excited. And when is the conference? If you are selected, when would it be?

I guess it's in the month of October. Okay. Yeah, so we have a lot of time. Of course, they are going to do multiple rounds of interview for that. Sure. and see how we go about the presentation and stuff like that. I guess they will also conduct a mock session just to make us familiar with the stage settings and stuff like that.

So it's a long way, it's a long process for sure, but I'm really excited for it, really excited for it. That makes me think they must give a lot of support to the speakers. If they're giving you a six-month or I guess four or five month at that point, lead in time, they're wanting to really foster and develop your. capacity to deliver a really important message. Yeah, that is so good because I don't know if anyone gives that kind of like support and guidance to like first prepare you mentally to give a talk, even if it's just like a 15 or 18, 18 is the maximum time limit for 10 X toss. So like they

tell you to complete the talk within 10 to 15 minutes range. So even for that, they're like giving you so much of support and guidance. And that's a huge deal for sure. Sure. So cool. And because my uni is hosting it, so people are like really supportive. Mm-hmm. Everything, they make sure that, you know, you are given the resources and the support you need. Be the part of a huge event like TED. Yeah.

I'll have everything, fingers crossed for you. Yeah, for sure. Is there anything else, I'm mindful that, you know, you might have wanted to say something else. Is there anything you wish that I'd asked you, anything else that you want to do? anything else that you want to say about your experience or where you're heading with social work? Not really, but all I would like to highlight is that there's a lot of power in having the mindset, the growth mindset, again, going back to the book I read two, three years ago, written by Dr. Carol Dweck, who is a clinical psychologist working in some US-based university. I guess it was

Yale or something like that. So having the kind of growth mindset and focusing more on opportunities and possibilities rather than limitations really helps you as a person and even as social workers when we are working in the field it really helps you to focus more on possibilities rather than just deficits which we are so conditioned to see. We are so conditioned to see. We are so condition to see what's wrong with everything but it takes a lot of mental energy to see the possibilities to see the brighter side of things and you know paraphrase the problems into more strength-based things and to translate the deficit into positive things so yeah having that kind of mindset really helps to navigate life in general and professionally of course if you can

navigate your life personally, very positively or looking at the brighter side of things, even if things are not going well, even if things are not going your way, which has happened to me a lot of times and it's very normal, everybody goes through it. So even when things are not going your way, you have that kind of mindset and the blind faith that everything will work out in the end. Sweet. Have faith. Everything will work out in the end. then you can live life positively and create positive impact around you and the people you engage with. Yeah. I mean, you say that things will work out inevitably, but you're also doing a lot to make sure that you're setting yourself up for success.

So it's not just blind faith. I think there's a very intentional aspect of your work, your research, even just, as you said before, understanding your values and not compromising on your ethics. You've got a really clear direction. And maybe that's from your mum's influence. Maybe it's just you're incredibly focused on you love things to do with society and human behavior and theory. Like you've got your mindset in this world. And I'm so glad that you found social work and that you kept doing social work. But all the experience that you've gained in this point in terms of community development and education and awareness. Yes, you're very early on in your career and yes, you're still learning

and getting the knowledge and the credentials under your belt, but that doesn't mean you don't have a lot to offer and it doesn't mean that you don't already have so much experience. So there's still so much to do. There are some improvements to be made, as you said, but yeah, you're just going to get so much out of your time here and be able to take that back to India, which is really exciting. Yeah. Yeah, it is so exciting. I'm like so excited for life, to be honest. And it's, I'm not saying this out of like initial excitement of being in a different country, but even back in India during my like last days or like figuring out which country to go to and what to do, even though I was like, sometimes I was, I used to feel low or sometimes I

to feel like I don't know where to go, I don't know what to do. Having a support system like my mother, support systems like my friends, really, really helps. And if you talk things out, you will always find a way. There is always a way. If you put enough efforts to find it, because the way is not, the path is not going to appear magically. You have to like literally stand up and start walking to find it. And I can say with experience that you will always find a path. path or you will carve your own path just by walking so that people can follow the same new

carved path which you've made by putting your efforts. So always if there is not a way, you make your own way. And if there is a way, you follow it. If you find that matches your energy and the values which you have. And gather good people around you. It's about that connection pace, right? Yeah, matters a lot. The kind of people you surround yourself with always matters because they have a huge impact

in your lives. Yeah. I look forward to chatting with you more as you go through your first and second placements as well and see what that Australian context looks like for you and how that enriches your practice and your sense of what you want to do back home. Sure, sure. We'll love to have a conversation with you again on this platform for sure. I would love to share my experience and help as many.

people as I can so that they pursue social work as a profession because we do need a lot of social workers around the world we are always in demand and our field is like so diverse so much more is yet to be done so much more research is yet to be done and scope is endless you will never go out of job in this sector yeah yeah well ashwarya thank you so so much i've loved your energy and I've loved speaking with you and I'm so grateful that you can share your time with me and your experience with my listeners and yeah really look forward to staying in touch and seeing where it all heads. Yeah, thank you so much, Yasmin, for inviting me to your platform and giving me the opportunity to talk about my experience. It was like amazing having a conversation with you

and sharing my life experiences. It was, I know it's just a start for me and I know it's just a start for me and I know that I'm very young to explore the space of social work but I'm so looking forward to contribute my part in the Australian communities and taking the experience back home and contributing something to improve the lives and the communities of my people. Always up for chatting, always up for such engagement and such connections. I'm so up for it. I'm so hyped. Thank you so much, Yasmin. Thank you. Thank you again. Appreciate your time. Thanks for joining me this week. If you'd like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either

myself or Aishwaria, please visit my anchor page at anchor.fm.fm slash social work spotlight. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky, or you can email SW Spotlightpodcast at gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you. Please also let me know if there is a particular topic you'd like discussed, or if you or another person you know would like to be featured on the show. Next episode's guest is Rachel, the principal accredited social worker and founder of Lighting Your Way social well-being, a practice she built to be a safe, inclusive and neuroaffirming service for people who often fall through the gaps. Alongside working directly with clients, she actively advocates for systemic reform by feeding back injustices and gaps in services to policymakers as a person with lived experience of disability. I release a new episode every two weeks.

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