Social Work Spotlight - Episode 26: Gabriela

Episode Date: March 19, 2021

In this episode I speak with Gabriela, a student in her final year of Social Work at the Australian Catholic University. Originally from Brazil, she has lived in Italy and London, and has been involved in charitable work from an early age. During her degree she has had the opportunity to work within a number of different organisations advocating for various social issues, including child protection, refugees, international students and the Brazilian community in Australia. This has giving her a tremendous taste for the different areas of social work and is extremely excited by her career in social work ahead.Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:Oz International Students Chapter Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Oz-International-Students-Chapter-101032838357202Sydney Alliance, International Students - https://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/internationalstudentsThis episode's transcript can be viewed here:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dU7UdKZxO0ox6HvxNs92Z88S9gw_CtdYNJu6FYf7eqQ/edit?usp=sharingThanks to Kevin Macleod of incompetech.com for our theme music.

Hi and welcome to social work spotlight where I showcase different areas of the profession each episode. I'm your host, Jasmine McKee Wright, and today's guest is Gabriella. Gabriela is in her final year of social work at the Australian Catholic University. She was born in Brazil where she spent the first 17 years of her life before moving to Italy, London and now Australia, where she has been for the last five years. Gabriela has been involved in charitable work from an early age, starting with her family in Brazil, that naturally led her down the path of undertaking social work as a profession. During her degree she has had the opportunity to work within a number of different organisations

advocating for various social issues including child protection, refugees, international students and the Brazilian community in Australia. This has given her a tremendous taste for the different areas of social work and she is extremely excited by her career in social work ahead. Outside of her studies, Gabriella loved her studies, Gabriela loved her social work. Gabriella loves exploring the great outdoors, cooking and drinking her Brazilian marty tea every morning. Thank you so much, Kavala, for coming on to the podcast. I'm really excited to have a chat with you about what you've done so far in your studies

and your work life up until this point. So thank you. Oh, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be in your podcast. I listened to a few of them, and they were so interesting, so many interesting professionals. I was very excited when you called me. Can I ask when you started as a social worker? I know you're still studying, but what sort of drew you to the profession and to start studying in the first place? Yeah, so I grew up with my parents doing charitable work in Brazil, back in Brazil. I'm from a city in the south of Brazil called Joinvili, and there was a city close to my city.

It has a big disadvantage community living there, and I remember spending weekends. going to that small town with my parents and they were helping the families there and helping the children to get education and everything. So I grew up seeing my parents doing that and for me it was just normal. I thought every single family was like that. So yeah, it's just part of my values, I think, the idea of we have to construct the society that we want to live in. And I think growing up like that naturally encouraged me to do something in my life related to that, related to giving back to the society or trying to help disadvantaged people, giving voices to the voiceless and etc. More in an unconscious level, to be honest, I didn't know that's what I wanted

to do for my entire life, but I was naturally going through this path. However, in Brazil, you cannot really do a career of that. So the idea of what we call social work here in Australia, it's in Brazil seen more as charitable type of work that you do as a hobby or after hours. And so I did not see myself working with that my entire life in Brazil. And when I arrived in Australia, I learned about social work. And I was like, oh my God, that's what I want to do for my life and I decided to start studying and I'm loving it so far so that's very good. Brilliant. What do you think has led you to this point other than your upbringing and your family having shaped your worldview and your values? What other experience or skills have you

developed up until now? So I think I started to get involved with different organizations in Brazil. I lived in Italy as well and here in Australia and working with these organizations supporting disadvantaged people. I could make what I was doing on my free time. I could focus my 100% and working with this. I think when I arrived in Australia and I realized this was possible here that I really decided to focus all my energy in that and get a degree and get involved with other organizations. And you've had one placement so far, I think. What was that like and where were you working?

I had two placements so far. So the first one I worked with Child Protection, DCJ, Department of Community and Justice. It used to be facts, right, docs or etc. Now is DCJ. That was my first one and it was very, very good. I learned so much. I had a great team.

I was working in Parramatta and they were so good. They gave me so much freedom to explore anything that I want to learn about. They gave me freedom to do and it was very, very nice. The second working placement, I was supposed to go to a rural placement in Mildura, but because of COVID, it did not happen. Yeah. However, during that period, I started a project with other two Brazil, to support the Brazilian community in Australia during the COVID.

And because I was fully involved in that, and I was using the skills I was learning at uni, I suggested to my university that project to become my placement and they accepted. So that became my second placement. Okay. Yeah. I'm just curious as to how you've managed to pull everything together in such a difficult year when your study would have been impacted. your placement was impacted. What was it like at the university at that time? What was sort of the

feeling and how did you keep yourself motivated? Yeah, it was very difficult, to be honest. I think studying at ACU where it was not a social work force is not a very big course. It was a very positive thing because even if I was studying from home, I managed to have a one-on-one contact with my professors and tutors, and that was very good. But it was difficult because, you know, English is not my language. So watching the lectures face-to-face makes a big difference for me when I can ask questions directly and et cetera. So I had to adapt quite a lot.

I think my professors and my tutors, they did a great job, and they adapt pretty quick as well. And being involved in the project with the Brazilian community gave me a lot of motivation. kept me very busy and motivated me to keep going because it was related to my university rights. Because it became my working placement, I was fully involved in the project. And to do well in the project, I had to do well at the union at the same time. So it was a good motivation to keep studying and just keep going. Can you tell me more about the Brazilian Australian community and the coronavirus relief project?

How did it come about? What sort of support was provided and what do you think you've learnt most through the whole process? Yeah, so how we started. It was literally a friend of mine calling me and saying, Gabby, I'm seeing so many Brazilians on Facebook groups of Brazilians in Australia asking for help. that I feel like we have to do something. She's quite involved in community engagement and she knew I was too. So she called me and said, we have to do something.

And I was like, okay, let's do something then. That's how it started. And we started to do some research on those Facebook groups of Brazilians in Australia. The Brazilian community is very active there. So we started to do some research to understand what the community needed now. And what we realized was there was many, many people asking for help in need of help during the COVID, but at the same time, there are a lot of people offering help in those groups, free help, but the informations were getting lost. So we decided to just be this connection

of these people offering help to these people in need of help. And that's what we decided to do with the project. So we started to put all these people offering help in one place. So we created a website, a Facebook page, an Instagram page. And we started promoting to these people in need of help to access the free support that the community was offering. And it was amazing. We had more than 60 volunteers offering free psychological help. We had psychologists. counselors. We had personal trainers just building a stretching exercise to do at home if you are at home for too long and a bit depressed. We had chefs teaching how to cook a healthy meal, but with the things that you could still find at the supermarket, because we did not have

much food at the supermarket back then and cheap meals, but still with good nutrients. We had lawyers giving general advice about the visas situation because most of the Brazilians here are students. It was very nice. We got so many donations. We got more than $2,000 donated in food vouchers that we could help people that lost their jobs, free accommodations.

I was super tired at the end because I was working 9 a.m. to midnight every day. But I was so happy to see my... community really trying to help Brazilians here for free. It was amazing. It was very nice. And given that we've got a new wave of the virus at the moment, is that something that can be ongoing or is it kind of come to a bit of a natural end? We had to kind of conclude it at the end of June. We were planning on concluding it at the end of July, but because of some issues we had to conclude a bit earlier. But I don't think I have the time.

and the energy to do it again because it was full-on. Because it became my working placement, I had an amazing supervisor and she explained to me that to come up with a project in responses to a crisis, it is an urgent and full-on job. And I felt that. And I knew it had to be temporary. It could not go for too long because there was just three of us dealing with 60 volunteers. I don't know how many people contacting us every day asking for help and etc so I wouldn't do it again what I do now is at least not now in the future maybe but now right now no but when people still contact me or they knew my face because of the project I link them with other organizations I kind of keep a list of the organization that I know they're offering help and food or whatever

and I link them to those organizations, but I'm not the front right now. So many community development programs have built into them an ending, a way to disconnect or disengage from the people that you're providing support to. And it really sounds like given the urgency of what was happening at the time, you didn't have an opportunity to plan that far ahead. You kind of just had to go, this is something we really need. Let's just see if we can hit the ground running and develop the support. as we go. So how did you work out how to end the project? How did you make sure that people had the

ongoing supports that they needed? And how did you disengage from something that was really quite intense for a few months for you to be able to step back and go, I've done as much as I need to do? Yeah. So that was a very important, because the project became my working placement, having the supervision of an experienced social worker, coincidentally with the years of experiencing project management, it was crucial. My supervisor, if I did not have her supporting me, I think it would have been quite hard to understand

when was the time to conclude the project. I remember she made it very clear to me that concluding the project is as important as starting a project. And so we plan step by step of the conclusion of the project. And something that I learned and I'm going to carry that for my entire life is how concluding a project means that you make sure that the people that was relying on your project continue to have the supports they need from other projects or from other sources. So that's what we did.

We linked every single person that was still in need to other organizations. providing similar support. That was very important for the people we were supporting, but also for us. Because you kind of feel responsible, and especially if you're pretty new in social work like me as a student, is very difficult to separate that. So I was in front line being responsible for the project,

but learning all these things at the same time. So having an experienced social worker advising me about these things was extremely important. It's very important to have good supervision, hey? It's just like crucial. And by the end, I think I was so tired that I was quite happy to conclude the project. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed, but I felt like it was time to or find someone else to do what I was doing or conclude the project. And what do you think would have been some of the other challenging things about being in that setting and that project?

other than getting really, really involved and having to set your own boundaries as well as the time and energy commitment, what other things that maybe you didn't expect were going to be really challenging going into it? So something that I learned as well, just being involved in that was that it was an informal project. We were just three of us putting together this project, but it was not official, right? Yeah. It was not documented or I don't know how you explained that, but it was. was just informal. So if something happens, you respond as an individual for, you take responsibilities as an individual, right? So that increases a little bit of the pressure, I think. And what happened

was I learned that not everyone involved in social work or charity have the same intentions. and because we used a name that was similar to another group that was helping the Brazilian community, they tried to sue us for copyright or something. Yeah. And that stressed me a lot because, again, I was responding as an individual and the other two people leading the project with me were international students. So I was quite scared of them having to deal with that as international students in Australia and how expensive it would become for them.

And yeah, that was something that I learned. I think because I grew up with my parents doing charitable work and etc. since early age, I kind of believed that everyone in this field have the same intentions just to give to the community. But not everyone has the same intentions. So, yeah, I think you have to be passionate about it to be involved. in community projects, but you also have to find ways to protect yourselves and set your boundaries and all these things. It's a little bit more complicated than just help people, you know,

you know what I mean? Yeah, that's right, especially if you're putting yourself out there, you don't have a funding organization to back up whatever you're saying or to bear the brunt of whatever's happening. And I guess if you've got someone threatening you, then all of a sudden and you're worried about media exposure and the wrong kind of exposure. You're trying to go for positive news stories instead of negative. So it would have been really confronting. You're just there trying to do a good thing and someone's trying to take that away from you.

Yes, yes, exactly. We were literally just working very hard to support the community in a temporary non-official project. Why someone would try to treat us to sue us? But yeah, it happened. So it was another lesson. learned so it was all good at the end because it was my working placement my uni backed me up so it was all good what has been the favorite thing for you or the thing you've loved most about the placements that you've

had the two placements with DCJ and then with the coronavirus project it gave me a good confidence that I can I can be a social worker that's my experience when I started my university is such a broad area that you feel like, I used to feel like, I don't know if I can do this, it's just too much. Being a working placement and experience the daily life of a social worker, it gave me the confidence that I think I can do this. I think I'll be able to be a social worker in the future. It really helped me on my confidence to be a professional,

to be a social worker professional. Apart from learning a bit more about child protection and project management in my two working placement, I think the biggest impact on me was confidence that I would be able to, I think I would be able to be a social worker in the future. And what do you think or what do you hope next year looks like for you personally

in terms of ongoing study and placements and other projects that you're working on? It sounds like you've got a lot of great ideas and you just kind of have to harness them back and say, how much time do I have? That's so true. Yes, and that's what I hope my last year helps me to figure out what I want to do after finishing my university, because right now I want to work with everything, with every single

organization and do everything. So I hope that my last year will give me a bit more clues on what area I like most than not this because I love everything. So I hope that's what I'm hoping for my last year in my last working placement hopefully will give me a few clues on what I want to do. So you're not too picky then in terms of trying to choose one over something else you're just open to whatever opportunity comes? I think so. Yes, I'm pretty open. Everything in my life always happens so naturally that I feel like if I keep working hard and getting involved in different organizations, networking, meeting people, I will figure out what I'm going to do after concluding my studies.

I am pretty passionate about women's rights and I would love to work with that. However, I haven't had any working experience in that area. That could be my last placement actually thinking about it. But also I loved working with child protection and also the non-for-profit organizations that I'm involved with. I really enjoy working with them. But also refugees. I worked with refugees last year and it was very interesting.

So yeah, as you can see, I'm clueless. I want to do everything. Do you think you would stick to social work in Australia or do you think you would want to work overseas as well? I think in Australia, because I lived in Brazil and in Italy, I don't think I would be able to have a good life working as a social worker. And I may be wrong, but from the three countries, Brazil, Italy, and Australia, I think Australia is the place where working as a social worker, you can have a nice life.

You know what I mean? like just having a job, a stable position, full time, and having your family and your house and et cetera. So yes, maybe some projects in other countries, but then coming back to Australia, I think so. Yeah. I guess that's because, at least in Australia, it's a recognised profession.

It's protected in some regard in terms of, obviously the pay grades are different everywhere you go. different in community development to health to private practice. But I feel like even though you still come across many, many people, when you say you're a social worker and they say, what on earth does that mean? You can explain it and you can feel proud and you can say, I belong to a group of people. I belong to a profession. Whereas if there's no name for it in other countries, it'd be that much harder to explain. And perhaps the quality of life and the types of problems that you come across in other countries, like you said, would be that much more

challenging. So you're kind of working from the ground up with programs that might not necessarily be set up yet. You might have to do all that groundwork yourself. Yes. So at least in Australia, for the most part, obviously there are issues in all sectors, but you've got the opportunity to say, well, there's probably a service out there. We just have to figure out how to access it. Yeah. Yes, that's very much how I feel. Yeah. And can you tell me, me about the other project that you're part of at the moment. So it's the Sydney Alliance of the Oz International Student Chapter, yeah? Yeah. So how did you get involved and what do you do with that? Yeah, so I got involved with them for the first time because one of the subjects last semester

was community engagement. So I had to write an essay about a community organization that I had to get involved with. And I got involved with Oz International Students' Chapter. And I really liked it. So I just continued to work with them after concluding the subject. The Oz International Students chapter started during the pandemic because international students were left completely unassisted in Australia. And most of them lost their jobs. Most of them were partially homeless. They were being pressured by the school to continue to pay the fees and they did not have the money, they could not afford three meals a day. It was a very serious situation. And they also could not go back home because some of the countries, the borders were closed. So they were in a very

serious situation here. So all international students chapter was created. And we started to organize listening sessions with these international students to try to understand the main issues, hearing their stories to first make them feel that they belong to a group, because before them they were completely alone here. And second, we wanted to listen to the stories, find common ground and organize actions to address these issues. That's how it started. So after a few listening sessions, we understood that the misinformation was the main issues. They did not know their rights. they did not know what are the duties of the educational providers and etc. So we started to organize workshops to inform these students on their rights in Australia,

on their rights regarding to their educational providers. We also, there are two workshops, the rights in Australia and the rights with educational providers. And it has been an interesting, a very interesting project to put together. I did not start the project. I arrived a bit later on, so when I arrived was all organized and set up. But I was part of the workshop to inform the international students about their rights in regards to the educational providers. So we organized a panel discussion with Commonwealth Ombudsman representative, with Redfern Legal Center representative, with a lawyer,

and a migrant agency representative as well, where students could ask questions directly to them and we discuss what could be done to protect the students in Australia. Because right now it's a bit unclear who is responsible for protecting international students in Australia. If institutions abuse their power and force them to pay fees, even if they are partially homeless or if they cannot afford their meals in Australia or if they are kicked out of their houses because they don't pay the rent and etc. So that's what we are trying to withstand and inform these students. Pretty amazing.

And is that something that's ongoing? Are you hoping to be part of that for a bit longer? Yes. So we just stopped this year for holidays, but we would definitely come back next year. And one of the main actions next year is about student concession because students pay full price on public transportations and we are trying to understand what the law says about it and etc. So that's the next move. Yeah, because I think there's a misconception that international students come to Australia.

They have all these resources, plenty of finances, they don't need concessions. but the reality is they've probably spent all of their money getting here in the first place, trying to get a good education. And we're sitting here thinking, you know, this is our entitlement. This is something that we always have access to. And we don't realize that, firstly, we're in a country that has pretty incredible education. It's right up there. But also that there are things that are just handed to us.

And I think we sometimes forget why we have access to that support and what's come before us to leave. to that point. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, that's great. That's been an issue forever when I worked in the community. It was a big deal and people just don't realize. So even just bringing awareness to the general population that that's an issue, I think, is really important. Yes, exactly. And people don't realize you're so right. How much it makes a difference because when I start the university, I started as international student. And the fees are very, very expensive for the international a student and I remember I live in Neutral Bay and I had to go to Stratfield, right, where my campus is. It was just not worth it going all the way there and paying, I don't know,

$10 or more to watch one tutorial of one hour. So I was not going because I could not afford it. It was too expensive for me. So I was literally missing tutorials and classes because of that. and I just could not understand what was the difference from me paying full fees and the student sitting next to me there was paying full fees as well or I don't know maybe not paying right now but we'll pay later why was him getting travel concession and I could not so just because I'm international student yeah so we are in the face of the project where we are doing some research and trying to understand a bit better the situation so we don't know what other the result will be. I think if people knew about that as an issue and you were able to put a face to it and say, here is this person and their name and their story, it all of a sudden becomes a bit real for people. And maybe there are plenty of people in the community who would be happy to support that or say, hey, I'd be happy for my taxes to go towards or something. There must be a levy or whatever, raise funds. I think once you make it a bit more personal, people are a little bit.

wiser to the fact that this is going on. So it's great that you're able to do that research and to really push that agenda. Yeah. That's great work. Thank you. Thanks. Would you say over the practice experience you've had so far in working with DCJ and working in community or policy development, there are some skills or knowledge that were consistent, so things that you were drawing on from your training or just the types of approaches you had, how could you draw some parallels between them? I think what you just said before about putting a face to these issues was something that I understood how powerful it is. And I remember in child protection, we talk about all these children being removed and etc. And you know how serious it is. But when

you see the child and you read the story and you are in contact with them, you realize it's a person you're talking about, right? And the same thing was with the project CRP. When you read people asking for help on Facebook and et cetera, you understand how serious the situation is, but when you start having a one-on-one contact with these people and you really understand their story and everything they did to be here in Australia, it touches you more. And Sydney Alliance really focus on that, on the power of a personal story. And that's something that I'm really understanding how powerful it is. So yeah, that's something that I realize,

either child protection or the project that we created and Sydney Alliance uses to promote the work they do and how important it is is to use personal stories. And I think that that's a lesson I'm learning, how powerful it is. You have a greater impact on people when you talk about what you do using a personal story. It's very powerful. Yeah, so it becomes less abstract. Yes, you mentioned the importance for you of good supervision as well as putting some boundaries on your work. How else do you practice self-care? What does that look like for you in terms of looking after yourself so then you can support others? This year has been a year where I prioritize trying to understand what self-care is to me and practicing it. Because what I'm understanding

is being from a developing country where you don't have financial stability and you don't have much certainties about your future, you have this constant fear of if you don't keep doing your best, you're 100% you are going to miss out. And this year, realize I have this fear constantly on me. So I'm trying to work on this. I see a psychologist every month, and that's great. I recommend everyone to do psychological therapy because it is very good. So seeing a psychologist, you try to understand all these patterns in your life and I think it helps me a lot. This is something. Exercise and eat well is something that is priority in my life and I really have to do this day every day. And I'm learning to rest what is quite funny, but I didn't know how to rest,

how to spend a day not doing anything. And I'm trying to practice it more and more now during these holidays after a very busy year involved in projects and working placement. It was a very productive year, but I was feeling very exhausted and I didn't know how to rest. I just felt like I had to keep going, keep going, keep going. And my psychologist just told me that if I don't learn how to rest, I would not be able to keep this rhythm for very long. So, yeah. And I think learning this is very important for my.

profession for my former future profession as a social worker so that's what i'm doing during these holidays i'm learning how to rest which is giving yourself more work trying to learn learn new skills exactly i understand i'm the same yeah it sounds as though your parents have been sort of on the move all the time in the sense of they've always been helping other people they've have always been doing charitable work. Is that a resource that you have been able to draw upon and contacting them and saying, how do you just wind down?

How do you stop when everything's 100 miles an hour? How do you pull it back and how do I make this sustainable? Is that something they were able to help with? I don't know because, so my dad still lives in Brazil. So he's still in this cycle where he doesn't have financial stability and et cetera. or so I don't know if he manages to understand that that's not the best for himself. You know what I mean? When you were in the middle of the issue, let's say, you don't see that's wrong.

So I realized how bad it was for me when I left that reality, right? So my mother lives in Europe now, so maybe she is more conscious about it. But I never asked them. I could try. Maybe it's a good idea. Or maybe they could learn something from your approach. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

Yeah. Knowing what you know now about so many practical issues and also being very, very close, really, to finishing your degree, are there any areas that you could see for improvement in the social work training or anything that might aid your development in preparation for professional work, anything that maybe universities could take on board in terms of feedback or recommendations? What I'm feeling like that I need a bit more training and I'm trying to organize that is how to use social media more like this, like you are doing a podcast, a social work podcast to talk about social work. It's not a very common thing. Well, at least I don't find much podcasts and videos on YouTube to talk about professions and et cetera.

Now you're seeing more and more. but I think my studies at the university seems like does not follow the advanced of the technology. Yeah, you're saying it's quite theoretical and there's probably a lot of reading, whereas there could be other resources that they could tap into to give people examples or help people learn in different ways because not everyone learns the same. Yes, and also like teaching students how to use media or technology in order advanced as a social worker in your career, in your profession. I don't know what it would be, but I feel sometimes that social work in terms of technology has stopped in time a little bit

in terms of the teaching. You know how medicine or engineering is always up to date with the advance of technology and the students graduate using the technology in their advance. I feel like for obvious reasons because we're dealing with people in social work because nowadays it's all about social media. It's all about technology, computer, smartphones. I feel like social work profession doesn't include much of these things in their profession. How would you suggest that could be incorporated then into the curriculum for university? What approach could they take? Perhaps it would be incorporating an assignment that uses a different media type rather than a presentation. Yeah, maybe or, you know, different trainings on how to use social media to

work in a non-for-profit organisations or different things, a bit more modern. I don't know. I feel like social work is not very modern in terms of technology. I wonder if it could be tied into, say, subjects on ethics, because all of a sudden if you're broadening your viewership or your readership, you're then having a whole bunch of other issues in terms of information and disclosure and that sort of thing. So I think it would come under the category of ethics in being able to help people think about what they're putting out there and why they're doing it.

Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly. Adapt a little bit more to this e-world. At least at my uni, we had a very brief part of a subject in that. So I think would be better to focus a little bit more in that. And especially as everything is shifting online, I think the more we can practice and the more we can understand the benefits of different technologies. Yes. The better it's going to be for everyone. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Brilliant. given that there aren't that many resources available and you've done your research, you would know. Where could people go if they wanted to know a little bit more about social work in either the areas that you're doing projects in

or any other organizations that people could check out if they're interested in knowing a little bit more? Yeah, so you can visit the Sydney Alliance website. There you can find all the projects or the OSS international students' chapter Facebook page. We are very active there and we post everything we're doing, next meetings, agenda for next year and et cetera. So the main Oz International Student page is the Facebook one. In Sydney Alliance, I would say, the website. So that's the project I'm involved now. Yeah, brilliant. I'm just wondering, is there anything else before we wrap up that you wanted to say about your experience so far or what you're hoping to do in the future.

What are you excited about seeing happen for you personally? What I'm aiming to do for the next year is to continue to be involved in all the same organizations or different ones to meet more people, to network what I think is very important networking. And maybe with that figure around what. I want to do after graduating. To be honest, I don't have very long-term planes in terms of my career because I still don't know what I want to do. But yeah, that's pretty much my plans to continue to get involved in different projects and trying to figure out what I like more, what I don't

really like. And yeah, that's it really. I think that's the benefit of having three placements is that you get the opportunity to do something really diverse and see what you don't like doing or what you do like doing. It sounds like for you, there's really nothing you don't like doing. It's really just seeing what's out there and what you can learn from and what you're interested in doing. Yes, I agree. And in terms of your confidence in entering professional practice, I really feel like you've set yourself up well.

I think from your background, you see a problem and you, want to try to find a way of solving it. But what your practice has shown you is that there are other people that you can draw upon. It's not something you have to do by yourself. You're not working in silo. Often you're working with other social work colleagues or it might be you're working with other organizations in the community. So the importance of networking and working with other disciplines is something that you'll continue to develop as you go along. Yes. That's something I'm learning and it's being a good lesson to learn. Yeah, I think I was under the impression,

and it could have just been me when I started out, that you have your subjects, you have your interest areas when you leave university, and you have an idea of what kind of things you want to do based on your placements, but I think I had in my mind that whatever I started out as was what I was going to finish as. At this point, I've worked as a social worker for 15 years,

and I'm only in my third role. So there's been quite a lot of longevity for me, whereas I see other colleagues who have bounced around quite a bit, maybe one year here, two years there. And I think instead of thinking, oh, what's gone wrong in those areas that you've wanted to move around in? I've come to realize you've just developed so many different styles and frameworks and skills and knowledge and different ways of working with people that is invaluable that you're not going to get from working in one area. So I think what you've done and your approach is the right

one in terms of, no, I'm just going to see what comes to me. And amazing opportunities seem to come your way. So you'll find a way to make it work and just continue to be interested and excited about whatever lands in your lap. Thank you. Yeah, I think I've been pretty lucky to meet the correct people at the perfect time and having amazing leaders. supervises. So I understand that I am a proactive person and I do put myself up there, but I've been quite lucky to meet the correct people too. So it was a good combination. I hope it continues like that. I think probably you're also potentially too modest to think of it this way, but I see it as you've, even before you've even graduated, you've left a bit of a legacy

in terms of supporting people to make ongoing community connections and, building healthy habits and ways that people can see beyond a problem, even with the local community. And hopefully you can translate that to your own world in having all those connections, those networks with larger organizations that when you finish your degree, you can reach out to them and say, hey, I'm wanting to see if you have any opportunities with your group and they know who you are, they know what you're capable of. So yeah, it's really refreshing to see students who are doing amazing things and really brilliant to see the energy that you have for it. And I think it's only going to take you good places. Oh, thank you so much. So it's nice to hear

these things. It means a lot to me. Thank you. I'm really appreciative of your time as well. Thank you so, so much for coming on to the podcast. And it sounds as though you're happy for people to reach out to you as well if they're looking for a little bit of inspiration or just wanting to know a little bit more about what you've done. Yes, please. Yes. And even if people want to get involved with Sydney Alliance or as international students chapter, social work students, I think so important. It made a huge difference for me to, in my learning process, to get involved with a different organization. So if someone wants to get involved, just please send me a message and I can definitely and make these connections.

Brilliant. Thanks again, Gabi. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for joining me this week. If you would like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Gabriela, please visit my anchor page at anchor.fm slash social work spotlight. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,

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 John. John's life has been dedicated to living and serving amongst Australia's most disadvantaged. His work saw him living in Mount Druitt for 10 years where he shared his home with people seeking asylum, refugees, people in recovery and ex-prisoners. Born in Malaysia and migrating to Australia in the 70s, John's life is testament to the power of hospitality.

John heads up Wayside Chapel and continues Wayside's mission of creating community with no us and them. I release a new episode every two weeks. Please subscribe to my podcast so you'll notify when this next episode is available. See you next time.