Social Work Spotlight - Episode 44: Jules

Episode Date: November 26, 2021

In this episode I speak with Jules, who has experience working with children, adolescents and adult mental health in both the public and private sectors. Jules is now working in private practice as a mindset coach and is a certified practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Timeline Therapy.Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:Jules’s Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/JulesVelevskiJules's free ebook - https://jvcoaching-20948462.hubspotpagebuilder.com/e-bookJules's Facebook group called 'Become Limitless' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2925318177710487Richmond Dinh's Facebook page 'The 6 Figure Coach' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/110593399593362Tony Kaye Coaching - https://www.facebook.com/TonyKayeCoaching/Tony Kaye's 'The Practitioner Certification' - https://www.facebook.com/groups/261048948060602WHOS program (We Help Ourselves) - https://whos.com.au/Kaiyu Konnect - https://www.samaritans.org.au/services/ndis-and-disability-support/kaiyu-konnectKestrel Unit Morisset Hospital - https://directory.wayahead.org.au/service/4077/Dean Graziosi - https://www.deangraziosi.com/Tony Robbins - https://www.tonyrobbins.com/Brené Brown - https://brenebrown.com/Brené Brown’s TED talk on vulnerability - https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability?language=enMental Health Academy - https://www.mentalhealthacademy.com.au/This episode's transcript can be viewed here:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1354Mn-roGnapXLR9hJQlfqRMeFXKDKiod2NX8YZkWEw/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, Yasmin McKee Wright, and today's guest is Jules Volevsky. Jules has experience working with children, adolescents and adult mental health in both the private and public sectors. Jules is now working in private practice as a mindset coach and as a certified practitioner in neurolinguistic programming and timeline therapy. Thanks so much Jules for coming on to the podcast. Really happy to have you here to have a chat about your social work experience so far and a new development in your world. Thank you so much, Yesman, and I'm very excited to be here.

Can I start firstly by asking when you began as a social worker and what drew you to the profession? So my journey started back when I was 20, 21. I was a bit lost not knowing what I wanted to do in terms of career. However, I knew that I wanted to help people and I ended up doing a few TAFE courses that never really felt like it was my passion. So then I ended up going to see a TAFE, the... Like a careers advisor. Yeah.

And he asked me a few questions and it ended up turning out that social work and a few other areas would have been really great for me to go into. And when I looked more into social work, I realized that, wow, I can help so many people. And it's just social work falls under such a big broad umbrella of what we can do. And a lot of people, there is people out there that tend to not even know a lot of the time what we do as social workers. But we have so many different hats as social workers that we can put on at different times. And yes, so then when I realized that that was the area that I wanted to go into, I didn't look at. back because it's been like 14 years now, 14 plus years. Yeah. Is there something about your your life growing up or sort of family values that led you to want to be in the helping

professions? My family values, you know, has always been if you can help someone, whoever that may be help, you know, and it's like, do it from your heart, not from wanting something in return. I grew up with a loving, caring family, and I saw quite a few people growing up in my younger years that didn't have that, which broke my heart. And I realized that I would love to share what I have experienced growing up with others, if I could, in any way possible. So that's what led me to want to help. Yeah.

And what's led you to this point in your life? your career in terms of experience or skills that you've developed. You've done quite a lot of work for hospitals and caring for people in the community. Yeah. So during placement, my first social work placement, I remember this very day, and it was a decade ago, I was in mental health. And at that time, I didn't really know much about mental health. And this was over 15 years ago or so, longer than that it would be. And I didn't know much about mental health. And when I did the first placement, I fell in love with mental health. Like, I fell in love with it. And from that first placement in social work, then the next placement, which was the second placement we had, I ended up going to,

it was whose, we help ourselves, drug and alcohol rehab. And that was also goes hand in hand as a social, like with mental health, drug and alcohol, like substance and mental health. So I realized during my first placement, that that was where I wanted to go, like down that class. I did end up working in hospitals in Newcastle private hospital, which was for a whole range of, so I was a social worker there for that whole hospital, which meant that I looked after the maternity ward, the rehab board, which was when people would come and have knee reconstructions, hip reconstructions. I also looked after the oncology board as well and the outpatients as well.

So I really loved that. And that was my first job out of uni. And were you the only social worker in that field? Yeah. That is a huge caseload. So first I ended up job sharing with somebody, but it was, I was there three days and they were there for two days. So it was huge. It was a caseload like it was there was a lot of work and it was good also because I was able to experience all the different areas of the hospital setting and I wasn't just constraint to like one area yeah and that was my first job out of uni so I was there three days a week and then the other two days I was at cai you connect which was a community mental health as well so which I really really loved and also So when I was at uni, I'm probably jumping back.

I just get so excited about the topic. But when I was at uni, my third placement was at Kestrel, which was, it's a 30-man secure facility for men that have committed a crime and have been found innocent due to mental illness. So they were, they get. Oh, interesting. Yeah, it was very interesting. So they stay there and get rehabilitated.

But it's like a jail, if that makes. sense because because they have to be, I suppose, like, you know, monitored and I kept an eye on, but also they provided the types of support that you wouldn't necessarily get when you go to jail and when you're convicted. So, and that was, like, I really loved that placement as well. It was just really eye-opening as well as it allowed me to go in there and before I would read the history of their client, I would go and actually just meet them. You wouldn't, like, with someone else with me, though, because you had to have like a security net with you, but I would go and meet them and interact with them, build rapport with them, and then I would go

back and write in the notes as we do as social workers, and then I would look at the notes after and look at the history because I knew myself that at times we're all humans, this can happen, can tend to have preconceived ideas about which, you know, as social workers, we try not to, but sometimes we can. And I didn't want to have the old narrative, that old story of the client for why they were in there to cloud my judgment, if that makes sense. Yeah. So I went in there and would speak to them, build rapport, and then I would go and read up on what had happened, which I'm so grateful that I did that way, because Otherwise, it can allow us to go in there with a judgment already.

Yeah, you have a preconceived idea of what that person's going to be like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was amazing to see it so much transformation in the short time that I was there from the clients that had been there for, you know, two, three years prior to me going there. It was just, yeah, it was amazing. So when I left uni, I, yeah, had that two part-time jobs, which I loved. One was in mental health and one was in the hospital system, which was, as I said, rehabilitation, the maternity, oncology.

And then when there was a position that come up full time in an acute ward for mental health, yeah, I put my hand up and went for it and got the job. And it was amazing. It was so rewarding. I loved because it was acute. It was, you'd meet them in the like of a crisis situation. and meet them where they're at. And, you know, there'd be a lot of, you know,

a strength-based approach and also meeting them where they're at and trying to work with them, collaborate with them, and also some of their stakeholders that they had, to provide a smooth transition back into the community because some of them that would come into the hospital were involuntary patients and didn't want to be there, didn't have a lot of trust in the system, didn't have a lot of trust in the medical team because, you know, they were forced to go there.

However, it was for their best interest because they were unwell. So I had to quickly find my own way of connecting with them and still be part of the team, but also let them know that I see them, I hear them and I'm here for them and that they're not on their own. And a lot of the times they would feel that they weren't seen and they weren't heard. And that really broke my heart because a lot of the times that experience, I could sometimes see happening while we're all sitting in the room. And then there's like a whole multidisciplinary team. And at times it can happen. And by no means, I'm not saying that that happens everywhere, but it can happen and it does happen. And it was happening. And it was happening.

times. And yeah, it was just a really rewarding job. That's why I stayed in it for over 14 years. I just found that it was just really, really rewarding. Because I could imagine some of the other professionals on that team that'd be a high risk of burnout in that setting. And so maybe that disconnection from the person and who's actually come in might have been their way of coping and not getting too caught up in the logistics or the dynamics of what was happening. They probably just see someone as, okay, you've got this condition, you're going to be in here for this long, this is the treatment regime. Whereas you've broken that down a little and gone.

Well, actually, no, this is an individual person with an individual crisis. I'm going to treat it as such. Yes, exactly, exactly. And actually taking the time to listen to their story, and what brought them in or why they feel that they're in hospital. And a lot of the times that's where they felt the disconnect, where they didn't feel like they were heard. And just taking the time, I just want to let the listeners know that as social workers,

just as human beings, like, you know, just taking the time to make even eye contact and actually just sit and listen to somebody. It doesn't even have to be at work. It can be someone out in the community. And that form of just, you know, rapport building, just giving that person that respect and sitting and just letting them, like active, listening, but actually really be listening with your heart and your soul. I can just be really listening to what they're saying and open to hearing what they're saying.

And a lot of the times all we want to do is just be heard. And it can be very disheartening when we feel that we're not. or we feel that we're judged due to, or they feel like they're judged due to, you know, having this illness. And a lot of the times they felt that they were seen as a label and they would have all these different labels. It wouldn't just be one or it wouldn't just be Joe blogs, let's just say. It would be, you know, which would be their name.

But then, you know, they were identified as, and I'm not saying this is just at the hospital where I work. It's just in society. It's this stigma around mental illness. Like I've done my fourth year paper, a social work conference on stigma and how it affects people with a mental illness and their loved ones. So that was my fourth year conference paper. And it does. Is this stigma?

It's a taboo topic. And I suppose it's getting a little bit more awareness around it, mental health now, especially with COVID that's come in. And a lot of people have been having to, you know, stay at home. And if you're not with anyone, then you can end up just, you know, your mental health does decrease. but yeah back then it was just something that was spoken about but not really and yeah they can just have a lot of labels in the system and a lot of different labels you've got to see different doctors that give you different labels and then you end up having a whole list of diagnoses that they're not actually seeing that person for who they are and just putting that diagnosis aside for a moment

like I know that's important don't get me wrong like you know treating what's going on with them and getting them better is important. Yeah. That reminds me of an article I was reading. They were doing some studies before COVID even broke out, before the pandemic was a thing. They were doing studies on loneliness. And what they were saying, people were saying that it doesn't matter if you live alone. It doesn't matter what your situation is necessarily. You can be in a partnership, but if that's not a happy partnership, then, you know, there's nothing more lonely than coming back to a home with a person that you no longer have that relationship with. And they were saying that loneliness can be an even greater cause of premature death than, say, smoking, which was really interesting.

So when you say COVID has had a big impact on people, yes, definitely, especially people who live by themselves or people who don't have the opportunity to connect with someone, but I can imagine in an inpatient health setting, that would be an incredibly lonely experience. when people aren't connecting with you. You've got people all around, but there's no one really listening to you and wanting to know your side of things. So that's so important that you were doing that. As a student, though, those two placements that you had must have been so confronting as a young student just going into it thinking, yes, I have all this energy and I'm excited. But how did you get through that when that would have been such a very confronting thing to deal with as a student?

did you have really good support from supervisors? Yeah, I did. I had amazing support. So my first placement that I'd done, which opened my eyes, I suppose, and my heart and everything to mental health, I had amazing supervisors as well as the where the placements that I was at. So it's so important when you're on placement

to really connect and communicate with your supervisor and let them know if there is. struggles and how you're going and because they are there to support you and to help you get through that. So it's like to lean on the supervisors and I had really supportive supervisors which made a world of difference. And also just to remind everyone that it's okay to ask for help. So a lot of the times we tend to feel that we have to do it on our own, whatever that may be. And we don't have to. So asking for help is actually a superpower. It's a resourceful skill to have.

And a lot of the times we can tend to, I'll just say, let our ego and pride get in the way of asking for help, feeling like we shouldn't ask for help. We should know it all by now because we're, you know, third years or fourth years or we're out of uni now when we're, you know, even supervisors that we have when we're at work after we finish uni. It's just really good for everyone just to keep in mind that asking for help isn't a weakness. It's actually a strength. Yeah, and I found that to be super valuable in my whole journey. I can imagine also that as a supervisor of a student in that setting, or in any setting, really, being able to model that behaviour themselves and be able to say as a supervisor, there is no one way of measuring success in this area, let's say.

So I might be having a day where this goes to plan and nothing else does, but that's a good day. So it doesn't always have to be perfect and just modeling that behavior where it's okay to reach out, as you were saying, but also as someone who's maybe been 20, 30 years in the field, again, you don't need to know everything. And reaching out to people within your team is that strength. So yeah, even as a professional, we don't know all the answers. No, and we never will know all the answers. And I'm okay with that because we're always evolving and growing.

And if you're not, like Tony Robbins says, I love Tony Robbins. I don't know if you're not growing. You're dying. And it's true. It's like you're stuck. And so like I'm always growing and evolving and learning and I'm okay not knowing. And we don't know what we don't know. And when you said it's okay not to have perfect days, it's right. And perfectionism is an illusion. Perfectionism used to at times. What would say? cripple me, but it would It would have an impact on me because I would feel like I have to have things, you know, perfect or a certain way, not just at work, but outside as well. Yes, I had to work on that.

But when I was at work, realizing that it's okay, like you said, for things not to go as you plan, but you have to be flexible in social work, I suppose in life as well. You have to be flexible because we just get thrown curveballs all the time. it's not a matter of what type of curveball we're getting thrown. It's what that curveball that's getting thrown at us, what does that mean and how are we going to maneuver around it type of thing? It's the meaning that we put on that. And what do we learn from that experience? Yeah, exactly. And asking for help, because there's no iron team. I know that's like an old saying,

but it's actually like a really good one. There's no iron team. And I'm sure that we're we ask for help, it allows my mentor and coach, Richmond, Dink, had said this at the virtual boot camp I went to three days ago and it's just stuck to me. He mentioned to us that he asked us, who loves helping people, who likes helping people? Raise your hand and, you know, there's 170 people at that virtual boot camp. So everyone raised their hand. And that's when he said, so when you don't ask for help because you feel like you can't ask for help or you shouldn't ask for help, then you are robbing someone else of the gift to help you. And that was really powerful because we all love to help others and love to help others. And it makes us feel good as well

on top of helping that other person. So when we don't ask others for help, we are robbing them of that gift to help us. Yeah. And I found that really powerful. So if we're not going to ask for help, then we're robbing ourselves of that experience to grow, to connect and to learn. That reminds me, though, of the first role that you had outside of uni, if you go back to your private hospital experience in social work. If you're not working as a team, especially as a new graduate and you don't have that, I guess you wouldn't have had some formal supervision through the hospital as well because there was just no one around.

You were effectively working by yourself. you kind of would have to learn so quickly and figure out things on the ground and just be able to make decisions autonomously. What sort of support did you need in that role? How did you get through that? Well, firstly, it was asking for help when I needed the help. Not feeling like any question was a silly question because no question's a silly question. And just reaching out to, there was a discharge planner for the hospital there for the rehab ward where I was actually based. I was getting support from her and I relied on her in terms of that support a lot because she was there from like Monday to Friday where the other social worker who was a

senior that I was job sharing with was there just the two days and we would cross over. We would be there together for one day. Sorry to apologize. There was one day she was there for half a day when I was there. So we would have like a handover and that would be kind of like touch base. five minutes and then get to work. So I found that asking, even the doctors that were on the ward and women would have team meetings, it would be like, you know, once a week, I would make sure that I had all the questions

I needed to prepare beforehand. And then when we would have the case meetings, the team meeting and talk about the patients, multi-discipline team meeting it was, I would put my hand up and ask any questions. that I had regarding that. And I found that very valuable because I was able to then receive feedback from physios, OTs, speech pathologists, the surgeons, the nurses that were working with that patient at the time. So, yeah, just making sure that you know your tasks, your job.

And also, if you're a bit unsure about something, whatever that may be, going to ask somebody and not feeling embarrassed or not feeling like you should know everything because you don't need to know everything. So it was a very supportive team that I had, a multidisciplinary team because the supervision I had was I didn't have it. And it was like you sink or swim. And you don't necessarily need to only just lean on social workers for the support. That's my humble opinion. Like I feel that working as a social worker, it's great to have the support. And give support too, though.

You know, give support as well to your multidisciplinary team. Like the nurses at the inpatient ward when I was working there were amazing. The nurses there were so supportive and they were amazing. They had different hats as well, even though they were qualified nurses. They would put different hats on and they were with the patients more often, but they were very supportive. So, like getting the support, not just of social workers, but of everybody else that's around there and offering the support as well. I'm curious as to all the different areas that you worked, including the mental health setting, just curious as to how the social work role was perceived

in amongst the whole team and whether you felt it was respected and understood and you had a real solid place in that team. I do feel there was a understanding and a respect for the role. Do you think there was perhaps a misconception amongst some of the team members? of what you do and I just know that in in some settings there can be this misconception that you know all we do is talk to people or you know pat them on the hand kind of thing. Well the psychologist one of the jobs right had the psychologist that was there did actually feel that all we did was pat people on the hand and say it's okay it'll be okay it's okay it'll be okay there was that but it was it was just like a one-off I suppose so you will

come across even social workers that might not value or respect you as a social worker. It doesn't have to necessarily, and I did experience that myself, which was quite alarming at the time. However, looking back now, it's made me a lot stronger with that experience. I was being bullied by a social worker. So, irrespective of the profession, you can get people that don't. value or respect, either the profession or you, which in all fairness says a lot about them and where they're coming from. Perception is projection. And I know that that person that was

doing that to me clearly was insecure with themselves. However, you know, at a certain age, you don't think that that would be happening in an environment in a workplace. And it can happen and it does happen and it's not okay. Don't feel you have to put up with it. Don't feel that you have to stay quiet. And if it is another social worker, if it's a psychologist, if it's a doctor, if it's an OT, if it's a speech pathologist,

if it's a nurse, whoever it may be, even if it's your supervisor, it's not okay. Bullying is never okay. So don't feel that, you know, you have to stay quiet and, you know, not do anything about it. about it because you don't. So I stayed in that role for three years and after it just burnt me out to the point where not the job itself, but putting up with that every day until I realized

I couldn't go back to that. And so looking back in hindsight, it was me thinking that that's what I kind of deserved at the time because I clearly kept going back to it and not speaking up, not feeling like I had a voice. Yeah. So there was a lot. And that's where I ended up. And that's where I up, which I suppose we'll go into transitioning from that into what I'm doing now, but we can speak about that a little later. So just, yeah, just to let everyone know that, yeah, bullying's not okay. Don't put up with it for another second if that's what's happening. And if you see it happening, don't stay quiet about it because there was people in the office that could see it happening, but didn't say anything either. So bullying isn't okay. Not saying anything about it isn't

okay either and so I experienced that on that end yeah also from a professional perspective it's really disappointing to hear that because social work is such a values driven profession and you would expect that there'd be a level of respect and understanding and sense of worth for everybody but sounds as though you weren't offered those opportunities which is a real shame yeah it was a shame it really I just never thought that in a million years that I would experience that, especially From one of your own. Yeah, from one of my own. And also at that age, you know, you think that it gets left in the school yard.

Even that's, I don't say it's okay in the school yard, but you think it would get left there. But it's like it was, you know, from another social worker. It's like, wow, okay, that's alarming. But it really made me when I look back at it, I just really. that well, that person clearly had their own stuff going on and their own insecurities. And now I look back and I can actually thank them for that uncomfortable and very just isolating time in my life. But it's made me stronger. I don't look at that as being a victim. I look at that as it's taught me so much. And I'm grateful for as an unpleasant as that experience was.

it's actually given me some growth as well as skills, tools, and it's allowed me to know myself more. Yeah. When I've had a chance to like leave it all and process it because it can be quite traumatic. Yeah. So it's also been a blessing if that makes sense to look at it in that respect. Yeah.

Yeah. So how did you get from that point and the experience that you'd already had to where you are now, you've started your own coaching business? Yes, yes. So that particular time, when I said I couldn't go back to work after that, I ended up having a few years off and got into personal growth and development, Tony Robbins, and went to see him live just to learn more about myself and to just reignite the spark within me because after that experience, I felt sad. I felt a bit broken.

I deflated. I thought, wow, is this the right path? Like if I'm getting treated like that by another colleague, social worker, it just made me question a lot of things. However, I loved that particular job that I was doing. So I just needed to go and find myself again because I felt like I had lost myself, not just because of that particular incident.

There was like other stuff going, but I thought, okay, so I went to see him. And then I was actually looking for another social work position to go back to, because I wanted to go back to work with my cup overflowing. As social workers, we can tend to, you know, we know what self-carries. And you mentioned it at the beginning. You know, we know what self-carries.

And some of the time we do implement it within our own lives. and other times we can tend to, I know for myself, I can tend to forget about self-care, but I need to practice what I preach. So, you know, I'll be talking about self-care a lot to, you know, the clients and their loved ones and their carers and that, you know, self-care is important, self-care, yet I wasn't implementing and looking after my own needs because at that time I felt guilty. It didn't feel right. And logically, I knew that I needed to do it, that self-care is important, but I wasn't doing it.

So I got burnt out as well. And I didn't want to go back with half a cup because I wanted to give what I could give. So I had some time off. And yeah, then I was looking for some work. And I ended up coming up to this 10-day challenge. And it was like a coaching. I didn't even know anything about it besides it was a 10-day challenge. was for free and I thought well I was doing other challenges prior to that um with tony

roberts and dean graciosi just some challenges for personal growth and development and then yeah it led me to the coaching so it just was a organic unfolding of going from social work to a mindset coach and looking at ways to you know helping women and men break free from limiting belief Yeah. Which we all can have limiting beliefs, and it's just beliefs that we have thought over and over again that we believe to be real. And I had been working on my own limiting beliefs prior to the 10-day challenge. And that's where when I said to you that, you know, I didn't realize I was worthy enough or see my own value because I kept going back to the job for three years. And it dawned on me when I was able to reflect back on that experience.

and I realized that, well, I went back day after day because I didn't feel like I valued myself enough to say, hey, or I didn't have the confidence, you know, to say, hey, that's not okay, or, you know, to stand up for myself. So, you know, being able to look back and reflect, it was my own limiting beliefs that were holding me back from being able to approach that in a different way. So that's when I started to work on myself and breaking free from my own limiting beliefs that I thought, wow, like I'd love to be able to share my experience, my skills with others that also want to break free from their limiting beliefs. Because, you know, there's two fears that we all have as humans, which is fear of not being enough. So if we're

not enough, then we fear we won't be loved. They're the two primal fears that we all have. And then on top of that, we have fear of not being good enough, not being smart enough, fear of success even and all those things. And I just thought I'd love to be able to share my journey and what I've learned and help others because I've also done neurolinguistics programming, online therapy as well. Yeah. So I'm a practitioner in that and just to be able to see clients go from limits to limitless and like to go from fears to fearlessness. It's just so not only empowering for them, but empowering for me and like to see them break free from these beliefs that they've been holding on to from zero to seven is like how our beliefs are formed.

Well, because we're like sponges. So we don't have the ability to question things when we're zero to seven. And it's like called the imprint stage and whatever it is in our environment, we absorb like sponges. So whatever is going on in our, environment and our surroundings from zero to seven goes into our subconscious and then that's the way our beliefs are formed and then we end up carrying them on into adulthood even not knowing if we sit down and ask ourselves where does this belief that I'm not good enough come from and you really get down to the core of it it's been something we have picked up from childhood and it's not to say that our parents and our grandparents didn't do the best they could because they did.

They did the best they could with what they had. Yeah, so it's just this journey that I went on all from the social work and then just the progression, having the time off. Looking back to see why I did what I did, why I stayed in a job for so long that was causing me not the actual position, but that experience of the bullying that was causing me so much turmoil and distress. Why did I put up with that? why. So like reflection, you know, asking those questions and which I think we're pretty good at social

workers reflecting. Yeah. So that's that journey. Yeah. And what type of issues do people come to you with? See, so I also look at the holistic because when you're in social work, especially in the hospital settings, I found that in the private hospital as well as inpatient hospital, I found that it can be very narrow and just one track and you're not looking at the client holistically, which holistically, when you look at somebody, you know, the environment also plays a big part in who that person becomes, the environment. If you're in a stressful environment, that will determine how your mental health is, how your well-being is. Are they physically healthy or not? That can also that's how fast, looking at the holistic picture, not just the person's either mental health

or in the rehab ward, for example, looking at them coming in, getting a knee reconstruction, so their physical health, for example, those sorts of things. So it's like looking at the person as a whole and their environment and what's impacting them. And I found that, you know, as social workers, we can tend to, not social workers in general, because we do look at the person as a whole, but when we go and work within a multidisciplinary team type of thing, it can be one track, one focus. And so often you only have limited time with someone. So you kind of have no choice but to focus on the medical concern. And often if something is steering in a direction where you know that it's going to open a can of worms, you kind of have to bring it back

to the focus of the conversation, which is really challenging. And you know that there are other things that are going on for that person and you just can't address all of them. That's so right. And you bring up a good point there because in the hospital settings, it's not long term. It's acute. So they're in and out, regardless of whether they're in the mental health, inpatient or, you know, in the rehab, but they're not there long term. So you have to, it's like a crisis type of thing.

So you have to meet them where they're at. And what's really great is, though, when you're doing your psychosocial assessments with your clients, okay, realize that you can't open up a can of worms and look at everything, but in your psychosocial assessment, look and ask questions from a holistic perspective. And that way, you can look at what you can refer and who you can refer them to upon discharge or upon, like, you know, out into the community, because stakeholders and collaborating with other service providers out in the community, and to have a good resource, and network of stakeholders and that is really powerful, I feel, as a social worker,

because that way you can connect your clients with someone that can help them further once they have been discharged from hospital or left your program or your service, and they can get that follow-up care from there. So that's what I feel is very, very important, looking at that psychosocial, which does look at the holistic and focusing on what your task is and what your role is in that moment, as well as making sure that you do refer them onto other support networks outside of that. What would you say you've found most challenging branching out into your own practice?

Starting it from scratch, just having to get out of my own way and having to get out of that perfectionism headspace and also the ego, the pride can sometimes come in as well. and not having to have things perfect to actually get them done because any progress is better than no progress because, you know, procrastination is the cousin of perfectionism. So, you know, we can tend to just procrastinate. So it's just getting out of my own way and just learning more and more about myself. And it's very rewarding. Like, and I have found social work and that part has been so rewarding and just loved it.

Like the 14 plus years and all the experience that I've had, the people that I've met, the staff I've worked with, the clients I've worked with and been able to support and help, it's been amazing and something that just fills my heart, overflows just with gratitude, love and just real great memories and beautiful ones. Like there was a client that in the hospital setting, in the inpatient ward, we necessarily don't follow up with the clients six months or a year later. that once they've discharged, they've gone, unless they come back on well again. And I had the honour, the pleasure of a client that had come back, not as a client,

but she'd come back with one of the carers needing a letter for something that she had to go to. This was a year later after she had been discharged. And to see her, to find out that after I had spoken with her and didn't just say, okay, well, you have this illness and just dismiss. like we were speaking about before, sat and listened to the whole story and helped her. She stopped self-harming. It was one year from when she'd left to when she'd come to see me, she had not cut herself. Prior to that, it was everyday self-harming.

And she also, when I helped her move out of where she was living, because there was a lot of stuff going on there that not many people had believed what she was staying, but it was actual facts. So once she was moved from where she was staying, which was the environment, as we spoke about before, into another place. She also stopped self-harming. She was under the Guardian, but they were applying to have her be removed from that because she was doing so well.

And she had stopped taking substances as well. And for her support worker to come with her. And then for her to just tell me that was just, that's what makes social work and going every day and waking up every day as a social worker the best thing. when you hear those stories of how you can impact and how we do impact so many people's lives. And we don't necessarily have them come back and tell us just how much we have impacted them. But just to let all the lists know, you know, everything you're doing and everything we do does actually have a ripple effect.

And it does impact and that we're doing a great thing. Yeah. Did you have a mentor or someone else who had done something similar when you were. was setting up the coaching to kind of bounce ideas of? Yeah, yeah. So Richmond Dinn is the mentor slash, he's still like one of my coaches that I'm with. And he, it's just been amazing transformation. Like I said, it's been a whole organic process of going from social work into this coaching. What I love also is getting the clients to go from living at effect, which from NLP, I'll just say, is like, effect is where we blame our surroundings and situations and what's going on.

People like that, that's living at effect. And then living at causes where, okay, well, this shitty thing happened or something didn't go right today. However, I'm going to do the best I can with what I've got and they make the most of the situation. So, yeah, and I still do have a mentor. It's been an amazing transformation and journey. Yeah. And given that you're working for yourself now,

how do you keep yourself on track and ensure you feel supported and what do you do to work on yourself, as you were saying before? So I still, I'm part of like a family, so it's a point one it's called, and it's a group of coaches, like-minded people that have been,

become like my tribe, my family. And we catch up twice a week, but also we've just done the three-day virtual boot camp as well, ask for help. I've learnt that scheduling in time to have breaks, not just through the day, but time for me has been very, very important not to get burnt out to the point where I have to just completely stop. So making sure that I've scheduled in, you know, me time every so often and through the day needing to schedule and set my alarm regularly to have little mini breaks to like maybe 10, 15 minute breaks. Like I'll have lunch breaks, but 10 15 minutes just to go out, get some sun, fresh air, stretch and then get back to it because it's easy to just get so focused on something that you just

forget to, I can sometimes forget to eat or have a break and then I just realize that the day's gone and asking for help has been a huge thing where it's putting that ego and pride aside and just asking for help regardless of what I might be thinking or feeling and yeah that help just asking for help because that's what they're there for and I don't know everything and I never will and just wanting to yeah just asking for help just reaching out and being vulnerable as well so allowing myself to, yeah, being vulnerable, being vulnerable in terms of, like, Renee Brown. You've heard of of Brene Brown? Yeah. Yeah. And she's kind of put social work on the map for so much of the world that didn't really know what social work was, which is great. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, like,

her books are so inspirational and so empowering and powerful. And she's just had a new one coming out. What's that one? Oh, let me find it. So here we go. She said this book kicked my ass. It's called Atlas of the Heart. So it's coming out November 30, which is just before this episode releases. So there you go. Wow.

Wow. Thank you. I have to keep my eye out for that one because she's just, yeah, her work's amazing. And she did put social work on the map. She really did. And like her TED talk on vulnerability and she's done so many other talks and just her books and that on being vulnerable. But also not just in terms of me being vulnerable with the coaching,

but also letting my family and like my mom, my sister, my cousin, like letting all my family know that this is what I'm doing. I'm doing coaching and I might have up and down days where, you know, business might be going okay, business might not be going okay, or just life in general and the support from you would be great. And just having that open communication with your loved ones, not just in coaching, but also in social work. if you're studying and you're at uni, if you're at placement, and if you're at work,

just letting your loved ones know that this is where I'm at, this is what's going on for me, and being open with them, vulnerable, and allowing them to support you when you need the support rather than feeling like you have to do it on your own. That's what I found too that was really powerful. I just letting my loved ones know that this is where I'm transitioning. and a lot of the time, I was really worried about telling, you know, my loved ones and people that I've gone from doing a degree in finishing, like doing social work for so long to then transitioning to coaching. It was received really well. I just had this preconceived idea and I was

mind reading on my behalf, thinking that it wouldn't have been received very well, but it actually was, yeah, just to be open, honest and vulnerable. Yeah. Do you think that this is an area of social work that will be developing in the future? Is this somewhere where social work can continue to make an impact? I feel it is and this is just my whole opinion. I feel with me going and doing the neurolinguist NLP training and timeline therapy training on top of the social work and on top of my other personal growth and development courses and trainings that I've done as well has been so powerful like NLP, neurolinguistics programming and time line therapy combined with social work, it just takes it to another level, like a whole another level of how you can

engage, interact with your clients and get them to go from living at effect to taking ownership and responsibility and empowering them to live at cause, to live from an empowering state. And it just gets me so excited just when you can make someone go from just their mind shift and getting them to go from. And I wish, I really wish that I had done NLP and timeline therapy way back when because it would have been so, I would have made so much more of an impact with my social work than I already did if that makes sense. Like it's just, it takes it to like a whole other level of how you are able to ask certain

questions and just get them to, you know, take ownership and become empowered. Mm-hmm. If you weren't doing what you're doing, obviously you love the change that you've made. Are there any other areas of social work that interest you or any other training you'd like to consider? Sounds like you really enjoyed the longer-term work that you had the opportunity to do in the legal system, for instance. Oh, yeah, mental health. I love, I was actually wanting to, I didn't even know how this would have looked, but it was to come up with a program, which there might be actually, for inmates that transitions them prior to them leaving the prison, for example. So because a lot of the time people that get put in jail,

their mental health isn't necessarily a priority. But this is like the jail jail. This isn't the way of the Kestra where I worked at. Having like a transitional program where just prior to them being released, that they get support around finding a home so they're not put out. Because a lot of the time, there'd be people that would come into the mental health, the patient ward. Some of them had just literally been released from actual prison, but didn't have a home,

went back to using drugs, went back to their old ways because they didn't have the support networks when they were released. And they were just, you know, left with their clothes on their back that they were in with and whatever money they had, which probably wasn't much at all. And they're just, you know, left to fend for themselves. Yeah. And if you've been in there for 10 years, 5 years longer, you end up not knowing any other way to survive.

And it's like very overwhelming. It can be very confronting, coming out and going into the world when you've just been isolated in such a small place for so long that they end up committing a crime and doing something that actually makes them go back in, jailing. again. And that to me is heartbreaking too. When if there was something in place, that's what I would have loved to have done to. This was a while ago where I would just have a program where it would even have like a package where there would be like pamphlets,

brochure support, you know, see if there's any of their loved ones or anyone that we could connect them with to also offer them support as well prior to them being released. Yeah. And linking them up with, I know that they have their own, role officer. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, like, you know, I know that they've got, but they have to go for nor do it, but that's just the check in to see that they're doing everything, that they're following the rules. But, you know, in the hospital setting, the mental health ward, there would be people coming in and they would be sleeping on trains because they had nowhere else to go after they were released. So then they turned to drugs and all that and then, yeah. So it's just like a vicious cycle,

like at the revolving door. And I would love to do some work with that. Yeah, that'd be really interesting. Are there any resources that you can recommend to people? You've mentioned the Kestrel program, Tony Robbins, Richmond, Dinn. Are there any really good talks, perhaps? You mentioned TED Talks before that you would recommend people check out? Well, Brunei Brown, I would recommend her talk on vulnerability. There's also a mental health academy that's on,

If you were to put it in Google, Mental Health Academy, but you have to pay actually for that. But they run training and you can get like CPD, yeah, points on that too. And that's like a yearly thing where they have like certain like suicide prevention and like different sorts of topics and that as well. Yeah, I've got Tony Robbins. He's really, really good.

And also I'm on Facebook as Jules Volevsky. and I post content on there about limiting beliefs and, like, you know, videos and written content about four times a week on there. And it's, yeah, just ideas. If anyone was interested in even going just on there, it's like public as well. And they could just have a look at the types of stuff that I'm producing, the content that I'm writing and what type of, yeah, information I'm putting out there as well.

So Richmond D-I-N-H is the surname. he's another person that they can look at. Yeah, I think that might be a good start. Yeah, yeah. I can put links to all of those on our show notes so that people can go off and do their own reading, but it might also be useful for people to look up some of the types of therapeutic approaches you were mentioning,

like the neurolinguistic programming and the timeline therapy. Yeah, and with that one, my coach for that was Tony K. Okay. Yeah, Tony. And then surname's K-A-Y-Y-E. and he's Australia's number one NLP coach and Richmond's Australia's number one coach for coaches. So, yeah, that's where I did my training with Tony Kay. It was amazing.

So if they were wanting to look at doing some extra study and extra personal growth and development, yeah, the neurolinguistics programming and timeline therapy would be great. Yeah. Fantastic. Is there anything else before we finish up that you'd like to say about either the work you do or about social work in general? With regards to social work, I just would like to say whoever's doing it, whoever's listening to this, that you're incredible souls and it takes a, I don't say a strong person, but to go out each day and to see what we see, to face what we

face and to the challenges that we come across with the clients or what challenges they have, it's never a dull moment in that area in social work. And to be in social work, you clearly have a love for helping others because it's not something that we go to for the money because the money's not like, you know, it's not that great. So to be doing social work, clearly you have a huge heart and you just want to serve. Just keep doing that because it's just, it's amazing. And yeah, and you are changing the world with what you're doing, even though it might be just one person.

It's that ripple effect. Please, please, please, please make sure that you self-care, self-care, self-care, because I've learned the hard way getting burned out a few times and it's not good. So as a social worker, yet make sure you implement self-care. And, yeah, that's all I have to say for the social work part. just incredible people, social workers, I think. I'm not biased. Slightly biased.

But yeah, it's incredible. And yeah, and with the coaching, you know, that's something that if anyone is interested in knowing more in terms of, you know, what that might look like for them. I'm happy to answer any questions or they can just go on my Facebook page and have a look. But yeah, that's wonderful. Thank you for that. That's very generous. People should reach out, especially if they're thinking about doing some.

of this extra training or looking at branching out into their own practice. And yeah, just it's interesting what your, like your journey in terms of breaking away from your perceived limitations of clinical work and finding creative ways to help other people and reigniting that spark for yourself. And your emphasis on meeting people where they're at was really clear for me. And I think you're incredibly strong yourself for making. a career out of doing something you love. It takes a lot of courage. So thank you so much for doing what you do and thank you for taking the time to speak with me. And I hope other people get just as

much out of this as I do and look forward to creating other opportunities within their careers. Oh, thank you so much. That's beautiful, Jasmine. Thank you. Thanks for joining me this week. If you would like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Jules, 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 Spotlight Podcast 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 guests are Candice and Arlen, a social work and nursing team running the

Sexuality Service at Royal Rehab. They have both completed postgraduate studies in sexual health and reproduction, specifically psychosexual therapy. I will be speaking with Candice and Arlen about their approaches to supporting sexual exploration and function for people living with a disability and how their professional skills and individual strengths have combined to create this valuable service. I release a new episode every two weeks. Please subscribe to my podcast so you'll notify when this next next day.

episode is available. See you next time.