Social Work Spotlight - Episode 7: Sophie

Episode Date: July 10, 2020

In this episode, Sophie and I discuss her work in triage and crisis response, risk assessment, safety planning and coordination of forensic medical and general medical responses to adults and children impacted by sexual assault. Over the years Sophie has developed a non-clinical portfolio in professional education and training in the violence abuse and neglect space and has recently completed quality improvement projects around improving clinical responses to adults abused as children and streamlining interagency pathways to the recent expansion of joint referral unit criteria for child sexual assault matters.A glossary of terms from Sophie’s discussion can be found here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZ55p-WjRoqpyrrNGxHFSG1x2jiYetdC/view?usp=sharingLinks to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:Australian Childhood Foundation - https://www.childhood.org.au/Gabor Maté and the Australian Childhood Trauma Conference - https://childtraumaconf.org/conference-2021/Bruce Perry (researcher, clinician and teacher) - https://www.bdperry.com/Mary Ainsworth & John Bowlby - attachment styles and assessment techniques - https://www.simplypsychology.org/mary-ainsworth.htmlAdverse Childhood Experiences Study - https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/index.htmlRoberts & Ottens - Seven stage crisis intervention model - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-14106-001NSW Health - https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/parvan/jirt/Pages/default.aspxECAV - Education Centre against Violence - http://www.ecav.health.nsw.gov.au/ANROWS - Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety - https://www.anrows.org.au/This episode's transcript can be viewed here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hh_5_Mbtdm3eKbyjyweQYPZ2oCSqfqEI/view?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 Sophie. Sophie completed her Bachelor of Social Work at the University of New South Wales in 2013. For the past seven years, she has worked for New South Wales Health in crisis settings as a hospital social worker, firstly at an inner city emergency department, and in recent years as the intake worker at a sexual assault service. Sophie's day-to-day work includes psychosocial assessment, triage and crisis response, risk assessment, safety planning and coordination of forensic medical and general medical responses to adults and children impacted by sexual assault and management of acute and non-acute referrals to the service. Her passion for working in crisis settings with vulnerable clients who live with complex trauma has informed her specialty areas, including assessment and coordination of crisis response. to clients experiencing violence, abuse and neglect, including sexual assault, domestic violence and child protection issues,

and trauma-informed counselling intervention, acute psychosocial responses to sudden death and violent trauma-related illness, grief and bereavement and domestic and family violence risk assessment and safety planning. Over the years, Sophie has developed a non-clinical portfolio in professional education and training in the violence, abuse and neglect space, neglect space and has recently completed quality improvement projects around improving clinical responses to adults abused as children and streamlining interagency pathways to the recent expansion of joint referral unit criteria for child sexual assault matters. So firstly, thank you so much, Sophie, for coming on to the podcast. It's wonderful having you here. My problem. It's my pleasure. Can you tell me when you started working as a social

worker and why you chose this career? So I first started in January 2014 and I guess I came to the profession initially when I first applied. I did my study as a mature age student. I actually chose social work second on my list of preferences. I did a bridging course at UNSW and I was very certain that I wanted to be a teacher and that was my path. I'd worked in early childhood for a number of years before that. And when I got my acceptance letter and I didn't get into teaching and I got into social work, I was like, no, what is this social work? I didn't even know what that is.

So I kind of collected myself, my 21-year-old self and decided that, look, I've just got to throw my head into it and do as well as I can to transfer into teaching. So off I went to uni. And funnily enough, within two weeks, I think, and we were only really in the intro stages of a lot of the lectures and tutorials. I was just like gobsmacked by the fact they basically created a career path to just suit my personality and ethics and values down to a tea. So teaching was out and social work was in and it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I yeah I just loved it like really from the very get go just the I guess as a profession what it was presented to me really resonated and yeah I loved it like I loved uni I loved the degree I like the subjects obviously

there's a few subjects that we all don't like like statistics and research and things like that people like myself that are more more practical. But yeah, I loved it. So I, you know, flew through the degree, albeit with the same challenges as I think a lot of social work students have, unpaid long pracks and working multiple jobs to support myself and, you know, all of those things that come along with the social work territory. But, yeah, I was really fortunate at the end of my degree.

I applied for a couple of different jobs. really didn't know exactly. I think we, like I had a pipe dream about the type of social work I wanted to do, which was working with Indigenous youth. That was where I felt my niche was going to be in community work. But I did my fourth year placement in a hospital and I really, really enjoyed it. I really liked the structure. I like the diversity of the work. My time was split through different clinical areas. So I was working predominantly in age care rehab, which was really, really good, I think, in terms of just as a student honing your psychosocial assessment, but also dealing with issues like grief and loss and, you know, families and things like that. I was really lucky we had

a really supportive supervisor, and I really enjoyed that. But the other component, I guess, of the placement was I did a little bit of a mixed bag. I worked in the spinal year. unit for a little while and a little bit in cardiothoracic, but ended up, I guess, for the last few months of it, working in emergency one day a week, which I think was where my true love was born in crisis work. I just, I loved going to EAD. I loved the, I guess, the unexpected nature of the work and the complexity of it, the high-paced, high pressure. Yeah, like I, you know, I just found it so interesting and I found this real space of value for the social worker to make a real difference to these people kind of interacting with the health system in these horrible situations.

So yeah, it was very unexpected that I enjoyed that part of it so much. Yeah, I think that kind of inadvertently led me to my next job, my first proper full-time social work job. I had a crack and applied for a couple of jobs and one of them was. in a hospital. And I ended up getting that job full time. So that's when I started in 2014 in the early part of the year. It's really interesting when you say you went into social work thinking you were going to be working in community and neither of your placements were in community. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, my first placement was in, I was allocated to work at the PCYC actually, which was more of a community role, but I entered that organisation in a kind of a state of chaos, I think,

in terms of where the organisation was at, which I think in hindsight taught me a lot about dealing with systems and bureaucracy later in my career, which was this invaluable lesson that I got really early on. So part of that work was supervising a homework program and a vacation care program with a police officer that, you know, we were dealing with a very vulnerable group of young Aboriginal kids. But I think the kids and the vulnerability, so to speak, was the easy part of the work because they were just these amazing young people. They made it 100% worthwhile going in every day, but it was actually the bureaucracy and the organisation and what was happening there that made it very, very challenging. And I think it just, you know,

gives you some insight into how difficult it is as a client, you know, accessing a service sometimes when the service is going through a flux and a state of change, having someone to advocate for you and navigate the systems is, I think, half the battle these days. We're very technology focused and it's difficult when you don't have all the resources available to you that, you know, a lot of other people do. So, yeah. It would have been an interesting learning opportunity as such a young potential social worker like an up-and-coming but at the same time yeah like really difficult for you to probably get your head around and think you know i'm just a small fish in this large ocean how do i kind of make sense of this yeah i think you know you've got all the

expectations of the university and um you know you want to be ticking the boxes and and doing well and all of those things in terms of your study but also you're starting to shape and form your practice values and ethics and find your which wavelengths at which your personal and professional boundaries kind of intersect and things like that. So it was interesting, but I think, yeah, as I said, I think it just taught me a lot of lessons and I had to really make a decision about how it was going to deal with that type of organizational politics and challenges because they're everywhere. If they've been all about it doesn't matter if you're a social worker or a, you know, doctor or, you know, whatever your profession is, a teacher, those politics are in every workplace.

And if you can find your space and your, you know, way that you're going to deal with that stuff early on, I think it definitely makes things easier. Was there a point in either your practical sessions or when you'd started working in the hospital where you really felt like this was the best fit for you? I think initially I was absolute, like when I was absolutely, like when I was. I got the job working in the hospital out of uni. I was, the position was an after hours and extended hours weekend position, predominantly in the emergency department.

And I think I was a bit shell-shocked, to be honest. I was like, one couldn't believe that they'd given me the job. I felt like I had a bit of imposter syndrome going on. But I was very determined to prove that I deserve to be there and that I could do the work because I was really interested in it. And I think probably for six months, I felt like I was, in terms of my professional self, I was very quiet and observant,

and I just watched all the dynamics and the types of patients that were coming through and what cohorts we had and where I needed to upskill and expand my knowledge in particular areas. And I think there was a moment, and I actually wrote a story about it, interestingly, I should have found, it's deep down in a hard drive somewhere. But there was a, so I'd kind of been shadowing and I'd, you know, I'd gone off and done my own assessments and things like that for the first couple of months.

But there was a, I guess the big part of that work is the major traumas that come in. And it was the first one that I did by myself where I was a man that had come in with some heart issues and chest pain. And he was, he was awake and sitting in a. resus bay with his son and his mid-20s, I think, sitting beside him. And I suddenly remember the director of the emergency department happened to be in the ED that day. And I looked up and he was just suddenly flapping and, you know, buzzers were going off and staff were running from different corners of the ED. And this man had had a cardiac arrest in front of us and just hit the deck. And his son was just still sitting there going,

shit, you know, what's happening? And I guess at that point, I was like, well, this is why I'm here. And I, you know, went and got the son and then started doing the psychosocial and the crisis intervention while they were, you know, doing a full resus on the father. And it was really interesting. There were just so many layers. Like, that was what it looked like. But I felt like time slowed down weirdly in that moment. And I just knew exactly where I needed to be. what I needed to do, what I needed to say, and how I could contain and support this young man while his father was having this major health event. Yeah, it went on for hours and hours, contacting different family and getting a good picture about, you know, what the support network looked like and just practical things as well in terms of supporting many, many

conversations with different surgeons and doctors and all that kind of thing. Yeah, it was amazing and I felt like although it was, you know, obviously a horrific situation, there was real value and purpose and you could see like that it made a difference to his experience of the hospital and what was happening at that time. And I found out later on that his dad survived. Yeah, I think he actually went through to rehab at that hospital all the way through. And yeah, he survived and the family, you know, soldiers. on and did their thing. But it was a very long, you know, journey that they had in the hospital. I think it was months and months. But just to be there at that critical time to hold their

family, so to speak, and set them on that trajectory was amazing. And I think at that point, I was pretty sold on that type of work. And I think felt like it was a good fit for me. I don't think it's like anything. Not everything is for everyone. And I felt really fortunate, very lucky that I found something that seemed to fit well with me. It sounds like your intervention with him would have set the tone for the rest of his admission to hospital and probably helped him and his family understand what the social worker could assist with. Yeah, yeah, I think social works a bit of an enigma. People are a bit like, oh, what does the social worker do? But I think when they have that

contact with a social worker in a very, you know, high pressure ED situation like that, as you say, we know that they're going to be in contact with multiple social workers that are going to be critical in terms of their, you know, psychosocial well-being and their experience in hospital and out of the hospital as well. And can we look at that whole picture of the person. So yeah, I think I took great responsibility almost in making sure that people, you know, had a good experience and felt supported and heard and had at least an opportunity to access the social worker and now resources and skills if they needed that at that point in time. I think also the first few months while you were there, you would have been sussing out

the rest of the team and figuring out who was who and what the lay of the land was and what you were capable of within that year. Yeah, absolutely. really important, especially if you were in a situation where you were by yourself, there wasn't another social worker around for many, many hours, and you kind of just had to fit in and kind of run. Yeah, definitely. I think that sussing out that culture and where you're going to fit in, you know,

you can have all the skills and knowledge as a social worker in the world, but if you don't and can't kind of navigate a team with lots of competing priorities and opinions, I think, you know, you're kind of a shot duck, to be honest, in a health system. It's, I think I just really observed, you know, what everyone's roles were and their personalities and, you know, found a little a niche where I could fit in with that and do my best work as a social worker and advocate for the clients, but also I guess, you know, it's that communication stuff, learning to agree to disagree on things and know where you need to push or where you need to step back and yeah I think that first six months was critical in terms of observing those things and finding

my niche in terms of where I was going to fit in that bigger multidisciplinary team so yeah and what sort of support did you need working after hours in such a busy emergency department it's a good question it would have been I guess I think I was lucky that the manager of the social work department was quite okay in the beginning, like, you know, knowing that I was new and if I had questions specifically that I could call her, you know, really day or night, which I did on occasion, and there were things that cropped up where I didn't, I didn't really know, you know, what to do or just needed some clarification. And I think mostly, funnily enough, the times where you, you know, sit with the seeds of doubt are more, I think in most of the situations where I called for help, it was just,

I just needed reassurance that I was doing the right thing, because it was, you know, you know, you know, pretty full on, 50% of my shifts were evening shifts. So that meant working till 1030 every second weekend and half of the work week. But I think, you know, once my confidence built and my knowledge of the systems and referral pathways built, and also my trust of the team that I was working with, the multidisciplinary team and also their trust of me, I relied on them, like they were my support network in terms of, you know, putting together our, plans, crisis interventions for patients. But the after hours managers actually were an amazing source of support too. We really had to work as a team for some really challenging situations and

multiple of them at one time. So a lot of communication with them and just relying on that support of the team around me to be able to get through it and to do that work. Yeah. Because sometimes it's not necessarily intuitive. There are a lot of policies around sudden death and funerals and that sort of thing that you don't really think about until you're in that scenario and you just need to know because it's a policy. It's a legislative thing. Yeah, exactly. I think, you know, and the team looked to you to know a lot of that stuff. So there was certainly, you know, a lot of reading, you know, policy and death and dying and organ donation and knowing your stuff, really.

around that and I guess clarifying because it does have legal implications. Even the coroner's stuff with a sudden death, you know, you want to be making sure that when you're dealing with the police, you've got, you know, all your boxes ticked and you're doing the best by the patient and the family as well and supporting and protecting them in that system again. But yeah, so I think it just, it's like anything, it just took time to, and I think even, you know, after four or five years, I'd still have my little go-to checklist if I needed to double-check anything or it was a particularly complicated case. You just, you know, refer to your little secret squirrel book. Yeah. Did your role change at all in those years that you were there?

I think fundamentally it was the same. However, like at its core, in terms of the social work skills, that were required, but certainly what the role looked like when I started changed quite significantly in that the hospital went through a lot of change and organisational change and restructure and things like that. So staffing was changed and that extended hours role became reduced. So we used to cover from seven, eight o'clock in the morning to 10.30 at night, seven days a week and the on-call service would kick in for that gap throughout the evening. And we didn't rely on it so much because a lot of, I mean, we didn't get called in a lot at that point because a lot of, you know, having someone there already to deal with a trauma that's come in at eight that can go for hours. You kind of, the

interventions occurred and it would just be handed over to the next day. But yeah, the work definitely, I think we had less, essentially it was working longer hours, expectations around the same, you know, level and volume of work, but with probably less staffing capacity. Yeah, and also there was a role that we had, that, you know, ran alongside the AD social work role, which was post-mortem coordination, which was a role where it's a non-coronial post-mortem, which generally applies to people that have died normally where they've had some sort of transplant, because it was a big transplanting hospital. And often the medical teams, you know, want to do a non-coronial postmodern to look, I guess, to the future for technology and research and how those different transplanted organs or devices that were used to prolong that person's life could be used to their most benefit in the future in terms of medical advancement.

And often families would want to know too. It was more often than on, I would say, 95% of the time the families were consenting of that because, you know, it's a long, long journey. being a family member of a transplant patient. So you want to know that you're doing everything you can, I think, to pay it forward and create a good outcome, perhaps for another person, another family. I guess the social work role in that was to facilitate the signing of that paperwork by the family

and the facilitation of the conversations between the doctors and the families, which was quite challenging on top of, you know, the normal ED, domestic violence, stabbing, cardiac arrest, homelessness, mental illness, you know, the list goes on. So you're just constantly retriaging throughout the day, depending on the referrals that came in.

So we eventually changed that role with the post-mortem coordination, and it sat with the medical teams. So we, I think maybe a couple of years into the job, a few things changed, and we transferred that component of the work to the doctors, which was a relief, I think, overall. Were you still involved in any of those conversations, though? Occasionally, yeah, I think more so they were looking at the team social worker, which I think was, you know, in terms of continuity for the family, a much better option.

The social worker that they'd had a long-term relationship with, that they'd been through, you know, the throes of the transplant and illness and lots of different things that had a really good rapport with that social worker, and often they would then support that conversation. It was just, I guess, in the absence of them being around. We would definitely step in being that more extended hours team and sometimes being there, you know, obviously we covered weekends. So we would step into those conversations. But I think it sat better, you know, being with the person and the staff member that

had that relationship with them longer term. It's interesting what you say about triaging, because I know the emergency department could be quite a transient space. So you really would have had to figure out what your priorities were and, you know, who's likely to leave before you get a I think that's true. I think I used to kind of describe it as sitting a sieve on the top of your head and throwing all the referrals in and shaking it and really drilling down to who, like, who needs to be seen right now. And I guess my kind of matrix for working things out was always based on safety and risk. First and foremost, I think, child protection, DV, you know, sudden death or violent death issues always were up there too.

And just, I guess, really, again, like relying on the relationships of the team, being a really good communicator and being able to, you know, let your different medical teams and nursing cohorts know, like, where you are, what you're doing. You're kind of doing things on the fly, trying to be everywhere at once. But, yeah, the triaging, like, although it's really, it could be really difficult and challenging, I think as a social worker, we want to do everything for everyone, you know, all things to all people, if you can, but that's not practical in a crisis setting

and really looking at quickly assessing individual cases and looking at where you can spread your skills and knowledge and hold the families and the clients that need it the most at that time was part of the challenge and the skill set of the job, I guess. And given that you would have carried one, sometimes two pages at all time, how did you kind of break up your workday and make it possible to get a break in between all that? Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that my self-care practices at work in that respect were pretty crappy from the beginning. I think as you become more

experienced and move through your career, you move away from that expectation, that pressure of being new and wanting to please everyone and get everything. done and you, I think, learn better boundaries around the importance of having an actual lunch break and leaving the emergency department or the work setting, whether it's having a walk around the block or going for a quick coffee. I think there's this churn that happens sometimes in hospital work particularly where it's, you know, but I can't, I can't do it. I've got to get it done, got to get it done. There's always more, I can't wait until the next day kind of work. And I guess there is an element of that. It is difficult with crisis work. It's

You know, it is a case where you can't really walk out of a family meeting, you know, when they're being told that it's an end of life situation. You've got to, you know, you have to kind of flex around the work in some ways. But I think, you know, I know I ate a lot of lunch, a lot of lunches in the ED. But as time went on, I think, and I know now, even in my current job, which is another crisis job, I'm a lot better at putting boundaries on that work day. and I bring my breakfast and lunch to work and enjoy stepping out, even if it's for 15 or 20 minutes to just sit outside or have a stretch, whatever it may be. But I know certainly in that job,

I can't say that I was great at lunch breaks. And I think often it was, you know, seniors and supervisors, it would be like, have you had a break? Have you eat lunch? Or I'd be eating it at 3 o'clock at the afternoon. So don't do that, kids at home. Because it's a terrible habit. And you might think that it's easy to break,

but once you start those bad habits. You're setting expectations. Exactly. And I think, you know, yeah, you go, you know, it's just once. It's just, you know, it was just Monday. It was just Tuesday. But suddenly it becomes every day and you're doing, you know, you're getting paid for, you know, like whatever.

amount of hours you're working, but actually, you know, you're doing additional hours to that because you're not having a break. And you need it to just recalibrate and particularly slap myself on the wrist in crisis work where you are dealing with such, you know, high acuity, emotional work. You need it to just keep yourself same, really, keep yourself healthy. And in public health settings, there's also, I think, a real need to demonstrate what the demand is. And I know there's an impact on funding, but just being able to show sometimes we don't have enough resources. And if we're stretching ourselves too much, we're not indicating that at all. We're showing that we're managing even if we're stretched.

Exactly. And I think it just comes with the territory of social work where dynamic, adaptable, flexible, creative problem solvers. And we do want the best for our clients. And when there's staffing issues and funding gaps and resourcing issues, I think we're the best at, you know, we cover the gap. We stretch ourselves that little bit further. We find that little extra mile that we can go. And I think on one hand, it's testament to the flexibility

and the dynamic nature of the profession and the people that do the work. But also it's a double-edged sword because it leads to burn out, you know, some very unhealthy work habits. And, you know, it's not sustainable. Mm-hmm. And after working at the hospital, you had quite a substantial change, environmental and workwise. Yeah. Yeah. What are you doing at the moment? Yeah. So I decided it was time to wrap that roll up for multiple reasons.

I think that I had probably gone as far as I could go in that position. It was a one-two role. And I definitely felt like I'd done a bit of QI and I was doing a lot of education in the hospital setting, particularly around crisis intervention. and domestic violence and sat on a few different committees. And I really had started to develop, you know, I guess a subset of specialist knowledge in domestic violence and violence, abuse, neglect, child protection stuff as well, which I was very interested in. And, yeah, I think it was just time for me to look for a level three job

and push myself professionally that little bit further. And also I was living in Sydney and a lot of my family live up on the mid-north and far north coast. of New South Wales and I missed them desperately. So it was time for a bit of a, you know, a sea change and a change of pace. So I moved up the coast and without a job at the time. I just decided to have a little bit of time off to decompress from that work and I booked a trip to Mexico and did a few fun, fabulous things. I worked in a bar for a little while, which was fun. And I think I just needed to take care of myself for a little while. I think I'll be the first one to

would meet that I was definitely burnt out. And I needed a rest. And also I needed time to move and go on my fabulous holiday. And yeah, I just really wanted to take my time. And I guess I was fortunate that I was able to work, you know, a completely different profession, just for a couple of months to keep the financial wheels ticking over to just suss out what was around in this area and what other opportunities were available. And as it happened, I saw a job advertised for a New South Wales health job working for a sexual assault service. And I thought, I think I can do that. And it was a level three job. So I actually applied for it. And in true unorthodox style, I actually was on my holiday in Mexico when I got the correspondence via email saying that they would like to offer me

an interview. So I did that on an island off the east coast of Mexico on a dodgy Skype connection. And I think I had my phone propped up on a bag that was on. on top of an upturned bin that was sitting on a hotel room desk with some really, so classy. Yeah, classy Studio 54 wallpaper happening in the background. But, yeah, like, I just felt it was, again, like, I felt really fortunate that from the outset, even just the email correspondence that I'd had with the manager there, I just knew, I think, I had a really good feeling and really good, honest communication.

and I thought, you know what, even if this interview doesn't work out, I think there's a future for me in this service somewhere, whether it be this job or another. And I think from previous experience as well, you just never know with an interview. You can think you've nailed it or that you're a shoe in and I think that is the biggest mistake that you can make. I think I just kind of approach everything,

always prepare and study for an interview, study the organisation, contact the contact person for the job. They're just key things because you start building a professional relationship with whoever is advertising the job from the moment you do those things and it gives you an edge, I think.

But you just never know how the cookie is going to crumble. So I just, yeah, did my prep in my little hotel room, had my little notebook. And, yeah, I was, you know, just pretty relaxed because I was on holidays. Also, I really wanted the job. So, yeah, I was lucky that it went well, and they offered me the job a couple of days later. So celebrated with a margarita in Mexico.

I got that job. So I had a little bit of time when I got back from the holiday to just sort out my affairs. And, yeah, I started that job. And I guess, again, luckily for me, because there's different facets of a sexual assault service. core component of it is counselling, like midterm counselling, a lot of court support and things like that, supporting forensic medicals. But my particular role was doing the intake, which is the crisis component of it. So it's all the triage assessment, day-to-day inquiries that come through in very, very high volume at this particular service across two different districts for health.

So again, it was just to level up in terms of my triaging and, I guess, time managing. skills, but it's just, it's been an amazing opportunity. I've done, I've kind of just rounded out the second QI project that I've worked on since I've been there. Again, the organisation is going through a bit of change at the moment. So that seems to be my MO at different workplaces, I think, coming to them when they're going through change. But yeah, it's been really, really great supportive team. And yeah, I've really enjoyed the work. I've learned a lot about the legal system and different aspects of trauma counselling that I yeah I'm really enjoying so I've just wrapped up for a little while to go on some maternity leave but yeah I'm really enjoying it and I think

starting out in that crisis field and then you know finding that I was really interested in working with violence abuse and neglect more specifically perhaps in a I really got a lot from the education work that I did in that, working with doctors and nurses and, you know, multidisciplinary teams around our responses to van or violence abuse and neglect in health and in hospitals. I'm really passionate about that work. So coming into a van service was a really great fit for me. And there's different opportunities professionally there that I think I'm lucky to be able to explore,

I guess, as things come up. And yeah, it's been a great learning for me. And I feel very content, I think, in that particular space. Obviously, it may ebb and change as it always does. But I think it's a good spot for me at the moment. And what would a normal day look like for you? So it's a bit of the sublime to the ridiculous, really. So.

I feel like you wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah, exactly. Are they predictable? Never. a typical day can be difficult to describe because it's always different, un predictable, but I guess that's one of the things that draws me to the crisis work. It's like, you know, you wake up and have a cup of coffee, get ready for work. You've got this grand plan about how your day you was going to go,

going to get these notes done and call that person back and yada yada. And then it's just like bang. Oftentimes on the way to work, I'd get a phone call saying, could you just actually meet me at this? Because we cover two different hospital sites where we would do forensic medical examinations with our doctors. So I'd be not even getting to the physical building of my work. I'd be going straight to a hospital some mornings and just taking over from the on-call

worker to provide support, psychosocial support and assessment to the victim. So that, you know, haven't even got to work really of what I'd expected to happen that day, but I guess, you know, a mixed bag of a day could be phone call consultation from maybe an NGO, maybe a 14-year-olds disclosed to a staff member at a mental health service that they were sexually assaulted by a family member and support to that service around how to do the child protection response and then our crisis response. Within that, might get two referrals from different police districts, wanting us to make contact with perhaps a historical sexual assault or an adult abuse as a child

and offer them an assessment and an intake appointment around their options, depending on what they'd like to do. I might have an intake appointment already booked for that day, which is really an appointment to do a further psychosocial assessment and offer options and pathways because with sexual assault. I guess there's different avenues and different referral pathways and everyone's individual and different. So depending on time and the nature of the assault

and when it occurred and where it occurred, it opens up different pathways. So having a knowledge base around all of those things, I guess, as part of my day-to-day work. Triaging a lot of psychoeducation around the legal system and responses to trauma and understanding symptomology of trauma was a big part of it. Notes, case management, crisis calls, you know,

parent calling. with a five-year-old that's made a first disclosure and just supporting them and, you know, helping them navigate the next steps in terms of helpline police reporting and whether the matter ends up going to the Joint Child Protection Response Program that we work very closely with in terms of their investigation, the police and legal side of things and our health colleagues in that service. It's, yeah, it could sometimes literally be all of those things in one day and then also do your mandatory of training and do a little bit on your QR project and go to a meeting or whatever it may be. Yeah, so it was a community health service, I guess, as well.

So there's an element of travel. So I'd be travelling out to different areas to do the assessments, particularly with vulnerable clients that don't have transport or it's not possible for them to come into the major centre where our work is, the physical building itself. So it's a real mixed back. Yeah. It sounds like then you've kind of taken one aspect of your previous role and really just honed in on it,

focused on taking someone through the complete process, not just the emergency response of the sexual assault or the domestic violence. Yeah. Being able to take them through completely from A to Z and then maybe back to A again because you have a lot of people that would come through that would be a repeat, I imagine. Yes, yes, definitely. And I think so my role specifically was to, I guess, assess triage. And I developed some more streamlined systems around holding a waiting list and an intake list.

And then we have a weekly meeting where clients that kind of fit particular criteria are then allocated to one of six counsellors that we have. And some people, you know, don't like some clients don't want that long. return counselling. It is just about containing the crisis and supporting the crisis. So I generally would do a lot of that during the daytime hours and often be receiving a handover from the on-call worker. And, you know, there's, I guess there's a hidden case management role for those cases that don't get allocated for the intake, which is very high acuity. It's a very high referral volume that we have in the service. So yeah, we kind of juggle some that would maintain, you know, case management on intake for a little bit until they could be referred to a longer term service.

And then, yeah, we'd allocate, I guess we're looking at prioritising recent assault, new disclosures from children, and we're looking at that relying and looking at the psychosocial assessment of need, what other services are already involved, what the young person or the the client wants and needs what's going to be a good fit for them. So yeah, it's, you know, a lot of communication with the team and allocation each week. Yeah, it's definitely, like I said, the sublime to the ridiculous. Yeah, but very interesting and rewarding work. Are you needing to do much after hours work or are you usually deferring to the on-call workers? Yeah, so generally, I don't know what it is. Is this,

The window for the afternoon crisis referral for some reason always seems to be between 1.30 and 3pm. And the reality is by the time, I've received that referral. I've done a psychosocial assessment and some crisis intervention over the phone and liaised between hospital, police, client, support person, helpline. I guess really, it takes hours. And depending on the circumstance, but most commonly, I'd be referring and setting up the forensic medical examination with the on-call worker and the doctor available on-call to come in and do that component of the work and continue that crisis response. So I was on the encore roster as well.

I guess I probably did the least amount of on-call actually that I have done to date, I think probably because I was working full-time and doing the crisis all through the day. so I was doing about one to two a month. But yeah, I guess a lot of it was during business hours and I'd be referring to on call or sometimes staying back if I'd started the crisis response and I'd been the one to go to the hospital and start facilitating the support for the client while they were having the medical examination

for continuity sometimes it was better to stay on. And I guess, again, having a really great manager that really understands the ins and outs of the work, time in lieu and all those things. Sometimes you've just got to be a little bit flexible around the work day to support the clients the best. And how has your work needed to change or adapt with the COVID-19 response? So I think like most government and essential services, you know, it's really taken a village. And I guess I was on the cusp of heading out on maternity leave when it really ramped up.

But I guess a big component of our work is counselling. and that therapeutic intervention. And as a social worker, we know that that rapport and that nonverbal communication that you get is as important, if not more important, sometimes, than the actual dialogue. Just being able to mirror that nonverbal and help someone regulate and be calm

if they're particularly having symptoms of some sort of traumatic response in a session. So like we've had to think very creatively around our service delivery, but I think the councillors are doing a phenomenal job. So a lot of telehealth being set up and different platforms, different technology platforms, to be able to still be available and support and deliver those counselling services where possible. Obviously, I think as a lot of services, screening of clients, just to make sure, obviously, that

we're keeping our health workers safe and the community safe as well in terms of any symptoms, if they were having any symptoms of the disease, screening our clients, and really looking at changing or being flexible with our forensic medical response. I know that the managers at the hospital at our service were in daily meetings with community health manager and the executives at the hospital, along with police and ambulance, talking about, you know, continual conversations about providing frontline crisis responses. and adapting how we were doing things to make sure that it was done safely, but also being able to deliver a service to the clients where they needed it

in those really high vulnerability situations. And given that there's so much counselling as part of your role, where do you see it as differing from, say, a psychological support or service? How is it a social work service? I think one of the fundamental, differences. This is just my personal take and it's interesting that you ask the question because I actually had a young client asked me recently. I think she's about 18 and she said, oh, so what's a difference between a social worker and a psychologist because she was wanting some counselling around

a previous sexual assault? I guess she, like I view social work as possibly more practical in terms of its theoretical approaches. A lot of the underpinnings theoretically are the same. You know, we study similar subjects, but it's a less, I think it allows it to be more dynamic and flexible in terms of taking different parts of theoretical approaches to trauma and whatever area of work that you're working in and adapting it to really suit the client's needs and to give them the maximum benefit without putting them into one box. and that's I think what makes our service very unique is that the councillors are just amazing.

They've all trained in myriad different types of counselling practice on top of their social work degrees. So they've all got that fundamental social work practice that I guess is a uniformity to it. But then we have people that specialize in different types of counselling EMDR and different types of interactive drawing and creative therapies, expressive art therapy. CBT, DBT, lots of different types of practice. So it creates a really diverse team. So, and I think in a psychological service, perhaps, there's a less practical approach. It's just that, it's that behaviour change stuff. But I think probably that, and I guess the practitioners perhaps don't have the same flexibility as social work perhaps to give that broader case management. It sounds like there are so many ways that you could answer this question, but what do you love most about

your job. It's a good question. I think I love the diversity. I think it's just such a privilege to be exposed to the human condition in, you know, such vulnerable settings and to be able to offer someone, something to hopefully create a difference on the worst day, you know, is such a special thing to be able to do. And I think, just being able to work with such diverse and amazing people is probably the part of it I love the most and that it's different every day. Yeah, I think that's probably the part of it I love the most. I think the second part of it, just the opportunity to work in a team that's so diverse, both at this job and my previous one. I just, I love teamwork in terms of that crisis setting. I think it's just, I don't know, it's kind of an electric vibe.

And you just see people that do the most amazing things. And as humans, I think both working with vulnerability and being vulnerable in the work sometimes as well. It's a pretty amazing thing to be a part of. So I really do feel it's a privilege to do that type of work. And on the other side of the coin, what do you find most challenging? I think that I'd probably say, say, you know, resourcing referral volume and the high acuity burnout is, you know, it's the, again, the double-edged sword to the crisis work. You really have to be so careful about how

you manage that kind of stuff. I think it's the challenges, things that keep you up at night. It's when you're working with such high vulnerability and safety and risk issues, particularly with, although I'm working at a sexual assault service, we, I mean, most of what I do is child protection. Domestic violence is a huge component of the work as well. It's that kind of trio of risk and, you know, constant hypervigilance making sure that you've, you know, left no stone unturned and trying to make sure that, you know, you've covered those safety and risk issues, I think, can really lead to a saturation point, particularly with sexual assault, you know, it is, I guess, the type of work doing it day in, day out. You definitely can get to a saturation point.

with the referrals and yeah it can be challenging just trying to time manage such risky referrals and such like there's such complexity all day can be challenging also very rewarding though so yeah for sure how do they determine the resources then is there some sort of benchmark to say either qualitatively or quantitatively you're at your limit and they need to get some more resources in yeah yeah it's a really good question i think specifically for this service, you know, and I know that a lot of health services are moving towards activity-based funding. So they're looking at the amount of activity to then distribute and allocate staffing, resources and money, I guess is what it comes down to. You know, you need the

money to pay the staff. At the right level as well, it's complex work and there needs to be a diverse range of skills and knowledge opportunities for people starting out their careers. And also, So we want to retain and attract people that are very experienced and knowledgeable in those areas. So, yeah, it's like it's a good question. I think in terms of, as I said, in terms of our service, I think at the moment we're still getting, I guess, a chunk of money. And then it's up to the managers to allocate that, you know, where it's needed. But ultimately, I think there's been a consciousness raising, particularly in our culture in Australia. and I go globally as well around violence, abuse and neglect,

particularly so that, you know, services and clients that are experiencing difficulty are accessing services, I think, more readily. And really the goal is to have a service where there's no wrong door, I think, is the mantra around it. So people can access those services. It doesn't matter where they go. They'll be streamed into the right place. But with that means we will have an increased referral.

volume. We probably will need more resources and, you know, it's, I think it's a constant challenge to the health system, how we redistribute and allocate those resources. I guess it's, I'll leave it in the hands of the powers of be. Yeah, to do that. But it doesn't, you know, I think it's, everywhere could do with a couple more staff if you ask anyone. But I think, you know, we just have to work with what we've got and look at doing some of the QI projects, capturing statistics and data to really show and showcase the work that we're doing and the benefit, really, I think, at the end of the day, that being able to have cold hard evidence and empirical data to advocate for more resources, more funding is ultimately what gets you the more funding.

So people have got to be willing to put their hands up to do that extra work, which is challenging too. And to be supported by their managers and their team leaders to take time off to do that. Yeah, absolutely. I would assume that a large proportion of your clients would be female, given the nature of the work. But I'm wondering what sort of referrals you get for people of different genders or non-binary, for instance, and how that might change your response? Interestingly, I think with the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse, we had quite a high referral volume of older men coming through the service, like I guess for the time that I've been there. And essentially, you know, the response is the same in terms of their psychosocial

assessment, the referral pathways and the counselling and trauma-informed work that we do. So, and I guess with children, there's a, certainly the predominant. cohort is women across the lifespan that experience sexual assault and sexual abuse, but, you know, we work with children of different genders. And actually, you know, I guess I have a number of transgender clients that interact with the service as well as social workers and as a service. We, you know, have a big commitment to ensuring that we're culturally sensitive and providing services in various, you know, non-binary gender cohorts.

So I think we're lucky where I am that we have access to appropriate referral pathways to support those clients. But ultimately, we want to be providing that same really comprehensive psychosocial assessment to any client that accesses the service. But, yeah, like I think ultimately it's the same, but also with that awareness of where that person's come from and different experiences and challenges that they may have come up again. in different service settings, whether it be health or otherwise. And how do you decompress at the end of a long day or long week? What kind of support do you need, especially when you're juggling a lot of responsibility, both in work and outside with your family?

I think there's the expectations and reality of what we should and should and shouldn't and are and aren't doing in the profession, I guess in the professional space accessing supervision regularly, bringing ethical dilemmas and different challenges in the work and unpacking those in a workspace in a healthy and confidential environment is important. But the reality is that most, if not all social workers are aware of. It's sometimes not practical to stick to your supervision plan when you're working in a really high acuity workplace with competing demands. However, as I said in the beginning, don't. start those bad habits early really prioritise it because it is a really invaluable space to be

able to decompress but I think for me and certainly I utilize those avenues and those channels in the professional environment but yeah for me in the personal space I really utilize exercise and being outside in nature and getting to the beach is a big outlet for me I love going for a salty swim early in the morning it helps clear in my head and just getting the endorphins pumping a bit of a brisk walk or some, you know, more formal exercise training or whatever it may be. I found those are just really integral parts of my self-care and being around supportive family and I'm just, I feel really, really lucky that I have that avenue where I am at the moment, supportive partner and we live in a beautiful

part of the world so I can, you know, I've got the ocean on one side and the hills and the other so I can utilize those things that I think help shake it off and get your center back, find your balance. But yeah, it's a constant. It's not something that you can just say, oh, yeah, that's what I do. I think it's something that takes continual work and effort. It's fluid and ongoing and I guess it changes as well. I've actually just started painting, doing some water colour painting again as another little side project, which is quite cathartic. Yeah, just, I don't know, everyone has their thing, I guess. But yeah, for me, it's definitely being outside the beach and swimming and laughing and cooking, eating good food, looking after

your body and your mind. Sounds great. What would you suggest is a typical career path for someone in this field and are there any other opportunities for advancement? I think because social work roles are so diverse, I think, I mean, for me, I'm a big advocate of hospital work, I think because although I probably describe some of the challenges to the work, it's probably the biggest pool of support and structure that you'll get in terms of working in such an unpredictable space. I am an advocate for crisis jobs, in health or in, you know, government, even non-government agencies, I think the key is having a supportive team or, you know, a team that has structure and process and policy to protect you as a worker.

So I think, you know, typically if you can get into a, you know, maybe a mental health role, they do a lot of crisis through ACS and things like that or, you know, emergency department, I think it's a really good starting point to really have. hone your skills in a supportive way in a team. And then I guess, you know, from that, you get exposed to such a diverse range of referrals as well. And then I know that different friends and colleagues of mine that have started in ED have then gone off into completely different parts of the work, as have I. I mean, I've really honed in on the violence, abuse and neglect components of it. But some people really enjoy working with the grief and loss.

So they've gone into bereavement services and counselling. Others have really enjoyed the homeless health component. So they're working in community homeless health teams. Mental health is a really interesting and diverse part of the work as well and lots of jobs and job pathways in mental health. So I think, yeah, starting with something that gives you a platform to have choice and just to see what it's all about. and then from there I think just naturally we're all ball into different parts of it that are more appealing, I guess, maybe than others,

or you find that you're really, really good at something, or you've got a particular area of interest. So I think from that, I know for me, I think that I am on a bit of a trajectory to do more education roles in terms of that van space. I think that is a good fit for me. I really enjoy working with staff to upskill and look at operationally how we're delivering services and supporting our staff to be able to manage those certain situations and I feel quite committed to that space of work. I want our medical and nursing and allied health teams to feel supported and skilled and upskilled in terms of responding to a disclosure in a session or whatever it may be that we're providing really good interventions across the board when

responding to violence abuse and neglect. So I think that's probably a trajectory that I'm heading towards in the future. Yeah. So you can start broad and then narrow it down as time goes on. You mentioned some changes already in how we use telehealth. Have you seen many other changes in this field over time? I think technology has been a big player even in the last six or seven years. I know that majority of health services now are using electronic medical record and typed notes, whereas previously it was a lot of paper-based notes and handwriting. So that's been revolutionary in terms of accessing and sharing information to be able to, I guess, minimise retramatization of clients, particularly in this type of work.

So we don't have to ask them over and over what happened to you and da-da-da. I think we can read assessment and have that, you know, information at hand. Obviously, there's a whole lot of specifics around confidentiality and with sexual assault. The records are held completely confidentially. They're protected in the medical records, so not everyone can see them. But, yeah, the advancements in technology have been pretty unreal, I think. Not just with the electronic medical notes, but providing services and accessing clients that are in rural areas.

I think that's probably been one of the biggest changes to the work. There's been a real change and highlighting it in the DV space. I think obviously that came with some government changes and recommendations that have gone into place through pilot programs and now more day-to-day, every day in a lot of our responses to domestic violence in the emergency department and in health services. So that's been a big change. We're doing a lot of screening now in the medical record and asking the questions that we need to ask around safety and risk,

which I think is really, really amazing too. Real positive change. Yeah. And what impact do you see social work having in the areas of crisis or sexual assault in the next, say, five, 10 years? I love crisis work because I think it's integral, like that first response in, you know, sexual assault or domestic violence. If we can top load or front load the resourcing the response in terms of safety and psychosocial assessment and support for families and children in those spaces, I think in terms of longer term health outcomes and ACEs longer term, if we can put that early intervention in place, I think it's going to completely change, you know, our welfare and health system and different burden that's there at the moment. The health outcomes for women and children, I think.

could be dramatically different. Obviously, it's a work in progress and, you know, everything's, I guess, an ideal situation and an ideal situation or circumstance. We'd have more money and more resources and more social workers and more crisis housing and things like that. But I think we're definitely moving in the right direction to be able to provide some of those beefed out crisis services, which are hopefully, see in the next five to ten years we'll start, see, with some of those longitudinal studies of families, we'll see increased health outcomes and less, you know, depression, anxiety, death and dying at the hands of violence, abuse and neglect.

So I think we're on the right pathway. And you mentioned when you were just starting out as a social work student, you were really interested in Indigenous youth and community work. Is there any other kind of social work that takes your interest? I think working in Indigenous communities is something that I'll always hope that there's a space for me to, perhaps more so in community in the NT. I'm working in a community at the moment that has a big Aboriginal population. So I feel really privileged to be able to learn from that local knowledge and have that cultural component that I'm always learning

from in my work, but I would love an opportunity to do some more, I guess, active community work up in Darwin or, you know, an Aboriginal service if the opportunity ever presented itself. But I think in terms of other social work, I guess, perhaps mental health in more of a designated service would be interesting, I think, and appealing to me, but probably because, or for some of the same reasons that the crisis work is I would be looking at a crisis job. I just love the diversity of it and I think that really suits me. Yeah, I guess there's just so many, the space is changing and there's so many unknowns. There's so many different professional avenues to go down but I know certainly that if I was to change careers within this social work field,

it would still be something high-pressured or diverse in terms of its presentation and it would definitely be within the crisis space. Is there any other type of social work that doesn't interest you? I think that I probably am not overly enthused at the community work in terms of community planning and things like that probably doesn't. It's not really up my alley. I don't know that I'd go into disability case management either, just because I think just I'm more of a rapid change kind of person.

I think that's where my niche is and that longer term case management work, I guess, doesn't interest me as much. I think working on that coal face is really where I see myself mostly. But yeah, no desk or long-term research jobs for me. I don't think or long-term case management. I think, yeah, I need it fast-paste. and rapidly changing to keep my interest and attention. And yeah, I think that's the work I enjoy doing the most.

And are you able to tell me about the QI projects you're working on? It sounds like there was something to do with responding to disclosure as one of them. Yeah, so the one that I worked on last year with a colleague of mine and alongside the manager of the service was looking at our response to adults abused as children. I guess because there's different priorities within the service and with a high acuity service, I think we were getting a lot of these referrals through, I think, as I said, particularly because people were looking to see what support was available after the Royal Commission and all that was happening.

And really, as crisis service predominantly, with a really high referral volume, really it was limited in what we could offer. Really, it was a psychosocial assessment, supporting people to do police statements if they were wanting to pursue that legal process, but really then looking at referring them on to longer-term counselling services with capacity to do that kind of longer-term counselling.

But it didn't feel like we were perhaps giving the full response that we could have. I think also I said earlier that as a social worker, you want to be giving as much as possible, particularly as someone presenting to a service for the first time, you know, whether it be in crisis or not, you want to be giving a holistic intervention. And they were the seventh priority for our service. So I guess we looked at developing a model of care that was uniform and that gave perhaps a more holistic approach and a more continuity. So we actually hired a one to social worker two days a week

and all the referrals from adult survivors went through to her and she would do the psychosocial assessment. Anything crisis, any acute crisis needs, I would still respond to in her absence and manage the referral and had oversight of all the referrals. But yeah, she was able to offer up to four face-to-face sessions as opposed to really the one that we were able to do before and just do that initial psychosocial assessment of need and psychoeducation around the legal system

and options that were available to that person and just give that additional support and that case management time where it was needed. And it was amazing, I think, for multiple reasons, it allowed it freed up time for the intake worker myself to be able to respond to those higher acuity matters, crisis matters. And also it gave that cohort. a more consistent response and more holistic. And we had really good feedback. We did some pre-and-post surveys, both with our staff and the clients. And overall, I think, you know, not just the feedback was excellent from the clients,

but also when we looked at the numbers, it was a huge amount of work that was being done that had previously just been held by myself alongside all those crisis issues. So it meant that, I guess, from a day-to-day, you know, time management perspective as well, I was able to manage my time a lot better. And we could, yeah, I think overall we just were able to provide a better service to all the clients that were coming to the service. So the project ran for about nine months, I think. And we recently, actually just yesterday, I got some feedback in an email from the QR committee

that overall it was a really successful project. and unfortunately we weren't successful in, we applied for some additional funding that came through from the, as a result of the Royal Commission. We weren't successful in obtaining it, but there's components of our project that we've kind of continued with at work,

and I think the area that was successful in gaining the funding, are developing a model that will be rolled out throughout health to respond to that cohort of clients. So that was really awesome. That's a really great example of how the research you've been doing has a direct impact on potential resource development. Yeah, and the one more recently that I've worked on was with the Senior Health

Clinician over at the Joint Child Protection Response Program. So that's the program that's comprised of DCJ police and health, responding to physical abuse and sexual abuse matters from the JRU. And so what happened was, I guess, the local response for local maths, that weren't needing an acute response. When you make a helpline report in relation to sexual abuse specifically, they get triage down at a round table

of different professionals, health and facts and police, and then they get sent on different pathways of potential pathways for response. And sexual assault were one of those pathways when it didn't go to JCPRP, that Joint Protection Response Program. And so that was another component. of my work would be screening and responding to those referrals and liaising with police and

the families to offer a psychosocial response where needed. And in around September, October last year, the JAU expanded their criteria, which basically bent that some referrals that would have ordinarily gone through to the Joint Child Protection Response Program for initial response were then being filtered out to the local packs, we call them, the police area command, and the SAS, the Sexual Assault Service, along with DCJ, which is the former facts. They've changed their name again. So now we're DCJ, the Department of Communities and Justice. So really what that meant was that we had an increased referral volume and also some challenges around safety and risk in terms of wanting to know whether a family were aware a report had been made and who was making the first contact because facts and.

or DCJ and police are statutory bodies, so they can make that call, whereas health aren't protected in the same way. So what we did was myself and the senior health clinician, we basically developed a workflow pathway for our SAS workers and developed the relationships and the partnerships with the triage workers and the key players at the police in the various local districts to be able to,

respond appropriately to those referrals without starting from scratch because I think in this type of work, it's quite political sometimes when you're working across multiple districts, multiple police stations and different fax officers that are all, you know, under-resourced and overwhelmed with referrals, as we all are. We really needed to establish rapport and network and professional relationships so that there was a clear workflow to be able to look at a referral and say, I'll call this person, this person, this person, cover it off, see what everyone was doing, and then formulate a response, which was challenging in some respects.

But I think we were able to do a really good job of it because of our solid professional relationships with those agencies in different areas. So what we just developed before I went on leave was a workflow, which we sent off to two or three different, local area commands and detective sergeants and triage workers at FACS and the managers there so that they all have the same information as SAS and we have each other's contact numbers and there's a very clear workflow that we're all using uniformly which I think I don't know that any other districts have done the same thing in New South Wales so we were really fortunate that

we're able to pull that together and get that working which ultimately the outcome is that there's a faster, more streamlined response to those referrals, and there's an actual pathway, which there wasn't before. Has it been challenging for you taking extended leave, knowing that you've got both the crisis clinical work that will never stop, and you'll have certain people that you'll probably need to hand over because there'll be people that you're working with longer term, as well as the QI work that you're doing and feeling like you want to hand that over to someone who can really keep it going. Yeah, I think I was really lucky that both QI projects came to a natural resolution just before I went on leave.

I think it would have been tricky for me to have put that effort and time and commitment in and have to hand it over or put it on ice for that time. But fortunately, I was able to wrap those up one at the end of last year and the JAU workflow pathway more recently. So that was fortunate. it. So I had a bit of closure there, but otherwise, I guess in terms of the intake work, it's a changing space and it will look completely different. I was trialled as a single worker that the role used to be handed over to a different clinician every single day. And so my, you know, being in it as a single worker for the 18 months that I have been was the first time that had ever been done. And so I've developed, you know, a number of workflow pathways, different

professional relationships and really took it upon myself to understand the technology in the AMR, which is a new system and look at utilising it as efficiently as possible to make sure that we were not double handling processes because, you know, I guess we're moving towards a technology future in terms of our health services and being able to provide more streamlined and efficient services is, you know, in light of diminished resources always is the challenge to the work. I really just had to, I think, psychologically let go of it'll be what it'll be. And I just did my best to do a comprehensive handover of that list and know that there will be some clients that are still there, still coming through the service, may still be there and engaged when I get

back. And just, I think it's hard. On one hand, I just, you know, you hang on for dear life, to all these processes, but at the end of the day, like, it's a changing space and each clinician's going to put their own, you know, spin on it. And hopefully the common thread is that the clients are getting an efficient and responsive and supportive service. And if we can maintain those fundamentals, I think, hopefully we'll be building, you know, a service that in the future is going to deliver an efficient response to those clients. If people are interested in know, knowing a little bit more about your area of practice, where would you direct them? I know that New South Wales Health have a lot of different policies and procedures and things like

that documentation. I don't know how much of it's accessible, but in general, in terms of trauma and crisis, Bruce Perry is an amazing, you know, trauma worker and Gabon Martel is amazing. is amazing and more specifically in health. There's ECHAV are an amazing organization that I highly would recommend anyone that's looking at moving into the area of violence, abuse and neglect or trauma specifically. A lot of, in fact, all of the health workers that work in the van space do some sort of training through ECHAV and they're based in Sydney. In terms of other avenues, I think,

Even accessing your local clearing warehouses through the universities, there's often some really amazing clinicians, social workers, and otherwise that have been working in the trauma and crisis space for a long time and have moved into research and education roles. And even, you know, if it's possible, contacting the managers at the Violence Abuse and Neglect Service, they're always looking to keen and enthusiastic workers or people that are social workers or people that are looking to move into that space. So depending on their workload and things like that,

I know that they're usually happy if there's time organized to talk through the type of work and opportunities that are coming up in the service. And yeah, I think that they're a good source of information. Local hospital social workers are usually under the pump, but I think mostly will always make time where they can to have a chat about what they do because they're usually really passionate and committed and want to share the work and the amazing stuff that people are doing. I wonder if I can convince you to dig out that story you were talking about

about your emergency social work experience. Yeah, I know. I'll have to have a look for it. I think it's on an old laptop. It's stored away somewhere. I'll see if I can find it. And obviously check if it's something you can share. I don't know what content is.

Yeah, I'll have to have a look at it if I can find it. if I can find it. Watch this space. I'll let you know if I can do it up at some stage. I think social work in this area, especially around domestic violence and sexual assault, is one of the more known areas of social work. I think it probably comes to mind when a lot of people talk about social work.

Are there portrayals in media or like shows or movies that you feel really get it right or really get it wrong and you're just cringing, like yelling at the screen? I think that there's a lot of stereotyping, obviously, that happens in lots of different professions, but I think one space that really they get it wrong a lot is the law and orders and the whatever kind of Americanized portrayal of the child protection system and that social workers are there to snatch the kids away is really inaccurate. I work with two child protection and counsellors at my service were co-located with them.

And they are just the most amazing people, like truly. And the fax workers that I know, they just really, it's about keeping the families together, supporting individuals to make good choices and address their own trauma. And it's so inaccurate, the, you know, the baby snatching. Or the, you know, we're going to, the kids are being pulled out of the house,

screaming kind of scenario is such an extreme example and stereotype that's completely inaccurate. But I think you're probably right in that domestic violence. I think we're seeing more and more the value and the place of social work in terms of that practical and psychosocial support and also the trauma-informed counselling that's being delivered. I think that it's really tricky with the crisis work in the hospital. I think it's the social work is quite hidden. It's difficult to always show.

because you're not doing a medical intervention. It's something so personal. Like you're actually sometimes sitting on the floor with someone that's just been told that their child's committed suicide or whatever it is in these really traumatic scenarios. It is an intimate and a private space. And it's really difficult to explain the tangibility of that intervention that you're doing

in terms of your crisis response. your words, your verbal, non-verbal. So I think it's more tricky to show accurately. Absolutely, it is difficult to measure. I mean, how can you measure other than the time it took you to do it, the difference that the impact you made in that person's life, change it had in their experience of that horrific event in years to come. You're not exactly going to survey them.

More often, if they don't come back, you know that you've probably done something. Exactly, exactly the devil's in the detail. And I think no response sometimes is the best type of response. But yeah, certainly I just think in general child protection gets a bad rap. It really does cop a bad rap and it's not accurate. I don't think at all to the actual really amazing work that's being done with families and young people. I recently went to a farewell of our team leader of the child protection team in the area where I work. and she'd been doing the work for, you know, 30 years.

And she just told a couple of stories that were just unbelievable, just phenomenal work across different cultures. She talked about working with a Chinese family with seven children that had fled, you know, some unrest in a province where they were living and they'd come to Australia. And she just did this incredible long-term counseling and casework and advocacy with this family. and that's the real, that's the accurate picture, I think, about the work.

It's, yeah, it's very different to how it's portrayed in the media. Yeah, it's what you don't see. Yeah, exactly. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with social workers or potential social workers out there about your experience? I think all I'd say is from a practical piece of wisdom about applying for jobs and, you know, having a set idea about which pathway you think you'll go down.

I think one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given in terms of applying for jobs and interviews and things like that. And I think I touched on it a bit earlier was that really the interview starts before you even get anywhere near the actual panel that you're going before. It's contacting the contact person. It's understanding and researching the organisation. And just, you know, being yourself and being honest, but also, yeah, just doing those extra things. Re-reading your application and looking for spelling mistakes and have I really answered

the question and using real-life examples or transferable skills just because you haven't worked in that particular area doesn't mean you don't have the skills. You know, you can learn, like a lot of things you learn on the job, but if you can't kind of speak to that transferable skill set, you know, that's the biggest weapon I think of the social work toolbox is, you know, it being adapted. and flexible. So I think if you can do those things in your application and be open, when you actually start a job, open to different avenues and possibilities, I think you'll really be surprised at where things can take you because I think, as I said, I never expected in my wildest dreams that I would be loving and doing crisis work. I told you to rack off when I was a student.

I did not at all think it was where I would end up. And it was because of, I trusted the supervisors I had on my placements. And I guess I just trusted my gut as well to allow myself to have a go and then see what it was like. And it's been really amazing and life-changing and rewarding. So you're just got to go with that sometimes. Yeah. I also think it's really important in an interview setting to not be shy or modest because no one else is holding back. And you're really there to promote your work and your experience and why you're passionate about.

working for that organisation. So don't be afraid to demonstrate that you've done your research and that you can see the application of your skills to that setting. Yeah, absolutely. But I know that's hard as a younger social worker, especially for you, it would have been nerve-wracking, just starting and thinking, I know what I'm doing and I know the value of social work in this setting, but what do I have to offer ahead of someone else who might have more experience?

Exactly. And I think being a keen learner and, you know, being modest in your, you know, the way that you are measured in your responses and your openness to learning and also not like being confident in the skills you do have, but also being open to all the learnings that are to come. I think employers want to know that they've got people that are motivated to learn and to continue learning because the profession is not. static, you know, so many different parts of it are always changing and being open to furthering yourself professionally and continuing to adapt and build on your skills and knowledge will be forever. So I think being open to those things and willing is really important. I might also put some links like a glossary at the end because there are so many acronyms. I've got E-Hav, A-C-S, C-J-J-R-U, S-A-S-A-S-A. P-A-C, I might just put a little bit of a blurb at the end of the show notes,

so people can go away and look those up and get a sense of how they fit into the context. Yeah, I can send through some links to some of my personal favourites in terms of professional learning around the area of trauma, the Gabour-Martel-Austral and Childhood Conference. And Bruce Perry, you mentioned. Yeah, Bruce Perry and some others that I kind of really resonate. with in some of my practice, even some of the crisis models that I kind of use as a go to as well. I can send you through some of those if people are interested.

Yeah, that'd be amazing. That's kind of here. Thank you so much for coming on board and for sharing your experience. It's such an inspiration to especially younger social workers who are starting out and feeling as though, you know, they've got all this passion and really want to be able to use their knowledge that they've picked up at university or in placements, but they just really don't know where to start, and it's okay not to know where you're heading right away.

Yeah, absolutely. You've just got to trust in the process sometimes, which is scary, but it also, I think, brings the best reward as well at the end of it. So, and it's an amazing career. Like I said, I feel like I was so lucky that I didn't become a teacher. No disrespect to teaching, but I just think for me it was just, Yeah, I was just dumb luck. And I feel really fortunate that I found something that I'm so passionate about.

I think you're going to be able to apply your passion for education to your social work practice anyway. Exactly. I've kind of got the best of both worlds. So again, really lucky. Yeah. Thanks for joining me this week. If you would like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Sophie, please visit my anchor page at anchor. 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 guest is Astrid. Astrid has more than 31 years of experience, predominantly working for the Commonwealth Department of Human Services, having worked in 18th

Centrelink offices, both in Victoria and New South Wales, mostly supporting customers face-to-face and more recently within a call centre environment. Astrid has also performed other roles within Centrelink, such as job capacity assessor and an eight-month stint as a case manager in the aftermath of the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfire disaster. She has also worked for Mission Australia and an employment services provider doing job capacity assessment and vocational rehabilitation respectively. I release a new episode every two weeks. Please subscribe to my podcast so you're notified when this next episode is available.

See you next time.