Social Work Spotlight - Episode 80: Erin

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

In this episode I speak with Erin, a senior social worker with over 20 years of experience working in mental health and rehabilitation services in Sydney, Brisbane and London. After spending the first 15 years of her career working in the field of child and adolescent mental health and paediatric rehab, Erin began working in adult neurological rehabilitation. She has recently commenced an exciting new role at Care Rehab, a service which provides specialist social work and psychosexual therapy services.Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:LifeWorks at Royal Rehab - https://royalrehablifeworks.com.au/Strength2Strength program at Royal Rehab - https://royalrehab.com.au/event/strength2strength-program-for-brain-injury-3/Mental Health Academy’s Disaster Mental Health Counselling course - https://www.mentalhealthacademy.com.au/credential/dmhc/enrolThe Gottman Institute’s The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work - https://www.gottman.com/product/the-seven-principles-for-making-marriage-work/ACI Spinal Cord Injury Emotional Wellbeing Toolkit elearning Course - https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/resources/spinal-cord-injury/learning-resources/emotional-wellbeing-elearningSynapse, Australia’s Brain Injury Organisation - https://synapse.org.au/HEEADSSS psychosocial interview format - https://www.medicalhomeportal.org/link/6632#:~:text=HEADSSS%20is%20a%20screening%20tool,most%20personal%20and%20sensitive%20subjectsCare Rehab - https://carerehab.com.au/Erin’s journal article, published in partnership with colleagues at Royal Rehab (Uncovering the nature of cross-disciplinary inpatient rehabilitation care co-ordination) - https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.509587463376829This episode's transcript can be viewed here:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wAi90lI5D0YZ8_ppIcVHL3tJshg4_kn9MaDYIgLZsdQ/edit?usp=sharingThanks to Kevin Macleod of incompetech.com for our theme music.

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

I'm your host, Jasmine McKay Wright, and today's guest is Erin, a senior social worker with over 20 years of experience working in mental health and rehabilitation services in Sydney, Brisbane and London. After spending the first 15 years of her career working in the field of child and adolescent mental health and pediatric rehab, Erin began working in adult neurological rehabilitation. She has recently commenced an exciting new role at care rehab, a service which provides specialist social work and psychosexual therapy services. Thank you, Erin, for joining me this morning on the podcast. Very excited to have a chat with you about your experience so far. Yeah, thank you for having me. I'd love to know when you first started as a social worker and what brought you to the profession.

Yeah, so I graduated early 2000. And yeah, I guess that I always knew from an early age that I didn't want to work in an office, that I just wanted to be out and working with people, and the office just wasn't for me. So I grew up with a passion for music and theatre, and my mum, as a careers advisor, was like, you need a backup plan for that. And so I come from a family of teachers, my mum, my dad, my now sister. And I think that people are often drawn to the school hours and school holidays. And I saw firsthand that, you know, there was a heap of extra work that went along with that,

outside of school hours. And I knew that that kind of wasn't for me, even though I had complete admiration and respect for the work that my parents and my sister now does. I just wasn't interested in it. So I knew that I really wanted to work with young people. So I was looking at youth work. However, again, my mum suggested that social work would be a way of working with young people, but also giving me the future options to work in other areas of the field.

And I guess this was some of the best advice that I was ever given because it's exactly what I've done in my career. I started out as an adolescent counsellor and now I work with people of all age. groups. I guess social work was for me because I'm passionate about social justice and human rights and empowering people and so it suited me perfectly. So yeah, that's how I ended up where I am today. Wonderful. And what kind of music do you play? Is that sort of a bit of an outlet for you as well now? Yeah, look, it has always been a bit of an outlet of singing was my thing ever since I was young so I always enjoyed seeing it's great stress relief but you know the commitment of all of the

music side of things or study and part-time work and all of that I went down the study and part-time work side of things and used singing it's just a bit of a hobby and something I enjoy doing so now yeah just just for fun lovely and was there a moment maybe as you're doing your placements that you'd really solidified. This is the area that you really needed to be in, like you've chosen the right direction. Gosh, I think it was as soon as I started the study and the work and looking at what social work is. When I was choosing which degree I wanted to do where I wanted to do it, I went down the path of UNSW because it had started with the social work study straight away as opposed to some other universities that sort of did Bachelor of Arts with some social work

subjects thrown in, UNSW went straight in with the social work and so day dot, I guess. And then the other reason I loved the social work at UNSW was because you could do placements in second year, third year, fourth year. I think that's become increasingly hard for the unies to organise these days. I don't know if they still do it. But to be able to do a placement when I was in my second year, again, getting that practical side of things that really drew me in as well. So I've just always been, ever since I started the study and the placement, I've always just loved it.

Perfect. And then what was your first rollout? How did that develop? So I guess my first rollout was working as an intake counsellor. It was a locum position. And I've often used locum positions when I didn't really know where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do so that I wasn't accepting a permanent position. It's locum sort of gives you time to get a feel for different areas. So I think my first one was maybe a six-month locum at Liverpool Community Health Centre, and that wasn't working with young people. And I knew that I wanted to work with young people. So I was buying time, I guess, until the perfect job came up,

which was pretty fast after that in my first year out as an adolescent counsellor at Hills Community Health Centre. And I stayed there for about three years, and I just loved it. Loved it. Yeah, that was good. that was a mixture of counselling and group work like youth work, so getting out into the community and working with youth from high schools and putting on community events and things like that. And then at the same time, I was also getting my experience in counselling as well. So it was a fantastic start.

And then you moved into state, you moved international. How did that all come about? And what do you feel like you developed through that experience? Yeah, so at the time, I was more than happy to continue working at that job at Hills Community Health, but my now husband was in the military and he got posted to Brisbane. And that's one of the great things about social work is that you can just pack up your tools and take them elsewhere and there are jobs all over Australia and there are jobs all over the world when it comes to social work.

So in Brisbane again, I found locum work in an impatient child and youth mental health team and then a permanent role in a community child and adolescent mental health team. And that was probably a pivotal point in my career in terms of learning. You know, they had this amazing system of how they did psychosocial assessments and I guess I grew a lot in that position, even though I was probably only there for about 18 months. then at the time my husband was deployed overseas and I thought I need a bit of a break from social work for my own self-care because I was away from family and friends and so I decided at that point that I'd go back to Sydney and have like a short break at the time he was away and so I

then started working with youth still but as a teacher's aide so going into the schools and helping people and and this was still, you know, fantastic in terms of getting a different side of things of working with youth, but just not to the level I was when you're working in a child and youth mental health service. So stayed doing that for about six months and then we decided to do the ride of passage and pack up and move over to London where, you know, we did the whole work travel thing. So that's sort of how that kind of came about in terms of interstate and then overseas. And then when I was over in London, Australian social workers are so sought after due to the study that we do, I think, you know, unless it's changed, because this was a number

of years ago, social workers in the UK only had to do like three years worth of study, whereas we were coming in with four. Plus, I had experience outside of child protection as well, whereas a lot of the social workers in the UK had the child protection experience. I had child and youth mental health. So I ended up getting a job really quite quickly after that. So I was able to work in, you know, a youth inclusion, sort of young offenders type thing, like kids that were struggling with their mental health as well as maybe getting into some tricky behaviours, as well as then going into a child and adolescent mental health service there,

which is where I continue to stay until we decided to pack up and come back to Australia after a couple of years. So yeah. Wow. Just, yeah, such incredible opportunities that you've had. And I can really see how the experience you had in mental health early on translated really well to the Brisbane role that you could kind of apply those skills seamlessly. And also the education stuff,

having a family of teachers around you would have given you additional insight into that role. But at the time, I mean, social work in schools is a relatively new concept. Do you feel like it's quite different to the model that you were working with back then compared to what it might be like now? Yeah, well, I guess the teachers aid side of things is more helping with how they're going in the classroom. So I was kind of going into the classroom and helping people who were struggling with their schoolwork or if they had some kind of learning difficulty or something like that. Whereas I know that the social work in schools now,

which I've always really been an advocate for because I couldn't quite understand why it was only psychology in the state schools and not social work. I think now that the positions that they're in in terms of the student support officer roles, they're actually able to do more of the core social work skills rather than the teachers aid stuff. So whether it's sort of running groups or, working with the families and those sorts of things. It was amazing when I heard that those roles

that sort of opened up in, you know, state education. It was, yeah, I think it's vital. I don't know why it's taken so long. I used to always say I don't quite understand why as a social worker, I can't get a job in a state, you know, public school. But then the tricky cases they would refer to me in child and youth mental health. It sort of didn't make a great deal of sense. to me at the time. So I'm really pleased that they're now opening up to more social workers going into the schools. Yeah, I actually spoke with Scott up at UNE, who helped, I guess, develop the social work in schools program. This was going back a couple of years ago, but he works very closely with Mith Maple, who's part of that program as well. And so I guess, yeah, you might have some interest

in going back and having to listen to that episode as well, because he goes into a lot of the detail around the development and why it might have taken so long and where he would like to see it go in the future. It was a very great discussion. Do you think that that would be an area for you in the future? Is that something you might be interested in? Yeah, definitely was looking at that and considering that, I guess then after working so much with youth and then I continued to do that in my next role as well after child and youth mental health when I came back to Australia, I then wanted to sort of venture out and work in different areas with different age groups, which is where I find myself today being able to work across the span of age groups, etc.

But it's always been a passion point of mind to be able to go into schools and do that work. So absolutely never say never. It's definitely something that I think I will look at definitely in the future. So yeah, yeah. Okay, so you've come back from England. And was the Sydney Children's Hospital role, the first one back? No, the first one back was in Hornsby, in Child and Youth Mental Health again. And that was a Loken while I found my feet.

I just think Loken positions are great for that while you try and sort of find out where you're going, what you're doing, where you're settling. And at the time of coming back from London, we didn't really know where we would be living or what we'd be doing, et cetera. So, yeah, straight into another child and youth mental health team in Hornsby. And then I guess I thought to myself, look, I've been, I love working with children and young people, but I'd like to sort of look at something different in health and not just the mental health side of things. And so then when a position came up at Sydney Children's Hospital, I was like, perfect.

I can continue working with children and young people, but just not with the mental health focus. Obviously, mental health comes along with those sorts of things, but it's a very different kind of job. So I initially went in in general medicine and then a position came up in the brain injury, neurosurgery and limb difference team. And that's where I loved. I just, I found my passion working in that team and in rehab. And so I stayed put there for a couple of years before I then, I think went on maternity leave and then came back. I went on maternity leave and came back. So it was probably a total of about six years that I was at Sydney Children's Hospital. hospital. And another thing that I had always really loved was crisis intervention and things

like that. And being at Sydney Children's Hospital, not only could I work on the rehab side of things, but I could also work on the ED roster, the after hours roster. And so I was getting a whole range of experience and skills in doing that. So, and then I guess after Sydney kids, I got to a point where I was like, you know, probably really like to work with adults. Now I've done child and youth, mental health, child and youth in the hospital setting. Now I'd like to see transfer the skills that I've got over into working with adults. So then I decided to apply for a position at real rehab where I could continue to work in the rehab setting, but with adults.

So I was in a private unit there for a few years, maybe four years, which was great because it was a fantastic environment to have students, social work students and the education side of things I really developed a passion for as well. And so I really enjoyed the private unit work and then a position came up that was working in the what's now called the LifeWorks team. And that was working with people who had a brain injury, a spinal injury and who sustained their injuries in a car accident or a workplace accident. So it was the I-care, workers care, clients, and then gradually more NDIS. So I was getting different kinds of issues coming up, not just brain and spinal. And also I began working in the sexuality service at Royal Rehab as well.

So I was getting an amazing experience that sort of adding to the skills I already had in rehab, but with adults and then brain and then spinal and then sexuality. So yeah. And then I guess after that, my colleague created her amazing new rehab service, care rehab. And I decided to go along on that exciting journey. And that's where I'm currently at where I'm working and looking at, you know, where to from here in terms of growing that service. There's so much to unpack.

I guess just to comment more of a question that I remember being in hospital settings and working in rehab and what I loved about it, which you don't get in a lot of other areas of health, you could have your on-call shift, get called in for something, and then all of a sudden that person and that family that you supported turns up in rehab. Yeah. And it's just so lovely for the family to have that continuity of care and to feel, anxious initially about coming to rehab and then they see a familiar face and then they relax a little bit. So for me, that was a really lovely sort of full circle of support for someone from the

moment they get to hospital to the moment they end up in rehab, which most of the people on the encore roster wouldn't have the experience with. Did you find that was the case for you? Absolutely. Yeah. So there was a number of occasions when I was called in due to some kind of brain injury or an accident or something like that, where I was dealing with them in crisis setting. And then I guess I'd kind of maintain, knowing that they'd be coming to me eventually, because at that point, if they were in somewhere like intensive care, the intensive care social worker would also be involved. But I'm all for collaborative working and what's going to be best for the client or patient.

And so I guess at that point, I would continue to work with the ICU social worker, knowing that they were then coming to me, just so there was that consistency of care for the patient. So yeah, that happened on a number of occasions throughout the years because often as a social worker on the on-call roster, you get called in for a trauma. So, yeah. Yeah, no, I found that really fulfilling or rewarding, I guess, for me personally.

And then in your work at the private rural rehab, did you find that the mix of staff was different? Like was there a distinct difference between the public and the private rehab settings? No, not in terms of the staff. We all still, you know, had the multidisciplinary team, social work, speech, O.T., physio, nursing. Yeah, it was all actually really similar. Like I know we use the word private, etc. And maybe some of the rooms were nicer because people were paying for that sort of thing.

But in terms of the care, et cetera, and the team and what. people are able to access, there wasn't a great deal. I didn't find a great deal of difference, no. Sure, but good opportunity to start learning about workers' comp spaces, which you obviously wouldn't get the opportunity with in Sydney kids. Yeah, absolutely. Or the insurance side of things and all of that, yeah, absolutely. And with the sexuality training, which I've also done with Candison Island, I love that there has been more emphasis on that more recently, especially with some of our people with spinal and traumatic brain injuries. Do you see yourself doing more training in that area, do you think? Yeah, definitely more continuing to grow the skills because I work really closely

alongside with Candace with some of that stuff. I haven't done sexual counseling therapy, formal training or anything like that. But what we were finding in the sexuality service was that there was a lot of work around the relationships and things like that. So there would be times when Candace and Arlen would be taking a client for the particular sexual counseling side of things, and then I would be seeing them alongside that in regards to relationship issues and the general sex education and all of that sort of thing as well. There's definitely scope for social work in sexuality to do that kind of work, and there's a lot of it. I'm glad it's getting a little bit more awareness because it's such an important part of someone's recovery.

Yeah, absolutely. So tell me about your current role. There's this new service that's been developed. It's very exciting. Sounds like you get a good mix of face-to-face and office, even though office is not your preferred. Yeah. So we provide face-to-face, so the home visits, so out and about in the community. And then there's the telehealth, because we also provide a service to clients all over Australia.

So whether they're Melbourne or Canberra or wherever they may be. And then there's sometimes there's, you know, the need to go and see them face to face. But generally, I've found the telehealth to be fantastic way of still being able to connect so well with people. You know, we've run groups on telehealth as well. And you can see that that connection can still happen among participants and with you as the therapist as well. So I find telehealth to be really effective and obviously social workers renowned for doing a lot of work over the phone. So my general average day would be doing the home visits, throw in a telehealth, lots of different phone calls, advocacy, working with, you know, other services and government departments, be it Centrelink or Housing or whatnot. So, yeah, it's a real mixed bag, I guess, a day in the life of Kerry.

and it just keeps the interest up as well. We're also looking at what groups and training we're going to run in the new year, developing new groups, doing groups that we've previously done as well as what the training needs that the people are and what their requests are and providing that as well. So we're sort of looking at all of what we're going to do in 2023. Yeah. I imagine part of that work is developing really good networks. or I guess you said your toolkit of services interstate

because if you're reaching out to people all over Australia, especially good for regional areas where you wouldn't normally be able to get in, you'd have to know quite a lot about what's available in that area. Yeah. And I guess that the networking in terms of, if you've got like, and I often find, I have a really good case manager,

and they're just such a wealth of information. So tapping into that, tapping into the therapists, Yeah, a lot of exploring what's out there and who can help and learning the different systems because they are different from state to state in all the different areas. So, yeah, there is a lot of networking involved. But like I said, case managers, they're a fantastic resource. Do you miss working with kids, though? Yes, I do.

But I think that that's something we'll look at bringing in. Nice, because you'll still have the motor vehicle accidents, I imagine, and maybe other disabilities through NDIS? Yeah, so I definitely think that there's scope for being able to do that. I mean, when I sort of say youth and when I was working with young people, like in my first job at Hills Community Health Centre, it was 12 to 25 at that point in time as well. And working in the area that I work in now,

I still get like a lot of late teens and those sorts of things. So I still get the youth. It's just more about. Yeah, working with the kids and stuff like that. So I think that we'll definitely be looking at bringing that into care rehab in the future, yeah. What do you find most challenging about the work you're doing? Yeah. Look, there isn't much that I don't absolutely love about social work,

but there are certainly frustrations. And I think that when it comes to the bureaucracy of things, I find that can be quite challenging. So when you can see that someone's injury has impacted on an area of their life, such as their accommodation or the housing arrangements no longer being suitable for them, and you struggle to find the funding to help the client address the issue, I think that that can be a source of frustration at times, but it just means that, you know, your advocacy skills need to kick up a gear

to fight for what you believe in. And I certainly don't give up when I believe in something. And I just keep on, keeping on and advocating and writing those letters and making those phone calls and, you know, trying to find a way around those frustrations and find a way to sort of work alongside some of these organisations to sort of like, okay, how are we going to get these needs met this client. And I think that by doing that and working collaboratively and really tapping into the advocacy skills, I think there's a way around most things. And I don't give up until I found it. I love that. What do you enjoy most about the work? I love that it's so versatile. I love that you can do what I've done throughout my career and pack up my tools and take them to a

range of different fields. I love watching people go on their rehab journey and I think it's an incredible privilege to hear their stories and the adversities that they're working so hard to overcome and to be able to adjust to what we tend to call their new normal and to witness the challenges that they overcome and the gains and the wins and go on that with them. And I've, I guess I've met some amazing, inspiring people, and I'm talking both clients and colleagues as well, and being able to collaborate with them and to be able to run the client groups. And my favourite so far has been running strength to strength, which, you know, I've done both in person and had a lot of positive feedback about the telehealth groups that we've run online when COVID hit as well.

so we sort of prove that they can run effectively that way. Also, I guess, the professional development opportunities that are available to social work and the commitment to lifelong learning that we're encouraged as social work to go. And I definitely think that that's an important aspect. And also, I guess finally, I really enjoy providing supervision to students and colleagues as well. So the education, the teaching, the groups. I think I'm saying everything. I love, like, it's just a great profession to be in.

And I guess it keeps you on your toes. Like, it's never boring. And every day is different. You kind of don't know what curveball you're going to get thrown. And I like that. Yeah. I know Candice loves students. So I'm guessing you're planning on having a student next year once everything

sort of figured out. Yeah. At the moment, I think it's a bit hard to sort of have a student on the job with us, face-to-face kind of thing. but definitely looking at providing supervision through universities and stuff like that. Yeah. Sounds like you've also had some incredible mentors to guide you through this process. What other kind of support do you need in order to do this really important work?

Yeah, I have. I've had some fantastic people that I've worked alongside in a range of different disciplines, and I grow from that. I had an amazing case manager that I worked with at rural rehab and, you know, we worked incredibly well together as well as obviously Candice is, you know, I think I've been completely and utterly lost without her. And I just think, you know, having people around you that you can draw from and learn from are the most important things for me. Yeah. Did you find the transition from I guess,

impatient or health to private challenging at all? I think from inpatient to community was a big step because, you know, when you're working in the inpatient unit, you've got your patients are right there and things that you need are there in terms of, you know, you can just go down the hallway and speak to one of the therapists or the doctors or whoever.

And I think that when you're working in the community, you're sort of more isolated in that respect and you really need to be able to connect with people and have a bit of a team around you of people that you can draw from, etc. So I think that that transition from impatient to the community, from the community into the more private, I didn't find was a huge transition because I kind of went like the work that I was doing at rural rehab and now doing it care rehab is incredibly similar work. So that and I think when for me, because I had already sort of worked in the community back when I was working with child and

youth, I was able to tap into that knowledge and experience as well. So I kind of went from, you know, community to impatient to community. So yeah, I think it's a different way of work. working definitely and I think that you need like I said before to have a team of people around you that you're able to connect with because it can be more isolating you're working much more independently and on your own in the community as well so then all of the the self-care looking after yourself because again you're not just doing the informal walk into someone's office and have a chat with them about a tricky patient client or whatever, you've got to make the effort to sort of contact and connect with other people.

Sure. You just reminded me, I saw that also you, along with some colleagues, had published a paper on inpatient rehab care coordination. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah. So when I was working in the private unit, I worked really closely with clinical care coordinator, who was a registered nurse. and we also had a new grad social work program that we had in the private unit as well.

So there was the three of us, the new grad and the registered nurse and myself. And we just worked. We just worked together. We clicked. It was, you know, nice and smooth transition for patients when it came to discharge planning, etc. And the work that we did with each other was noticed by the professional social work. and she sort of was like, wow, you know, how are you actually doing this?

How are you making it work? You guys work really well together, and you're getting really good outcomes for the patients here. So what are you doing? And is it worth looking into that further and doing your research into that? So we were like, well, yeah, okay, we can look into that and have a chat with the director of research at Royal Rehab. She sort of agreed to come on board. and basically we did 11 audio recorded face-to-face sessions with this Director of Research, who was our skill facilitator.

And then we also did some writing activities as well. We were trying to explore what it was that was working, why it worked so well. And yeah, we ended up eventually sort of tapping into what that was and being able to sort of put together a paper that was published. So that's exciting. That's incredibly exciting. Congratulations. And I love that methodology of just picking someone's brain until you have sort of this really good picture of how things have gotten to this point and why things are working the way they are. Yeah. I think at the beginning, we were miffed. We were like, it's just, you know, it's just what we do. Like we just, we get along. We have a laugh. We do our work. Like, what are we?

trying to find here? Like, what are we trying to uncover, which was the name in the end. It was, we called it, that uncovering the nature of cross-disciplinary inpatient rehabilitation care coordination. A bit of a mouthful. It's a mouthful. But basically what we found was that this cross-disciplinary approach and synergy of effort relies on, you know, the professional qualifications and experience, but also the personal characteristics, which is what we were sort of like, this is just who we are, this is what we do. And I guess the most important elements for us was supporting one another, respectful listening and valuing each other's profession and knowledge,

and ultimately looking out for one another. Yeah. So we just had this healthy respect for one another in the work that we did and it just worked well. So yeah, it was exciting. It was my first research paper and first research experience and it took a long time. I had no idea it would take as long as it did sort of like, you know, you send it in and then they make adjustments and send it back. And yeah, so I guess it was, you know, amazing the day that we found out that it had been accepted into the journal, which is the journal of Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, Jana, and published in May of this year. Lovely.

It's really funny. And I guess one of the many things I love about this podcast, my experience, doing this, talking to people is we're doing such great work, but sometimes it is actually really challenging to step back and be able to articulate why it's working and why our innate characteristics or, you know, the things that make us, us both professionally and personally mean that we're able to deliver this support to someone. So it is really hard. We are very modest, I think, as a profession, and it is very hard for us to blow our own horns. But it's so important just so that other people understand what we're capable of, where we come from

and what we want to do. Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with that. Apart from music. If you were to have to pack up your tools, as you said, and work somewhere else, I know you've only just started and let's just put that aside for now, but what other sort of social work? Would you love to work internationally again? Would you like to focus on research? What would you love to explore more? That's a really good question. I would absolutely love to be able to go off one day and do Red Cross work and do disaster. work, all of those sorts of things. In 2020, 2021, I did a deep dive course through the Mental Health Academy, which was around disaster mental health counselling. And it was just fascinating and looking

at how to be culturally competent. And, you know, they had this model, this seven-step model of culture-centred disaster mental health counselling. And they sort of stepped you through it and we looked at the disasters and the work that, you know, people can do going into those disaster-affected communities. And so I would absolutely love one day in the future when the kids are older and I have maybe less parent responsibilities to be able to go overseas, do that kind of on-the-ground work would be fantastic. That's one of my big passions. And I guess another one as well is I'm quite interested in the area of domestic violence. We see a lot of clients come through, particularly, you know, working in brain injury as well. And so doing things like court support

and things like that is another one of my goals, I guess, for the future too. So those are the two things, apart from the work that I love now that I'm so passionate about. And obviously, those things are sort of in the distance because in the here and now, this is where I'm at and what I want to focus on, but they're definitely on their radar for the future. Yeah, brilliant. And you mentioned professional development, ongoing learning. What sort of things are you looking forward to exploring more in the next year or two? Yeah, so at the moment, what we're looking at, Candace and I are doing more professional development around some of the Gottman models and looking at how we might be able to run groups using some of those theories and models, etc.

For people who have a brain injury, they do really good training on seven principles of a happy marriage. And so we're looking at how we can work with that and run some groups around that. So that kind of professional development too, probably more around the sexuality side of things I'll be looking at doing as well. And I guess, you know, whatever pop. up and like takes my fancy. I think the the mental health academy just run some fantastic courses through there as well. So you know something might come up through there that I'm interested in too. Yeah. If anyone wanted to know more about this area of work that you're involved in, where would you direct them? You've mentioned the Mental Health Academy,

Gottman's work and I guess the translation of that to brain injury space, but where else would Would you send people? Look, I think that one of the things that I found really helpful and it's really straightforward and easy to follow and is, you know, got a wealth of information is that ACI, the emotional well-being kit for people with a spinal injury. That's got a lot of practical information and guidelines

and things like that in terms of working with people with a spinal injury, whether it comes to the mental health issue, substance, use anything. I would point them in the direction of that for spinal. When it comes to brain, I think synapse has a lot of really useful material as well, lots of resources, not just for someone who has a brain injury, but also the people that work with them as well. So I'd point them maybe in the direction of synapse. If I had to look at what are really good, because I'm also looking at resources that I've found really helpful in the past as well as

what I use now. I think if you can find a really good psychosocial assessment framework, I think that that goes an incredibly long way. When I worked in child and adolescent mental health, there's this fantastic assessment, the heads psychosocial interview, which is an assessment template. And that looks at things like, you know,

the home, education, eating, exercise, drug and alcohol, sexuality, suicide, self-harm. So I think if people are working in that field particularly, but also for people who aren't just working with youth, having a really good framework to go back to helps you at the time of completing your assessment and also when it comes to sort of ordering your thoughts after it. So, yeah. Yeah, they'd probably be the main resources as well as the Mental Health Academy, like I said before.

Yeah, great. And I can put some of those resources. in the show notes that people can go off and do some reading. Yeah. Is there anything else before we finish up that you wanted to tell people about your experience or about just social work in general? I just think it's an amazing career pathway. And I just encourage anyone who's sort of contemplating, you know, maybe, you know,

going down the path of social work, that there's just so many different fields that you can get involved in. And it's not just the pathway I've chosen because I've chosen, because I love the clinical work with people and the groups and teaching and education. But there's also the policy and research and all of those sorts of things. So there's lots of different areas that social work can offer. Even if you sort of get through the degree and sort of think, hang on a second, you know, maybe this isn't for me in terms of the clinical side.

It can help you on your journey to so many other disciplines and professions. So, yeah, just say to anyone who, who's considering it, do it. I love it. It's awesome. And there's just so much that you can do it in. And at different points in your life, clinical might be really good, whereas, you know, in other times, there might be more going on personally for you and you might want a little bit more stability or something where you can just focus on maybe doing research or doing policy work. So it doesn't mean if you've got experience in one area that you can't develop it in another. Absolutely. And I think social work's really good.

good with that and understanding of that to sort of, you know, yeah, this is where I've been, this is the experience and you can draw from all of that. Yeah. Your passion for supporting people, especially that face-to-face work is really clear. You said that working is a privilege for you, being invited into those spaces, which is beautiful. And I love your try before you buy kind of approach with the local work that you've done. So there have been some really great opportunities where you've just been able to sit tight and think, okay, let me sort out all this other stuff that's going on in my life, but keep working and keep getting experience. I think social work is so well positioned for rehab, especially.

There's that holistic approach that you were alluding to being creative in the way that you work and also focusing on patient outcomes that you mentioned. So, yeah, I just think you're clearly very also determined to, be a good advocate for the people that you support and you've done a lot of problem solving around frustrations and yeah the capacity to support people throughout their rehab journey is so rewarding and just being able to assist with adjustment and families and helping people to find that new normal with someone by their side that has experience in the area just so important so yeah thank you for sharing this work that you do and the meeting with me and

taking the time and I'm sure a lot of other people will be really interested to hear about it too. Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's been great. My pleasure. Thanks for joining me this week. If you'd like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Erin, please visit my anchor page at anchor.fm slash social work spotlight. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or you can email SW Spotlightpodcast at gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you. Please also let me know 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 Alex, the owner of mindful recovery services, a private practice providing psychological treatment and support for adolescents and adults.

Alex is passionate about dispelling myths about mental illness and is highly skilled in dialectical behavioural therapy. She is an experienced public speaker and provides consultation to other professionals on managing difficult behavior in teens. I release a new episode every two weeks. Please subscribe to my podcast so you'll notified when this next episode is available. See you next time.