Social Work Spotlight - Episode 86: Chantelle

Episode Date: June 23, 2023

In this episode I speak with Chantelle, owner of REACH Wellbeing, a private practice offering supervision to helping professionals. Chantelle has experience working across the lifespan primarily in the areas of trauma and mental health and has a keen interest in education, as well as how social work more broadly can exist in the world of media.Links to resources mentioned in this week’s episode:Chantelle’s Instagram account ("The Assertive Social Worker") - https://www.instagram.com/theassertivesocialworker/?hl=enREACH wellbeing - https://www.reachwellbeing.com.au/Mindful Recovery Services - https://www.mindfulrecovery.com.au/Art and Play Therapy training - https://www.artandplaytherapytraining.com.au/art_and_play_therapyThis episode's transcript can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16jrk3ReZD0OQvcM_F1Lpl3mpNWhVk0KmUlSDlXBgAjw/edit?usp=sharingThanks to Kevin Macleod of incompetech.com for our theme music.

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

I'm your host, Jasmine McKee Wright, and today's guest is Chantel. Also known as the assertive social worker on Instagram, Chantel is a proud and passionate social worker and the owner of Reach well-being, a private practice offering supervision to helping professionals. Chantel has experience working across the lifespan, particularly in the areas of trauma and mental health, and has a keen interest in how social work can exist in the world of media and loves educating people on the broad world of social work.

Thank you so much, Shantel, for joining me today to chat about your social work experience so far. Oh, you're welcome. I'm very excited. I would love to ask firstly when you started as a social worker and what brought you to the profession. Yeah, so I graduated my bachelor's degree in 2015, but leading up to social, I guess social work for me was something that was never really talked about when I was in school. I had always heard about counselling or psychology or other related fields, but social work wasn't ever something that was really highlighted. So I had always wanted to be either like a teacher, specifically a drama teacher. I love the theatrics. Still do. Yeah, I guess for me,

It was never a, my heart was set on social work for as long as I can remember. So I, yeah, the day of university selection came and I changed my dreams of being a drama teacher and chose psychology. And I did that for a year. I failed a couple of subjects. I didn't find it enjoyable or helpful. I didn't feel like there was a lot of human connection in that. first year. So I actually went to a careers advisor at the university and she was the person who

mentioned social work to me. And instantly I felt like it really aligned with my interests and my values. And that's what got me into the degree. And it was the best decision that I've ever made. My social work identity and my social work presence are incredibly important to me. And yeah, I just, I couldn't think of being anything else. I'm absolutely in love with the profession. Yeah, no, I'm glad it was a good fit for you. But interesting with the passion for theatre, I feel like social work brings a lot of drama.

Is there any opportunity for you to maybe bring some of those skills into the work that you do? Yeah, so I actually had always loved the creative subjects at school, so really interested in drama and art in particular. And I had always dreamed of having this big anti-bullying show that went from school to school and it used drama and theatrics and art. And then I thought going into social work, I'd actually be able to use a lot of those skills in social work

because the profession is so broad. So I've actually gone and done a graduate certificate in art and play therapy, which also touched on drama therapy as well. So I can definitely say that in my work at the moment, I use lots of theatrics through the use of puppets or through the use of role play, things like that. You can really integrate lots of creative methods into the social work world, which I've really enjoyed as well.

And is that something that you would use exclusively with kids or is it something that adults could benefit from as well? At the moment, I'm using it mostly with children, but we're always encouraged to not pigeonhole particular types of groups and how much creativity you bring into the room. So even in the training, we talked a lot about the use of art and play therapy techniques, even in the provision of supervision. So we talked a lot about even using sand tray work to unpack tricky situations in supervision with other professionals. So I really would like to use those creative methods across the lifespan. Obviously, the comfort zone is children. And I think as adults, we find it really hard to let go when we're in that space.

So I think building up to that work with adults would also be incredibly important as well. Yeah. I actually spoke with another social worker who has worked and trained in art therapy, Sheary, who has her own practice as well. And just it's limitless, right? So there are so many opportunities to help someone to engage, to elaborate on their story, to do things in a less threatening way than a formal counseling scenario. So it's great to see some more of that coming into the social work realm. Yeah, absolutely. So what were your placements at uni? What did you do before you started out as a professional social worker?

My first placement was for a family case management service, and I did lots of work around group work, so designing and facilitating groups with vulnerable populations. I also did a lot of casework. I learned a lot about case management and what that meant. I feel like I did so much. It was such a fantastic placement, and it was a non-government organisation, and it had a very safe team culture, which I really thrived in. So yeah, just lots of group and individual family-based work, very practical solution-focused work. Did you have much in the way of training for running groups,

facilitating groups, because that's a whole other ballgame? Yeah, so we got to observe some groups, and then the group that we came up with was something that I was on the placement with another student, which was really helpful. And together we really worked our way through it with the support of our supervisor, the whole way through overseeing it. I think the fact that we were able to build some rapport and relationship with the community first

before we went in and ran the group. So we actually got to understand what the community needed from us. And then we really tailored that to the group, which I think gave us a lot more confidence in being able to facilitate it. So it wasn't a particular group. program that you needed to get specific training on. It was really myself and the other student

responding to the needs of the community. And how about your second placement? I'll wait you from there. Yeah, so my second placement was for a government agency in child protection, which pretty much from day one, I didn't feel like a student. I felt like a worker, which at the time I was really excited about. I thought, yes, I'll really be able to sink my teeth in. But I think looking back now and being so passionate about the development of new social workers and student social workers, I actually look back and think there might have been a little bit of, I guess there was some challenge in the independence that I was given, perhaps. And that was because the work was so different and the work was so intense that, of course, I wanted to say yes to every opportunity. and I did, but it just was challenging at times.

But now that I look back, I did really love the placement and I really did learn a lot. Yeah. I mean, it's hard because you expect so much of yourself as a student and you want to represent social work in a good light with external providers. You know, you don't want to say no to something and you would see something as a learning opportunity rather than a big challenge where you're put on the spot and you're trying to make sure that you're doing your best and that there are no issues with the placement. So it's a really tricky situation to be put in where if you feel like you've got more

responsibility than you're capable of, that's difficult in terms of boundaries and in terms of saying, well, this is the extent of what I can do as a social work student. Yeah, yeah. The second placement for me was really about, it was the final step before becoming a social worker. So for me, I felt a lot more confident in the way that I was working. And I felt a lot more confident to ask for opportunity. So I feel like it was balanced in terms of I was given opportunity, but I was also at my supervisor's door every day asking, you know, what can I do?

What can I do? And I think because I was seen as a worker there. And, you know, there was many times where people would say, oh, I keep forgetting that you're a student. I think my ego was really stroked at that point. And I thought, oh, wow, like maybe, you know, if I'm being seen as a worker, I'm capable to do these types of things. You know, I should back myself.

But then I guess the flip side of that is I wasn't a worker and I was a student. I deserve to be treated like a student. And, yeah, so it definitely was positive with some challenges. Were there any other students there at the same time as you? No, there wasn't this time around. Because that would have been really helpful to try to sit down and chat about things that were coming up for you and how you might approach it. Yeah, definitely. I think this particular agency had lots of students coming in.

So I think a lot of the workers were quite burnt out from having students as well, because it's not something that they necessarily have a lot of say over. Right. So I think it's just back to back to back students. So trying to find your place in that can be challenging to as a worker, I would imagine. Yeah, yeah. And it sounds as though from that placement you then continued to work in the child and youth and family space. What was your first rollout?

So my first roll out was as a child and family worker for a youth service. So I had been working as a youth worker for this agency while I was studying social work. So pretty much the day that I graduated, I got a call. from the CEO saying I'd really love for you to go for this position. And I had instant imposter syndrome thinking that that wasn't a position that I would be able to fulfill. And yeah, I got the role and I absolutely loved it. It was very crisis driven.

I learnt so much about frontline case management. That classic intake assessment referral process had a really wonderful group of people that I worked with where I've made lifelong friends and still feel really connected to that agency as well. I'll still pop back in and go and say hello because they also provided me with lots of professional development and training, which I absolutely loved. Yeah, nice. So if you were already working for that agency and you shifted to a different kind of professional responsibility, what did that look like? How did that change your role and the way that you're approached your work? Yeah, I thought the transition was pretty nice. I think more so there was a lot

of self-criticism as opposed to any other type of issue. I really just wanted to give it my all. And because I'm such a high achiever, I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and to make, you know, my clients, I guess to, yeah, create an environment for them that gives them the best opportunities. So there was definitely challenges in terms of the type of work definitely intensified, but I had a team that I was working in. I definitely felt more part of the culture as opposed to a casual role where I'd be dropping in and out. I felt a lot more integrated into the workplace, which was really nice. And how long did you stay in that role? I think I was in that role for about 18 months. And what prompted the shift after that? I wanted.

to move into a therapeutic role after doing the frontline case management. I found that I really loved talking to people about what was going on for them. And I had heard of another company that were looking for people and I applied and I got that role, which was, I guess I would call it a therapeutic case management role. So it still had a lot of the same elements of case management work as a lot of social work positions do. However, this role had a real focus on therapeutic work and working through challenges in a way that I could be really creative, a lot more self-directed in terms of it's not crisis-driven, so you can sit down, really unpack what's going on, come up with a little bit of a plan and work towards some goals, whereas the crisis

work could be very let's deal with what's happening on the day and just let's get through each day by day. Right. So you felt like you had a bit more opportunity to plan your intervention in this new role. Yeah. Yeah. And it was an early intervention space as well, which is such a beautiful space to work in. You know, my hope was that the work that I would do in early intervention would hopefully prevent children needing to access the service that I previously worked for. in hoping to build some scaffolding and foundations around these families so that they wouldn't have to walk through any crisis-based service doors. And were you there long enough to see that in actuality?

Like, could you see the work that you were doing with specific families, specific people translate to a reduction in their likelihood of having to access those services? Absolutely. Definitely. There was some really beautiful outcomes. I guess working with a family for 12 months as opposed to six weeks has very, very different impact. So I got to see some beautiful families make just the most beautiful progress. And there will be families that I will never forget working in that job, absolutely.

And was it during this time that you thought I might want to do more training and that's how the play and the art therapy came up? The art and play therapy actually came up in a job that I had after the therapeutic role. So I had moved into my first government job. So I'd always worked in non-government agencies except for my one placement. And I had moved into government work. And that work was in sexual assault or in the spectrum of violence, abuse and neglect. And that role was really challenging in lots of.

wonderful ways. It's probably been the most amount of professional growth in such a short period of time that I have ever had. And I think towards the end of that, I really felt like I was a little bit in Groundhog Day where I felt like I was doing the same thing every day, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but for me and considering myself to be a really creative person, I'd really felt the need to tap into some of those previous interests. And so that's when I did my art and play therapy. Alongside working full time? Yes, alongside working full time.

How did you coordinate all that? I had a supportive manager and I worked really hard, to be honest. I have to give myself some credit that I worked really hard. and I was so passionate about it and I just wanted to make it work and the group of people that I did the study with were incredible. Yeah, but it definitely was a lot of commitment, lots of night classes and night training and taking time off work and studying and doing assignments on the weekend. But I think because I enjoyed the training so much and I was so passionate about it that I was really easily able to prioritize it. Yeah, I guess just having to be mindful of energy levels. And yeah, there's a risk that it could easily switch over from your passion to something that becomes a chore.

And that would have been something you would have been really mindful of. Absolutely. And because the training was very practical and that's my learning style, I think I really adjusted to that, which made it really enjoyable, really interactive as well. Yeah, cool. So you're now working for your own practice, your own business. How did that come about? How did that transition occur? Yeah, so I actually have my finger in a few pies at the moment.

So I work part time for a private agency where I'm doing therapy with children, young people, adults and families. I'm doing just therapy. And then I'm also, I've just this year started my own private practice, which is called Reach Wellbeing. and the word reach stands for the values of the practice. So respect, empowerment, acceptance, creativity and hope, which are all very important to me. And the focus of that practice right now is mainly on providing clinical supervision to social workers and other helping professions.

Very, very passionate about the development of helping professions in particular social workers, new grad social workers as well, and forming identity and I'm also developing some therapeutic resources as well alongside of that. That's another passion area of mine. You could probably do a check on how many times I say the word passionate because I'm a person that cares a lot about a lot. So everything is my passion. But yeah, so I'm developing some therapeutic resources as well that are helpful for professionals to use in a social work.

space as well and trying to encourage other social workers to bring some creativity into their workplace or into their practice as well. And then I'm also doing some work alongside of a couple of universities as well to support the social work practice and development there as well. Yeah, wow. And would that include maybe giving in services to other services just about how they can integrate play therapy or art into the work that they do? Absolutely. So, So training is also a part of the provision of service for me in my private practice as well. And that can span from just thinking creatively around how you engage families or how you engage people right up to specific strategies and modalities in implementing art or play into social work practice as well.

So it's trying to break down some of the barriers around, but I'm not a creative person or I don't know how to draw. So how could I possibly, you know, bring any creative element into my workplace? But it's not even necessarily the actual work. It's just the thinking as well. And what sort of funding mostly comes your way, what client groups, where do they come from? And what other, I guess, resources do you need to tap into or provisions that you need to be mindful of? So for my private practice in particular, all people are paying for those services or their workplace are paying for the services around supervision in particular.

I'm also doing some work in the Victims of Crime space as well. So victims of crime can access counselling for free. And then even in my other workplace, we tap into some primary health funding as well, which gives... I guess priority to vulnerable populations being able to access timely therapeutic support and counselling. I guess the difficulty there with having so many different funding structures or fee structures is that each of those services are going to attract a different rebate or funding support. I'm just thinking victims in particular. I was chatting with another lovely social worker Peter recently and she was saying that she has some victim's services.

as clients on her books, but mostly because they've been supported by her for a long period of time, but they haven't caught up with the funding structure changes and increases and CPI and all of that stuff to the point where she feels she can't take on any more people through victim services because their fee structure just doesn't match up with what she would normally charge in a private practice. Absolutely. And that's another, that is definitely another big challenge. I think for me, the idea of moving into private practice as someone who has always worked in agencies where people have never had to pay for service was incredibly hard for me. It took me weeks to come up with a figure that I guess reflected my skill set, my professional development, but that was also

doable for people as well. So that was really ethically challenging. for me as a social worker moving into the private space and I still really struggle with that. And what I preach to other people around valuing yourself and reflecting the value that you put on yourself is something that I really still struggle with for myself as well. So always needing to remind myself and surrounding myself with some beautiful social workers and other wonderful professions that remind me about my worth is very helpful. So a really wonderful support system has helped with that. Yeah, for sure.

And I guess you also need to see it from the perspective of if I need to close my business because it's just not financially sustainable, then no one wins in that scenario. Yeah, that's a good point as well. How do you divide your energy, given that you are across different work spaces? Great question. Because being passionate is not enough. Obviously, it comes down to the practicality, the logistics sometimes.

Yeah, yep. So look, balance is still something that I'm really trying to figure out. I've shifted towards private practice on the pursuit of balance and the pursuit of, I guess, being able to have control over my interests and over the type of work that I would like to be doing, which isn't something that a lot of people don't often have control over. So for me, I haven't yet found the ideal balance. And I think because it's still so new,

I'm still doing so much set up. And I'm really running on motivation at the moment and passion. I know that that's not something that can be done in the long term. but at the moment the motivation is enough to keep me going for right now and then of course really strong supervision and support systems as well is very very important to me I will talk about the importance of supervision until the cows come home so yeah look it's not something that I've gotten down to a tea because I am still so new into the private space But I will definitely talk more about it when I've cracked the code.

Yeah, yeah. You mentioned that development of new social workers is something that's really interesting for you. But I'm guessing while you're figuring out where the pieces land with this change, the transition of roles, the figuring out where your boundaries sit, that's a bit challenging. But do you see that as something you could take up in future as supervising students? Absolutely. So I do supervise students through universities at the moment. External supervision. I also supervise a few people who are currently studying a masters in social work that might have an undergrad degree in something else. So the development in that area has been really wonderful. I think what sometimes is really helpful is for newer social workers or even social workers that have been in the industry. for a long period of time, to hear other social workers say that they haven't figured it all out.

I am always happy to share what I know, but also what I don't know. And I think that's really validating for other people to go, oh, okay, I don't have to have it all figured out right now. My boundaries might be a little bit blurry because I'm still figuring it out, but so are other people who have been in the industry for 10 plus years. and that's okay. I never want to come across like that I've got things sorted out in a really strong way, I guess, because I definitely don't.

But I work towards it all the time and I'm always trying. And so trying to get that message across to new grads and to social workers who have been working for as long as they can remember, I think being really honest and transparent about what it's like is really important. Yeah, I think a lot of people talk about both. to do with stress and overwork and those sorts of factors, but I hear less about it to do with a loss of creativity or even a loss of curiosity when you feel as though perhaps you are doing the same thing over and over again

and you don't have that opportunity for development. So I do feel like we need to talk about that more, and we do need to try to find ways of continuing that lifelong learning because that's what keeps us interested. Yeah, really well said because social work is such a broad space to work in, so broad that it can be overwhelming at times. And I was talking actually on this exact topic to one of my supervisorsies yesterday, that a lot of burnout can come from that conflict of value or interests or passions not aligning with the work as well. So exactly what you said, that trying to find ways to bring your interests into your work is really, really helpful. And I think can be really wonderful in preventing burnout or at least being able to identify it as a step towards, you know, remaining healthy in the workplace.

Of course, there's so many other factors when it comes to burnout. But, yeah, I really like that you touched on, I guess, the passion remaining in the work that you're doing as well. I just remembered you made mention earlier of case management and social work. And I'm wondering if in the work that you're doing the therapeutic work and case management, are there people from other disciplines that you work with that are also case managers and how might they see that as a different sort of role? So I am the only social worker in my workplace. I work with a big team of psychologists, a couple of counsellors,

and OTs and speech pathologists and behaviour specialists as well. So I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm working alongside of people who are also doing case management type work and therapeutic work at the same time. Or maybe they are, but they wouldn't necessarily identify that as case management. Obviously, I won't speak too much to the psychology profession, but it is quite therapy and assessment focused, at least from what I've seen. And so, like I said, whether or not they would recognise that those practical supports are

necessarily case management. Yeah, I'm not, actually don't know if I could answer that question very well because I'm not at the moment working with people in those dual spaces. Yeah. What do you think then is an asset to case management from a social work perspective? Like, what is it? Do you think that we bring to that particular role? So what I love about social work and case management is the way that social workers think.

So I describe it like a fish in a fish bowl. So social workers, the way that we view things so systemically, you know, we're looking at the fish and how they're managing in their water and in their environment, what's going on internally with the fish. but we're also looking at the quality of the water. We're looking at the quality of the tank. Are there any other fish in the bowl? Is there a filter in the tank? Do people talk to the fish outside of the bowl? What's the air quality like for the fish?

You know what I mean? So we're constantly thinking about everything surrounding the fish. I know it seems like a really strange metaphor. I love that analogy. I think it's really good. And, you know, did they have little castles? little bubbles or is there something to enrich the environment? Exactly. Is there colorful rocks? Is there algae? And it was funny. I was describing that to some people in my workplace when I was

trying to describe the social work profession. And one of the ladies said to me, she was like, hey, Shantel, do you think that the fish knows that it's wet? And I said, that's like, that's the role of a psychologist, like just joking around. But yeah, I guess what's beautiful in that analogy is that it really shows just how many levels that social workers are thinking at any one time, that we're not approaching things from, this is 100% the person's responsibility to make change. We're looking at all of the additional factors that contribute to the quality of this person's life, internally, externally, politically, environmentally, we just have such a broad way of thinking about issues, which I think just give us, I mean, I'm biased, but I just think,

we are the best profession in terms of just that way of thinking. I think it's really special. You just reminded me there's a, I don't know if it's a meme or a joke. It makes me think of when they say how many social workers does it take to change a light bulb? And the answer is, does the light bulb want to be changed? Yeah, it's so much about, I guess, some of these things that are beneath the surface, the things that we don't see, the influences that perhaps we have the skills or even the curiosity to tap into so that we can understand that person's environment and what's influencing them. Absolutely. And if for whatever reason the person isn't able to create change, then how can we create change in their environment to support motivation

for that person? You know, like I've done some work in and inpatient setting. And when you're in there, you hear a lot of talk about hierarchy and where social work falls on that hierarchy in a hospital system. And so often you'll hear things like social workers just, you know, they organise the taxi vouchers. And, you know, sometimes I think, first of all, that can be a really disrespectful comment, but also, you know what? Sometimes that taxi voucher is going to make the biggest change for that person. And if that's what it's going to take, well, then you bet there'll be a social worker there who's going to support that. You know, so really trying to get other people to also understand the influence and specialty

that social workers really have in so many different workplaces is really important. I love getting into this philosophical stuff. I think it's refreshing and it definitely gives you an opportunity to think a bit less about the nitty-gritty practice stuff and more about the foundation of coming back to why we do what we do and how we practice. So no, I love this. I could go on all day about it. What I would love to chat with you about also, though, is we've heard a little bit about things that you enjoy about your work, but what is it that you think most gives you energy and gives you joy and keeps you coming back for more? Variety. Variety has definitely

kept my passion thriving and my interest really strong. I love the fact that with what I'm doing right now, that I have the opportunity to work with people across so many different presentation areas. In any one day, I could be working with depression and anxiety. I could be working on bullying experiences with children. I could be working, you know, on suicidal ideation, family issues, sexual assault, victims of crime, but also then doing, you know, my supervision where I'm getting to talk about the foundations of social work and values and ethics and all my favourite things. I'm getting to use puppets. I'm getting to sit with children as I watch them play. Have you, having to be a lot of really enriching conversations with families, working with wonderful passionate people in

similar industries, developing resources and talking on social media to really like-minded people and building up the social media presence for social work and helping professionals as well. Because what that's really shown to me is I think when I first came into social work, and you learn about systems theory. And I always thought that my influence in social work would be quite limited, that it would be very frontline, maybe influence some policy and practice at that level. But I guess having a social media presence, or at least building that, has really shown me that we can have macro level engagement and influence in the world of social work,

which is something that I wasn't expecting. So that's been something I'd really love to continue to build and maintain that and have that connection to other people as well, which has been wonderful. And what do you find most challenging? I'm thinking even just you mentioned you love teamwork and now you're working for yourself and trying to figure out how to prioritize all those passions.

So funny enough, the same thing that is the most exciting about social work is also the same thing that I find quite challenging, which again can be diversity of especially like I said before as someone that cares a lot about a lot. It's being able to harness some of that passion and energy into specific projects or specific work, which even when I say that I almost want to argue with myself and say, oh, Shantel, you don't have to focus on just one or two things. Like you're actually allowed to be interested in anything and everything. So I've got that internal argument happening at the moment. But yeah, I think what can be challenging is because I'm working with so many

different types of presentations, I feel like my brain is constantly on. And I'm always having to think about ways of working with people across so many different areas. So I love it, but it can also be really quite challenging aspect of the work as well. Yeah, and I do really hear that self-criticism coming through and you put so much pressure on yourself. And I think that's really just what I'm hearing is just to sense that there's not enough time. There's so much that I want to do and I don't have enough time and why don't I have enough

time, which, you know, admirable. That's fantastic. And I can see that you have a clear direction and a way that you want to go. but at the same time being really mindful and it's great that you're so big into supervision and focus a lot of effort on that of just sometimes it needs that external person to say what you're doing is enough. It's more than enough. And what you're doing is great. Let's just direct that energy into creating a plan for your professional development or for other practice development and a timeline for that so that you're not feeling as though you have to do everything

right now. Absolutely. The idea of enough is something that I am constantly arguing with myself about internally or externally. It's definitely something that comes up as a challenge and I guess with high achieving or perfectionistic traits as well that just all meshes in to one another and that can be a really challenging part of the work, particularly when I am starting this venture of working for myself as well. That's where the supervision can be really supportive in having another person to really talk through some decisions with or even just to give that feedback or validation. And like I've said a couple of times, that supportive professional network as well. Having said that, I feel like if you're so in tune and aware of your own need to strive for perfection,

it would make it a lot easier for you to see it in other people and hopefully to support other people who are going through that same thing. I would really hope so, absolutely. Have you seen many changes over time in this field since you've been working in terms of maybe child protection responses or family dispute resolution or even, just how social workers can engage in private practice? I have definitely noticed quite a strong pool into private practice for social work. I've definitely noticed as well, you know, at least when I first came out of social work

and studying, there was not a lot of mention of accreditation around mental health social work and obtaining Medicare and, I guess, working toward that pathway in a very, therapy-based way. So for me, that's probably been one of the biggest areas of development that I have noticed. And I know that it's been around for a long time, but again, it's not something that you really hear much about in your studies or even, I didn't even hear about social work before I got into study. So I definitely didn't hear about, you know, the accreditation process, that's for sure. But it's been really nice to see social work, being recognised as professions that can actually manage complexity in such a way.

We're not just looking to psychologists as the holder of therapeutic practice, that we're actually extending that to other allied health professionals as well. So that's, I think we still have a long way to go in terms of recognition, but I'm hopeful. And I also know of people who are. were doing fantastic work as social workers or as psychologists as other professionals. But there's a lot of crossover with disciplines. And I mean, you mentioned you're doing work with some universities around some of that different discipline work.

And I know of some social workers who are teaching in health sciences. So there is capacity within what we do and what we learn on the job, at least, to be able to feed back into other areas of work and professions and, Hopefully what that means is that some of these other professions that are more, I want to say more traditional or have more history, can start to build in some of those influences in their practice. Absolutely. And I think just mutual respect for so many varied allied health professions

is really important in that process as well. Like I said, I work with some incredible psychologists and there's such mutual respect for one another's profession and recognition of the overlap. I think more broadly in terms of the public's view. I mean, I know that I've had some tricky situations where, you know, clients are offered a social worker for therapy and has come back with, well, don't they remove children, you know, so we're still trying to work through the assumptions and stereotypes

around social work practice, which I think we've still got some way to go as well, but very hopeful. Yeah. I've got a friend who trained as a psychologist, worked as a psychologist for many years, and is now going back and doing her PhD in law, which again is a really interesting crossover. And one of her supervisors is a social worker as well. So we get to nerd out quite a bit and I love it. But she's doing her PhD looking at child's voice and participation in decision making in child protection matters. So it's really interesting to see how that's brought bits of social work psychology law. And those disciplines are really wanting to explore holistically what that experience is like for a population. I think it's just so cool.

Wonderful. And I just love hearing about the collaboration across professions as well, you know, that no one profession is the holder of all knowledge. And so the collaboration is just so nice to hear. That sounds exciting. Yeah, yep, I'm very excited for her. She's on the home stretch, so soon. Hopefully she'll be done. Are there any other areas of social work that you've really wanted to explore? You've been in a very similar area for most of your professional life.

Look, the list is long. The list is very long. There are so many... I don't want to add to your things to do. I think I'm very settled in moving toward some... therapeutic resource creation and content creation as well. I think I'm really excited to see how social work and media could work moving forward. I think that could be a really interesting space for social work. I also have a lot of interest in the academic space in social work as well. But for right now, I feel really privileged in the space that I am,

particularly in provision of supervision and those resources and social media presence. It's just, you know, three years ago isn't something I thought that I would be doing. So it's an absolute honour and privilege. Yeah, nice. And are there any projects or programmes that might be coming up in the works for you this year that you wanted to mention? So I have just developed a therapeutic resource called recognising strengths, which is a card set for professionals, people who aren't in the social work or helping professional space. And they are beautiful, vibrant strengths cards that are really, really wonderful to use

in working with children, adults, professionals, even for yourself with your own family, in being able to recognise the strengths that we hold and really speak to them, being able to identify them for yourself, but also identifying them in other people. So in particular, I've been really focusing on using them to support positive workplace culture. So we have them all up on the wall and they can be selected at any time and given out to colleagues. You know, I could come into my office and I've got four different words just stuck all over my desk and it's just the most beautiful thing to walk into and you just feel so motivated and recognized. So I've just developed those which I'm hoping to maybe by the time this podcast comes out,

they will already be up for sale and being used, which is the dream that people love them and use them. So that is what I would say is my, that's my project right now. And did you illustrate them? I'm guessing you got to be arty with it. I did. So I've created them from start to finish. It has been a labour of love. and there has been just me from beginning to end in terms of getting everything designed,

printed, packaged. It's, yeah, which I feel really, I can genuinely say I feel incredibly proud of myself for doing that. And I guess that will be available on your website so I can put a link and people can go and have a look. Yes, as of right now, my website isn't launched. However, when this podcast is up, it will absolutely be, I'm hoping, to do it in the next couple of days. So the website is reachwellbeing.com.a.u. And I'll throw in my Instagram handle in there too for any social workers or helping professions that just want to, I guess, follow a page that talks about social work,

but also pop culture, commentary, sharing resources, but also just to have a network of social workers, including myself, that you can just talk to or bounce information off or reach out and ask a question too. So that one is the assertive social worker. And are there any other resources that you want to shout out, whether it's about group work or the methodologies that you use, like the DBT, CBT, PTA play therapies that you'd recommend people check out? I really loved a DBT training that I've done through mindful recovery services. That was exceptional DBT training with some really practical skills. So a shout out to Alex Wilson, who is another social worker, accredited mental health social worker too. She's been on the podcast. Well, there you go. She's wonderful. Yeah, she's definitely a very, very

passionate social worker doing some really great things in the space of DBT. And I can also shout out that I did my plain art therapy study through the Sydney Centre for Creative Change with Dr Jackie Short as well, which was really, really wonderful training. And yeah, that's what I would like to shout out the both of them. Perfect. Before we finish up, Chantelle, is there anything that you want to talk about that we haven't yet about your experience or about social work in general? No, I don't think so. I think probably covered my... more than I even anticipated I would. So.

I think it's been wonderful. I love even from the beginnings of the discussion, talking about your social work identity and your presence and wanting to build those networks of getting a supportive and strong group of professionals around you. And also your ability, but also your need to be mindful of your own capacity and your own energy, especially as you start to transition into the,

this hybrid model of working for yourself of I am working in a therapeutic space where, yes, the work is really challenging, but I've also got this other thing that's taking my energy and my mind and how do I put a divider in for my week? How do I manage that? How do I understand how a new business is supposed to run? Because that's a whole thing in itself. But coming back to your five pillars, your reach values of practice. And I think it's just a, broad way of thinking about things which chicken or egg is that you as a person or you as a social worker or are you just destined to have been a social worker because of your own foundation and the way that you see things in general that you've had a variety of therapeutic and practice roles

which has been really interesting even though it's all in the the child family youth therapeutic space there's been a lot of variety within that and it goes to show really the extent of social work practice and even just what you might consider to be a very small change for someone might have a significant impact in their life and in the way that they go on to operate. So yeah, I love your passion. I feel it. I hear it. And I really, really look forward to seeing where this private practice takes you and all the training that you've got planned and your cards and yeah i love that you're building that creativity into your work every day oh thank you so much what a beautiful summary by the way you said that so eloquently god i wish i could i could never

speak as eloquently as that was just summed it up so perfectly and thank you so much for for your reflections on how i've come across in here as well and i really do hope that my passion shines through and even just the chicken and the egg and separating the person from the social worker and and things like that. I still have so many questions about the benefit of doing that, how doable that is, you know, like it's, that's a whole other hour conversation. Is it necessary?

Exactly. So that's a whole other conversation that I'd be really interested to talk about or to listen to as well. So thank you so much. Well, maybe once you've gotten stuck into a bit more of that therapy, we can come back, we can revisit and we can talk about how the practice is going and what other amazing programs and projects you've been working on. Sounds wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Antel. I've loved connecting. It's been so wonderful meeting with you and hearing all about your experience. And, yeah, just so grateful that you've taken the time to do this. And I'm sure other people will get a lot out of it. Yeah, and thank you so much for the focus on wanting to talk to social workers and really spotlighting their journeys and profession. I think it's such a wonderful space. And I talked a lot about media and I think podcasts in particular is such a wonderful space for social work to tap into.

So thank you so much for bringing that to the space as well. It's my absolute pleasure. And similar to you, the space I work in at the moment, I am the only social worker, not just in my team, but in the whole program. So it is so important just to come back to why do we do what we do, what is our kind of. So, yeah, as a social worker, it's, I think, something we need to keep coming back to. So, yeah, I've loved the opportunity. I love meeting with people that normally I wouldn't have come in contact with. So, yeah, again, just so appreciative that you could do this.

No problem at all. Thank you so much. Thanks for joining me this week. If you would like to continue this discussion or ask anything of either myself or Chantel, 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 Troy, a social justice advocate in Uniting's Advocate team. He enjoys movies, asking people if he can pet their dog, American politics, saying unprompted that he's going to to join a sports team this year, social and economic justice, and adding to the pile of books on his bedside table that he never reads.

I release a new episode every two weeks. Please subscribe to my podcast so you'll notify when this next episode is available. See you next time.