I hope to contribute to improving Indigenous health when I complete my degree by working within the health sector advocating for and supporting Indigenous people within the healthcare setting.   I am passionate about closing the gap and believe this can not be done without using knowledge from our ancestors and understanding our cultural worldview and continuing and progressing with a full holistic approach.

I want to do further research in to the inter-generational mental health effects of family members with chronic diseases within Indigenous communities and the differences between those who require hospitalisation away from their communities. I am committed and passionate to understand these effects and provide support around education and prevention of negative effects.   I have a passion and committed to understanding the effects of chronic illnesses within our community as a number of people who are important to me, including my own mother, suffer from chronic illness which requires hospitalisations which she often struggles with.

I want to help make hospitals and health care providers a  safe and comfortable place for all Indigenous Australians to go.   After doing my 3rd year placement at my local hospital and working on their sub-acute wards I realised there are large gaps in the support offered to long term patients.     I am determined and committed to make a difference, through both practical work and research.   We have come a long way in understanding Indigenous health and the barriers which exist, but we have a long path ahead of us.

Semester two 2018 was my last semester of my master of social work degree and was taken up mostly by a 90 day placement which I did at a local high school for at risk kids. These kids are high risk for a number of different reasons but anxiety, depression and trauma was a very heavy theme amongst the students. It was a very interesting and different environment with the welfare staff being as vital as the teaching staff. It was a great learning experience for me, understanding different approaches for working with trauma in adolescents and allowed me to experience different trauma seminars throughout the period.

On the side line of this my mums health further deteriorated and has prompted me to apply for and be accepted in to public health honours looking at the causes and rates of burn out with elders within Indigenous communities.

I was also successful in securing a position with the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety, currently working within the community corrections team but looking to move in to allied health team when the graduate program is finished.