I was raised in south Gippsland, Victoria, however my family originates from Lunawanna-Alonnah country in Tasmania. I have a deep-rooted passion for occupational therapy that derives from personal experience with an occupational therapist as a teenager, along with a love for helping people.

I am extremely grateful to be deemed a recipient of this scholarship, and would like to address my appreciation to the Australian Rotary Health group.

As a qualified Occupational therapist, I aim to improve Indigenous health by offering a culturally safe and diverse practice for all clients. As an Indigenous woman myself, I understand how western medicine can be and is daunting, so I will be able to provide my cultural understanding and knowledge to ensure that my practice provides options for treatment that are beyond that of typical western treatment plans. I want my practice to be a space where Indigenous people are encouraged to reach out and seek treatment, especially for those struggling with mental health problems. In my studies and personal life, I have been able to witness the detrimental impacts and domino effect of the prevalence mental health problems in Indigenous communities. I want to be able to help people in my community to engage in their occupations in a way that enhances their quality of life, reducing cycles of generational trauma.

I also would like to work in paediatrics, working with Indigenous children to combat these issues commonly seen in the community before they present and are harder to treat. This also relieves the unnecessary burden of the client from an early age, improving not only physical health but also spiritual and mental health in Indigenous communities.

Indigenous health is a topic that has been very important to me from a young age as I have witnessed first-hand how much it does impact generations of an entire population of people.

This semester for me was a rollercoaster. In my learning content I was exposed to more practical occupational therapy content. I thoroughly enjoyed this as I feel I learn better when I can picture a client in front of me and work around that. I had a class that was a scenario-based learning where we were given a case study and had to present our findings of their condition and how we would assess them the next week. I felt it overwhelming at times having to do a presentation every week along with all my other study responsibilities. However, having a supportive tutor and peers during this really made all the difference.

I also started doing a simulated placement at the Victorian heart hospital where I worked with a group of my peers to interview and assess a client (who was an actor) to put our learned skills into practice. I really enjoyed this placement being able to work with a ‘real’ client. I have had meetings with my tutors where we agreed that client communication and making a client feel comfortable is an area that comes really naturally to me in which I thrive in. this showed evident in my SPEF-R where my supervisor rated me quite highly in a few domains. I was very proud of my productivity and performance during my first placement, which has only made me more excited for my future career in occupational therapy.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first semester doing some more real-life scenarios. I volunteered to participate in a new pilot program in my second semester where I can do my placement in a real aged care facility in which I really look forward to.