Year graduated: 2009

Extracurricular and/or

sporting activities: 

Throughout my schooling years I represented THLHS in soccer and was also a peer mentor for year 7 students entering the foreign and scary realm of high school.  

In 2005 I also won the NSW Fair Trading Award - Consumer Youth Award (Money Stuff Challenge) for a website I developed that was focused on an age appropriate education in regards to recycling.

Reflecting back on my involvement in these actives, it reiterates my love of teamwork, providing support and encouragement to those feeling vulnerable or overwhelmed or needing guidance and incorporating creativity into education. 

What you are doing now and what is the path you took to get to where you are today? 

I am a Clinical Social Worker for Foster Care NSW.

I provide trauma informed and therapeutic support for over 80 children in foster care, their foster carers and birth families in the Murrumbidgee and far west of NSW.

I also help supervise and provide support of Case Managers and Family Workers in our Wagga agency.

I am also first response to crisis situations especially those soon after the child’s removal from birth family and children and young people displaying challenging behaviours. 

I also deliver the training to people looking at becoming foster carers in order to educate them on the reality of becoming a carer and the neurobiological effects trauma can have on a child’s brain. 

I applied for early entry to university and was successful.

I undertook a Bachelor of Social Work at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.

Upon graduation I won the Lila Kirilik Award for application of the principles of social justice, equity, empowerment and self determination in their practice. 

After graduating university I had a break from school/study when I came to the realisation I had been studying for the past 17 years.

So I packed up all my belongings and went on an adventure to Sydney, I worked three different jobs and just had fun. 

After my year adventuring I returned to Wagga and began my career in Out Of Home Care (foster care).

Career highlights: 

As you could imagine my job is incredibly challenging.

I have witnessed some horrific scenes and respond to unimaginable crises on a daily basis.

Because my job is so challenging and the burn out rate is so high my career highlights are actually focusing on the “small wins” this might be look like a child successfully attending a full day of school or making a child who has not spoken in months giggle.

The ultimate career highlight for me would be a child in care growing up to live a long, happy and resilient life. 

My advice to the young: 

Growing up in a small rural town can be hard in the way that traditions, values and ideals can infiltrate environments resulting in a narrow and close-minded view system.

Remember that:

“You will always be too much of something for someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge.”

The greatest accomplishment in life, is to be yourself, especially when the world is constantly trying to make you something different. 

Hindsight is magic, if you had to start again, is there anything you would do differently? 

I don’t actually agree with “hindsight”.

Positive reflection, yes!

Kindsight would be a more appropriate term. 

Viewing your life with “kindsight” means stopping beating yourself up for things in your past and what you could/should have done differently.

Instead of slapping your head and asking “What was I thinking?!”

Breathe and ask the kinder question “What was I learning?”.

Any last thoughts: 

Be kind to yourself.

And treat everyone with kindness and respect, even if those that are rude to you, not because they are nice, but because you are. 

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Article and photo submitted by The Henry Lawson High School. For information regarding the Where are they now? segment contact the school on 02 6343 1390.