Last month we brought you a repeat of our earlier conversation with Rosalie Pockett AM.  Just as we were planning to re-broadcast the follow up episode with her research partner, Kim Hobbs, Kim was named Allied Health professional of 2023 by Western Sydney, LHD.  When you listen to this conversation with her, you’ll understand why. Congratulations Kim! Kim’s award: https://thepulse.org.au/2023/11/23/since-1994-social-worker-kim-hobbs-has-been-dedicated-to-westmead-hospitals-gyaecological-cancer-patients-and-their-families/ Special Issue Australian Social Work Social Work and Cancer ..read more

This month we bring you an encore release of our conversation with Rosalie Pocket AM who has spent years overturning the inequities and injustices built into our health system.  In this conversation, Rosalie describes her abiding interests in the social and community based factors that influence people’s health.  Next month we will follow this up with her research partner, Kim Hobbs, who will describe how to broaden the partnerships that research those factors  If you want to follow up this conversation and hear about the newest practice frameworks in healthcare, learn about eff ..read more

For many people who see a social worker, it is because they are already involved in our health or community services system, and they are referred by another professional.  This means they have to make contact with our formal service system, and this is something that doesn’t suit everyone.  What if it was possible to walk into a public place like a library, and see a social worker? Even if you didn’t live in that local area?  Who would fund a program like that? Is there a sufficient level of need for a library social worker?  What difference does it make to the community ..read more

When young people walk through Alex Wilson’s door, they are already carrying the stigma from their long involvement in our mental health system.  They know they have been called ‘Frequent Flyers’ or ‘treatment resistant’.  Alex’s aim for her work with these young people is that they will feel appreciated, validated and empowered.  Alex knows that this work involves risks.  But Alex is not cavalier about these risks.  Her rigorous approach to risk is where the conversation starts.   Cognitive Behaviour Therapy:  https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/condi ..read more

Back in 2021, we talked to Ellen Beaumont about her experiences representing Australia as one of the Young Matildas, and her life afterwards.  Back then we had just learned that Australia would be hosting the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.  Now that we know how well the Matildas have played in that tournament, we are bringing you this replay of that conversation as a bonus episode. When Ellen Beaumont was in the Young Matildas, she trained every minute that she wasn’t working, eating or sleeping.  She put her education and career on hold, she missed family events and had no social ..read more

Jane Sullivan OAM’s career has spanned paid and unpaid work, community services and the health system, social work and psychology, church organisations and the public sector.  As she looks back over her career, it is her conversations with one group of people that stay with her.  These were the people who wanted to make the decision that no-one wants to have to make. Jane Sullivan’s OAM Citation https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/20230126%20-%20Media%20notes%20-%20OAM%20%28S-Z%29.pdf   Jane’s resource for parents of children with life limiting conditions: Caring d ..read more

Professor Tom Calma AO is one of Australia’s most respected human rights and social justice campaigners.  He is Senior Australian of the Year 2023, and he is a social work graduate. Prof Calma AO is a- Kungarakan Elder and has worked for more than 45 years at local, community, state and international levels championing the rights, responsibilities and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  He co-led the co-design of a Voice to Parliament initiative. His call for Australia to address the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples was the c ..read more

Michelle Moriarty has won an award for establishing groups for widowed people in rural Australia to support each other.  But Michelle is not going to stop there, because she would like us all to be able to support young people who have been widowed.  Reflecting on her own experience, Michelle realised that the reason she didn’t receive the help she needed was not that people didn’t want to help.  It was a language problem.  Michelle wants us all to be fluent in talking about grief. Michelle’s award: https://agrifutures.com.au/news/grief-advocate-takes-home-top-honour-2023-w ..read more

When a technology company invited a social worker to join their digital literacy project, it was because they hoped her social work skills would be “nice-to-have” additions to their “need-to-have” skills for teaching people how to use their digital devices.  But Anna Morgan had already been contemplating digital inclusion for a long time.  Anna brought her social work mindset to the project, called on her community development experience and aimed for social inclusion.   Mentioned in this episode: InfoXchange: Connected Communities:  https://www.infoxchange.org/au/community ..read more

Social workers draw on knowledge, skills and experiences from their professional and personal lives in all sorts of ways, to bring about changes they want to see in their world.  While some of us choose to specialise in a particular field of social work practice, others take on roles in leadership, management or governance.  Knowing the importance of good plan, Cindy Smith has been able to do all these things; because her plans combine her love of learning, her dedication to excellence and her values. LINKS Cindy Smith biography on the AASW webpage: https://www.aasw.asn.au/about-aasw ..read more