Rebecca Wells

Hi, my name is Rebecca Wells, I graduated from a Bachelor of Behavioural Science in 2001 and a Bachelor of Social Work in 2004. I currently work as a Clinical Case Manager at the Northern Area Mental Health Service, and I coordinate the FPMI group work programs, and FPMI is an acronym for families where a parent has a mental illness.

So people choose to undertake a Psychology degree for a variety of reasons. Personally I was always interested in people and what makes them tick, and what I found throughout the course was that I was particularly interested in learning about the different mental illnesses. So after completing undergrad Psyche I was offered honours but I decided to defer and take a year off and have a think about what I wanted to do with my life and what path I wanted my career to take. There were some pros and cons involved with that, and the pros were obviously finishing uni with the qualification as a psychologist, continuing on a known career path that I enjoyed apart from stats. I did want to work in Health and the helping professions.

Family and friends all think I'll become a Psyche. Will I be a failure if I don't continue and will I regret it for the rest of my life? Some of the cons were, stats, a lot more years at uni, the cost not only of studying but of being a poor uni student, and no guarantee of getting into Masters Doctorate or PhD, and then what?

So, Social Work was always in the back of my mind as a career option but I needed more information about it, so I met with Cliff Picton who was then the Dean of the School of Social Work to find out more about Social Work, and after our discussion I was convinced that it was the career choice for me and I enrolled in a two year advanced standing Social Work degree. It's usually a four year degree but I had two years' worth of credits because I had done a Bachelor of Behavioural Science, so effectively entering the course in 3rd Year. So, the Australian Association of Social Workers, which is Social Work's professional body, describes Social Work as, "The profession committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the enhancement of the quality of life, and to the development of the full potential of each individual, group, and community in society. So Social Workers pursue these goals by working to address the barriers, inequities, and injustices that exist in society and by active involvement in situation of personal distress and crisis." So, the broad range of options in Social Work really appealed to me as well as leaving uni with a qualification only after another two years of study.

Social Workers work in a wide range of government and community service agencies such as Children Youth and Family, Health, Mental Health, Women's Services, Aging, Migration, Refugee and Settlement Services, Justice and Correctional Services, and Generic Community Counselling Advice, Support and Resource Services. Another question I had for Cliff when I met with him was, what do Social Workers actually do? He said, "Whatever it takes." It's really hard to say exactly what Social Workers do as it is so context specific and it varies between places of employment, but some of the things that Social Workers do include group work, community work, individual and family counselling and social case work, program planning and policy development, and advocacy.

So, while I was studying Social Work I also obtained employment in the field to expose me to situations I would face as a Social Worker. I worked at three community agencies, Bethlehem Community and McAuley House, which were both residential homes for women experiencing psychiatric illness, and/or alcohol related disability. Also, the Good Samaritan, which was a short term shelter for women and children often escaping domestic violence situations. I found this work really challenging at times but also really rewarding, great exposure to the field, and for me I knew that I had made the right choice to pursue a career in Social Work. One of the good things about Social Work is that you get to do a placement immediately in 3rd Year, so in 3rd Year I did a 70 day Social Work field placement at Moreland City Council Age and Disability Support Services. And, for my final year Social Work placement I was placed in Community and Family Services International in Manilla in the Philippines, which was an amazing opportunity. La Trobe University has a partnership with that NGO so they facilitated the student placements for us that year.

My first Social Work job was a two year Graduate Entry Level position at the Northern Area Mental Health Service which offered 12 months working in a psychiatric inpatient unit and 12 months working at a community mental health centre, which I thought was a great opportunity for me to combine the skills and knowledge gained in both of my degrees. This was a two year contract and despite all the learning and experience I had itchy feet and decided to return to the Philippines. When I was in the Philippines as a student I met other Australians who were doing volunteer assignments through AusAid, which is Australia's International Aid Organisation, so I applied and was successful for a 12 month position based in Baguio as a Rehabilitation Program Officer for Abused Children. I had such a rich experience there that I ended up continuing on and doing another 18 month assignment, this time based at Baguio Centre for Young Adults working in reproductive health.

In 2010 I returned to Australia and resumed my career at the Northern Area Mental Health Service working four days a week in a Clinical Case Management role and one day a week coordinating programs for families where a parent has a mental illness. So Case Management is a coordinated approach to service delivery that ensures consumers with complex multiple needs and disabilities receive the services they need in a timely and appropriate manner. So Clinical Service, that may involve the following: early intervention, mental illness education and treatment, referral to other agencies, advocacy and support, liaising support and education for families and carers, and some counselling including drug and alcohol issues. So Clinical Case Management differs from General Case Management because as Social Workers we have to be actively involved in the clinical care. My FPMI group work clinician role is essentially coordinating group programs for families where a parent has a mental illness which includes our parents group and our Chance Program which is for children aged eight to 12 who have a parent with mental illness, and that is certainly one of the highlights of my year.

So my tips would be to research your career prospects, talk to careers advisors, take a year off, travel if you don't know what you want to do, take the time to gain valuable life experience while you consider your options. Get a job or voluntary work in the field you're interested in to get a taste for it, to network, for job opportunities and for referees. If you do choose to go into Social Work maximise the placement experience, try to get into the field that you want to, and if you don't know that's okay, just remember that most jobs do want your placement supervisor to be a referee so it's important to make a good impression and to maintain that contact. And, take your chances, the experience you gain will open up other possibilities. In my case the Bachelor of Behavioural Science fuelled an interest in mental health, my part time work fuelled an interest in Social Work, my placement fuelled an interest in international Social Work, and my experience with youth in the Philippines ultimately led me to be working with both adults and children back in Australia in mental health.
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