<\/p>\n
What is your role and what does your work focus on?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mental Health Academic – Rural and Remote Health SA – College of Medicine and Public Health<\/p>\n Where did you work before joining CMPH\/RRH?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have worked for Flinders College of Nursing and Health Science on a casual basis for the past 10 years. Before coming to Flinders in Renmark I worked for La Trobe University in Mildura.<\/p>\n Do you have a rural background?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was born in Adelaide; however, I have worked across rural remote settings for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n Tell us a little about your professional journey and what brought you to this point in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n That is a very complex story. I started my nursing career in the late 80\u2019s at the Sturt Campus but was told to leave the course and try something else by a senior lecturer as they didn\u2019t think I was suited to nursing. I transferred to disabilities and didn\u2019t return to Nursing at Flinders for another 15 years. Once I graduated, I decided to specialize in Aboriginal Mental Health only to discover I was the only graduate. A fight with aggressive cancer saw me progress into the Cancer Mental Health arena and work with over 60 communities across Australia. Over the next 10 years I have done a lot of casual teaching at Flinders (including the Riverland) before going to La Trobe Uni as the Indigenous academic advisor to the Dean. Coming back to Renmark is a bit like coming home.<\/p>\n What is something you love most about your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n I work and have worked with some amazing students and colleagues during my career. It never fails to amaze me how much I am always learning from both. The lack of Indigenous health professionals has always been a concern for me, so when I get to go to an Indigenous students graduation, that is the best feeling.<\/p>\n If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n The school I went to didn\u2019t allow Aboriginal students, so we hid that fact.<\/p>\n Not having completed year 10, I was classified as an academic failure with no prospects.<\/p>\n I probably need to list two things: Don\u2019t be afraid to be Aboriginal and don\u2019t believe the pigeonholes that society and school says you belong in.<\/p>\n How do you like to relax or spend your spare time?<\/strong><\/p>\n Fishing, Markets, Road trips and meals in old country pubs.<\/p>\n How do you enjoy living and working in a rural area and what are the benefits and challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n I love rural life, although if I had my ultimate choice, it would be a coastal town as my traditional country is coastal land and beach fishing is my favourite thing.<\/p>\n While any move can have its challenges, I think we need to be mindful of single students or staff moving to regional or remote communities, that they don\u2019t become isolated socially.<\/p>\n What are most looking forward to in 2023?<\/strong><\/p>\n Settling into the Riverland and discovering all the amazing places.<\/p>\n Getting our new training packages ready to roll out in 2024 and working towards increasing our Indigenous student numbers across all our Rural Remote Campuses in SA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is your role and what does your work focus on? Mental Health Academic – Rural and Remote Health SA – College of Medicine and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2722,"featured_media":1320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4123,3540],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-get-to-know-cmph","category-rural-and-remote"],"yoast_head":"\n