Fruitful Learning Experience

Australia was a world of firsts for me. This was the first time I was taking a course that was not a GE, required for my major, or science-related. This was the first time I learned about the social welfare and mental health system. This was the first time I met Aboriginal people and learned about their history and culture. This was the first time I went to a hospital that gave their citizens free health care. This was the first time I fed kangaroos, wallabies, and parrots. This was the first time I mediated on the beach. This was the first time I traveled across the world without my family. This was the first time I was surrounded by a group of people who all had the same goal of improving aspects of life for all people regardless of ethnicity, income, and education level.

Unlike many others on the trip, I was not a social work major. I was actually the complete opposite: a medical dietetics major with aspirations to attend medical school. The reason I joined this program was due to my interest in working with the under-served population, issues regarding homelessness and food insecurity, and my end goal of eventually running my own free clinic. My previous experience with social workers was very limited but I knew some were involved with helping under-served populations and this would be a great experience to learn more about what they do, the services they provide, and how I could work with them to improve the healthcare of the target populations I hope to serve in the future. I did not know what to expect when entering this trip. From what I heard in the past about social workers were that their main job was to take kids away from unsafe homes and that in the health field, they were only involved in discharge planning. My experience in Australia made me realize that they do so much more than that and changed my views on social workers in an extremely positive way and I am grateful for that.

During our time in Melbourne, we visited various agencies whose purpose was to help provide social welfare and mental health services to children and adults alike and tackle issues regarding youth homelessness and violence. Each agency presented to us and they each had empowering technique to get their message across. I also was impressed by the amount of evidence-based practice each agency utilized. I had no previous background in social work so during each agency visit I learned so much information about issues that I realized were happening but did not think about on a day to day basis. Learning about high-stress related issues such as suicide, family violence, domestic violence, and mental health issues really opened my eyes to the vast array of problems Australia and our own country faces. I also learned about programs agencies were developing and the push for policy to advocate for children and young adults and the importance of funding mental health services to these age groups. We learned about trauma-informed practice and one particular agency’s push, Vic Seg, for cultural competency training.  One of my favorite programs I learned about while visiting agencies was called Theraplay with Children in Foster Care. This program was run by an agency called Berry Street and they have multiple programs focusing on children and families in foster care, abuse, domestic violence, and homelessness. This specific program, Theraplay, uses positive experiences and fun activities to help create a connection with the carer and child and help them see through the lens of their child and increase their understanding of what the child has been through. The goals of their program include giving carers additional training in a fun way, build upon attachment, and have fun in a non-judgmental area. I did not have much knowledge on what play therapy was and it was such an interesting concept that I wish was utilized more. Likewise, the Royal Children’s Hospital-another place we visited- also had a program called Comfort First that utilizes a play therapist. The Comfort first team assists the parent and child with medical procedures associated with their child’s treatment. The aim of the program is to promote coping skills and good procedural outcomes for children and families. We had the opportunity to talk to a play therapist and she showed us how they explain medical terms such as what a stethoscope is and the purpose of it in a manner that children understand i.e. use a stuffed puppet who was the patient, color objects, etc.  These are just a few of the amazing programs we learned about in Australia and all the agencies were young, progressive, and seemed a little bit ahead of the U.S. in ways they were improving social welfare and mental health services to children and adults.

The Aboriginal History

Learning about the history of the Aboriginal people was astonishing and surprising. Before I came to Australia, I thought that the Aboriginal people were recognized and admirable people in Australia. As I came to know quickly, during our first agency visit at Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), that this was not the case. Although the aboriginal culture is 60,000 years old, the longest living culture in the world, they were kicked out of their land by the white people and discriminated against for years including present times. It was eye-opening to hear the personal stories from those that worked at VACCA and experiences of racism and neglect their entire families have faced. We learned about the Stolen Generation- thousands of Aboriginal children who were taken from their families due to an assimilation policy. I had never heard of the Stolen Generation and it saddened me that their grandparents had to go through something like that and that this policy only ended in the 1970s.  Additionally, it also surprised me that only in 2008, was an official apology (made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd) given to the indigenous peoples. It seems like Australia is moving forward by taking steps to create respect and a better life for the indigenous peoples but it still astonishes me that it took so long to do so. They still face problems such as racism, homelessness, and crime at a higher rate than other Australians and only time, new programs and initiatives such as those VACCA provide will help the indigenous peoples heal and promote their rights. I feel optimistic because every agency we visited at Melbourne paid their respects that we were on the lands of the Aboriginals and it would be the first thing they would say before starting their presentations. Moreover, almost all the agencies had at least one Aboriginal person on their staff or a program specifically working with the Aboriginal peoples, which shows the progress they have made in the past several years. One quote I took away from VACCA was “No matter how much milk you put into coffee, coffee is still coffee.” Differences in race and culture are problems that occur in every part of the world but it is disheartening when violence and crimes are outcomes of it.  As our own country is making steps towards equality, I hope that we can be more accepting of everyone’s culture, traditions, and skin color.

Social Work and Future Professional Goals

Many people asked me why I was participating in a social work program when I am in the medical dietetics program on the track of becoming a registered dietitian and also planning to apply to medical school. What could be the possible connection between social work, dietetics, and medicine? As I learned through this trip- EVERYTHING! Social workers are not there to steal kids away from families, their primary job is to help families who are in tough situations and make better lives for them. They help counsel on family, behavioral, and mental issues and increase access to services to those that do not have any. Healthcare professionals may help in a different way that social workers, but they also have the common goal of improving the health and outcomes of their patient/client.  As I came to realize during this trip, social workers do much more than just discharge planning. They are the bridge between the patient and the doctor and are the ones that listen any troubles the patient may be experiencing that affects their health such as substance abuse and domestic violence.  They do everything to ensure that the improvement of health done by the doctor is maintained such as connecting the patient with resources and providing financial support. There are many aspects of a patient that is not covered in the checklist that the physician goes through during the beginning of a visit. This is where a social worker becomes a valuable resource. They know that patient in a different context than a physician does and a lot of times that information is critical in the treatment plan of the physician. For example, if there a baby who is living in a house that is infested by cockroaches, how is she supposed to stay healthy? A doctor would not realize the reason the baby was frequently coming to the hospital was due to that unless the social worker talked to the family, figured out their situation, talked to the doctor and helped find another place for the family to live.

Moreover, I found many similarities between social workers and dietitians that I did not expect to occur. They are both professions that are not as highly regarded as they should be. A person’s diet is also pertinent in their overall health but most of the time medication is the first solution instead of diet change and exercise. Dietitians also do a lot of counseling and motivational interviewing to find out the client’s internal motivation to make a change. They use the different stages of change to help a client move towards their goal. Social workers also use the stages of change and motivational interviewing to effectively communicate with their clients/patients. At the Bouvarie Center, Dr. Young taught us the concept of the single session therapy. This concept focused primarily on getting the most out of session with your client because they most likely will not see you again. This reminded me tremendously of what dietitians do with clients because many of the times you do not know if you will see your client/patient again and it is entirely up to them for a follow up visit. It is imperative to focus on the points that are most important to their situation and develop strategies for them on those issues in case you never see them again. The parallels between dietitians and social workers were not one I expected to find and ones I found very interesting.

My favorite part of Australia was that they have publicly funded universal health care system and each citizen is guaranteed public health insurance! My goal is to work as physician in an under-served area and increase access of health care to those who do not have it. I also hope to focus on primary intervention efforts and be an advocate for interdisciplinary health care. My end goal is to eventually run a free clinic. When I asked about free clinics at the Royal Children’s Hospital, the social worker looked at me like I was crazy and said that healthcare is free for everybody! If the U.S. could adopt a system similar to Australia’s I think the health of the general population would improve immensely. I also believe the best care for the patient is one where the whole healthcare team works together to solve the problem. Australia has a huge push for primary intervention care and I hope that America will start to adopt this strategy. Many chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are all nutrition related and could be prevented with intervention early on. As a future healthcare professional with backgrounds in dietetics and now social work, I hope to eventually run a free clinic that provides mental health services and nutrition consultations. This trip has emphasized to me the importance of interdisciplinary education and learning about what other professionals do and how to effectively communicate with them.

G’Bye Deadly Australia

This was a life-changing and valuable experience I will never forget. I met amazing people, tried Vegemite (probably won’t do that again though), watched groups of penguins emerge from the sea to the shore, and learned priceless information. As others have expressed, I have found a hard time articulating my experience to my friends and families. I usually sum it up as it was an awesome experience and I learned a lot about a profession that I now have developed a great respect for. I have taken away so much from Australia such as the importance of social work to the value of effectively communicating your views/opinions to others. This trip has given me valuable context on understanding the under-served population and information I can use in the future. I have improved my cultural competency and the trip brought to light many issues I have heard of happening but did not truly recognize the prevalence of. I encourage every Ohio State student to study abroad where you will learn more about yourself and appreciate the different cultures and history that surrounds us. The amazing views and wildlife will always be in my mind and I have hundreds of pictures to remind me of everything that we did in the last three weeks from the train station, to the 12 apostles. This trip has motivated me to continue traveling and learn more about issues regarding social welfare and health in different countries. Thanks for everything Australia! I hope to see you again in the future 🙂

-Anna Cherian