Hello from Columbus! I have made it back to “the states” safe, sounds, and completely fulfilled. My month abroad in Australia was everything I could have asked for and more. Not only did I gain extensive knowledge in the fields of children’s welfare and child mental health, but I also experienced beauty that you cannot find anywhere else in the world. It is impossible to see everything there is to see in Australia in just four weeks, but believe me I would have if I could. Hopefully, I have the opportunity to return to the land down under in the future to continue to explore all that the country has to offer.
From a classroom perspective, the Child Welfare and Children’s Mental Health program deeply submerged me into the Social Work field, and I found myself able to connect the information presented at the agency visits to my interests in pediatric medicine. Over the three week program, we visited 10 different agencies. Each agency presented us with their policies, beliefs, procedures, underlying theories, etc.
Our first, and perhaps my favorite, agency visit was our time spent learning about the aboriginal culture at VACCA. We learned all about connecting with individuals through culture. I realized during this training that culture is something unique to each person I will come in contact with. It is especially
important that when I am working with patients in the future I first try to understand that patient’s cultural background. Without this understanding, I will not have the ability to treat a patient. Understanding one’s culture is essential to preforming treatment on an individual basis and knowing everything you can about a particular case before taking any actions that may go against or disrespect one’s cultural beliefs.
Our morning visit to Innovative Resources, a partner of Anglicare also provided me with knowledge that I can use in a variety of disciplines. Innovative Resources is an organization that uses creative resources to get in touch with children’s emotions and help with communication of these emotions to adult professionals. One resource I found particularly interesting was a set of playing cards called “The Bears” in which bears are pictured on the cards experiencing a variety of emotions, open for interpretation by the viewer. The goal of this resource is to have children choose the cards that describe how they are feeling in that moment. I immediately thought about how useful this resource could be to help children with physical pain to describe the intensity of their pain to a medical professional. I hope in the future I am able to access similar resources to get an accurate evaluation of a young patient experiencing any kind of discomfort.
I truly believe that my time in the Australia Child Welfare and Children’s Mental Health program will help me in the future to provide a multidisciplinary approach as a physician’s assistant. The medical field and the mental health field overlap too often to approach one without simultaneously thinking about the other. This could mean having a patient fill out a mental health assessment before medical appointm
ents to avoid mental health triggers. It could be accomplished by making sure patients have the resources they need to have good mental health after their appointment. For example, at beyondblue, I realized how important it was that expectant mothers and fathers are provided with access to information about preventing perinatal mental health disorders. These disorders, such as postpartum depression are very serious, and it is necessary to address the potential for them before they become a problem. A simple conversation during a prenatal checkup could protect an expectant mother from months of postnatal depression and anxiety.
Now onto the fun stuff…
Here’s just a few things that I learned about traveling to Australia –
- When crossing the road in Melbourne, look EVERY direction, not just left and right. You NEVER know when a car, tram, train, bus, or even biker is coming (I definitely had some near death experiences with oncoming trams and trains…)
- Australia is very conscious about water use, and “the states” could definitely benefit from the half flush/full flush toilets you see everywhere.
- Kangaroos do NOT like selfies.
- Cherish free ketchup. You’ll have to scrounge up a dollar coin if you want a little “tomato sauce” with your chips (French fries) in Australia.
- When someone says “How are you going?” don’t say “by tram” like I did once. The Aussies really mean “How are you doing?”.
- Coffee in Australia is to die for. The flat white became a daily necessity while abroad. There is nothing like it here in the U.S.
As soon as I arrived back in America people started asking if I enjoyed my time in Australia. I still have not been able to give a single person an answer that explains just how important this trip has been for me and how much I have grown through this experience. In life “post-Australia” I hope to constantly remind myself that every day has the potential to be the best day ever. The world has so much to offer that I never knew was out there. I encourage everyone to travel/study abroad because once you step out of your comfort zone into unknown territory it is so much easier to open your eyes and realize how much around you has changed. It makes you realize what things you love about your everyday life and what things you wish you could do just a little better. I hope that I continue to embrace everything I have learned while abroad and always remember to create my own energy and happiness at the start of each and every day.
True Blue, I thank you!