Julie Alexander
Doing the course and having the certificate has been extremely beneficial as I am relocating and already have 6 job offers – one of which is a job as a supervisor with 5 people working under me, so far I have been the only person to apply for these jobs that has the certificate. Having the certificate has definitely helped me get where I want to be in my job!
Skilling Queenslanders for work, funded Hospitality programme
Jennifer Robinson
I found the course very enlightening and the tutor was very good and informative because of the extensive job knowledge that she had. She was also very good at making the boring subjects interesting.
Skilling Queenslanders for work, funded Hospitality programme.
Student
The course was really good and well organised. It helped with my work and getting increased hours. It was also easy to understand what they taught us.
Skilling Queenslanders for work – funded Hospitality programme
Rhianna Hall
I came to Queensland from Western Australia and had found myself very isolated as a result of my circumstances.
I found it very difficult to communicate with others, feel safe and find a place in the mainstream withholding my experience of homelessness as a result of domestic violence, which had brought me to Queensland for safety.
I found myself retreating into isolation without growth.
Office for Women and TAFE has been pivotal in supporting my renewed growth, intellectually and emotionally as well as financially, where options of education and retraining were not possible.
Having the opportunity to learn in a supportive environment with other women who shape similar experiences, has for me, made the possibility of re-joining a mainstream structure, I once feared I would never again have the chance of or capability of.
I have now completed a Certificate II in Community Services, with commitments to further studies and volunteer with the organisation that supported me in my crisis.
I am making new friends with strong and inspiring women from all walks of life.
I am confident in constructively staying connected to my experience and now into the new… Is a hope and opportunity I have not seen for many years.
By Rhianna Hall – Cert II in Community Services (Ashmore)
Teboni Blair
I chose the Diploma of Community Services Work’s course because this is the area I would like to work in.
I would like to work with my people and help young children and mothers to have the opportunity that is being given to me to enable them to have a better and safer future.
In growing up as a aboriginal woman and a mother, daughter and sister I have lived, seen and been part of the life where I have seen and experienced the problems that my people and my family have personally faced when lived on the Missions in the city I have seen and experienced the difficulties and struggle that my people and family have gone through. My brother and I were brought up by my Grandmother who raised us on her own. Being a young mother and single parent with 2 children I thought this was my life and the way that everyone lived.
One day my sister said that she was going to do a course at TAFE and suggested I should come along, she told me it was going to be an all Aboriginal women’s course down at Caboolture TAFE, the course was a Certificate II in Community Services . I went along with my sister and it began to make me think about me and my children’s future.
To be part of this course with other Aboriginal women gave me the confidence and opportunity to believe in myself and that there can be a better future out there, I felt I was very fortunate to be part of this group, the teachers and fellow students offered me encouragement and supported me in many ways by just talking to me on a personal level and accepted me as a fellow student. The teachers went out of their way to assist us to finish the course.
My experience with the teachers and students inspired me to think about my people and my life.
I went home and thought a lot about my future, where did I want to be and what did I want to do. I have always helped other kids and family members and been there for them. I saw this course as a door opening for me. I decided that I would take a chance and enrolled in the Diploma of Community Services Work, I believe this course will give me an opportunity of finding employment and allowing me to better help others now that I now know what’s out there. It has also helped me to have confidence, I now volunteer at the Early Year Centre.
My future goals to be employed in full time work, my preference is to work within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community helping others to make better choice in life or to be there for them. My preference is to work with mothers and children to make a change.
By Teboni Blair – Cert II in Community Services (Caboolture)
Esther Hislop
I was asked to write about how I became involved in doing my Cert II in Community Services. I was a stay at home carer for my Partner who has secondary cancer in the spine and right femur.
I was struggling with depression when my case manager Jane Van Der Putten from STARH program rang and told me that the Office for Woman and the Brisbane North Institute of TAFE were offering a course in Cert II in Community Services, I jumped at the chance to get some qualifications.
The course was held at the Futures in Focus office in 6 Juniper circuit Beenleigh when I arrived I received a real warm welcome and as the course proceeded I was facing some real tough days with my partners cancer getting worse and having to drive him from the Gold Coast to the Marter in Brisbane Daily for treatments. At the same time as my partner was facing the cancer I had also just had major surgery on my left knee and was waiting for surgery on my right knee due to a work injury.
I thought of quitting the course but with the great support from my Tafe teacher Glenda Ashleigh from Brisbane North Institute of Tafe and even more support from Wesley Mission eg Tabatha Pashen and Jilliann Coverdale from Futures in Focus, and my case manager Jane Van Der Putten from the STARH program. I was able to finish the course.
I was asked what this has meant to me, this course gave me the courage to get up again and realise I can do something with my life it is not the end. That is how I was feeling being at home with no opportunities. I also realised I am stronger than I thought I was and with the right support anything is possible.
This brings me to what am I doing now I am halfway through my cert IV in Business Admin with my goal to somehow find the money to do a teachers degree so that I can teach my two main subjects of disability services and community services. I was injured at work while doing the disability services so if I can teach others the best way to stay safe in that line of work I would be very happy.
Doing the Cert II in Community Services may not seem like much, but it was the support encouragement and the belief, that I could not only finish the course but that there was hope to go on and do whatever I wanted to do in the future. Thank you to all who helped me along the way and I hope that this opportunity and others like this will be made available to other women like me who just need someone to show them that there is hope for a better life and that someone believes in them.
By Esther Hislop – Cert II in Community Services (Beenleigh)