Jaqueline Readett

“When I decided to study for a Bachelor of Social Work through The University of Queensland Graduate Entry Program, friends asked me, “why do you want to do social work?” Many felt that you had to be “a special kind of person” to work with other people who may be experiencing hardship. I felt I was kind of special enough to give it a go.

I found the course to be everything I hoped for, although I struggled to get more than a pass mark for my work. I had promised myself that I would balance my work, study and parenting duties as best as I could because I was determined my children would not be left with the ‘dregs’ of me at the end of the day. Sometimes you just have to compromise.

I entered social work with an interest in community development. However the longer I worked as a social worker and experienced the ‘needs’ of the people I provided support for, the greater my interest developed in working in the field of mental health.

My first job was as a support worker for a Home and Community Care Program, offered by Youth and Family Services at Logan Central. I left after that to travel overseas. I returned and gained employment with Mission Australia, in the Personal Support Program, providing counselling and other support to assist clients of Centrelink to overcome ‘non-vocational barriers’. I remained there for 3 years and consider it a tremendous experience for the exposure it gave me to the diversity of people and concerns that may arise in a lifetime.

I completed my first year of study for a Masters in Mental Health – Psychotherapy, part-time, through The University on Queensland last year. This has been a very good move for me and I feel I have learnt a lot more than my grades reflect.

The course has just been re-engineered so I will be continuing but will complete with a Masters in Mental Health – Family Therapy. I believe this degree will complement perfectly my current role as the Social Worker in the Queensland Government’s ‘Older Persons Mental Health Service: Metro South Health Service District: Logan – Beaudesert’.

In this service I work as a member of a multi-disciplinary team and have discovered this to be very helpful in performing in the social work role. I feel valued as a social worker and also appreciated for my developing psychotherapy skills. While all members of my team, especially some with 20 and 30 years experience in the service, have quite a good knowledge of community services, I am seen as ‘guardian’ of all the resource information.

I have found the Social Work degree incredibly rewarding, personally and professionally, and that it has fulfilled my expectations of a profession, while advancing my aspiration to do something with my life to improve the world we live in bit by bit everyday.”

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