Mikayla Woods and Sophie Dart found the forum valuable. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Two aspiring health professionals from St Francis De Sales Regional College in Leeton took the first steps towards a career at a forum held at the Griffith TAFE on Friday (4 April).
Year 12 students Mikayla Woods, 18, and her friend Sophie Dart, 17, learned about working as a social worker, pharmacist, speech pathologist, psychologist and nurse at the event organised through the NSW Department of Education’s Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP) Program.
“I’d like to do psychology because I want to help people,” Ms Dart said.
“Today, we attended talks by professionals in the field. I learned about all the different pathways that you can do within psychology. It’s not just limited to counselling; it goes way beyond that.”
Ms Woods said she was planning to do a double degree in nursing and paramedics and the forum gave her an insight into her future university life.
“I learned all about doing the double degree and the benefits from it. I’d like to be a paramedic.”
Both students said they’d like to stay and work in the Riverina when they graduate, which is good news for government, who are trying to encourage and train locals to plug chronic skill shortages in the health fields.
Griffith-based social worker Sheridan McGregor, who gave a talk to students, said she’d love to see more young locals take up jobs in the industry.
“If someone has the knowledge of the issues that face rural people, which are different from those in the city, we really value those skills,” she said.
“We have lots of employment opportunities and vacancies across the region so if you choose social work you’ll always have a job.”
Speech pathologist Eliza Goode surprised attendees by explaining what people in her profession did every day.
“My job sits in hospitals. The patients I see are mainly people who have swallowing difficulties, communication difficulties because they’ve had a stroke, breathing problems, cancer or other medical diagnoses,” she said.
Eliza Goode explains the mystery of swallowing. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
RIEP program organiser Katie Friedlieb explained how the annual forum benefitted students.
“Griffith Health Forum is held for senior high school students to promote different pathways in health,” she said.
“Most of the students who attend know they want to go into health but they may not be sure about the difference between the different allied health professions.
“This forum lets them explore four different topics and speak to local industry representatives about their backgrounds, pathways and what they do on a day-to-day basis.”
