Natalie Rotin

I think it’s two-fold – my own experience as an adolescent person and navigating that awkward, weird time, and now having a young person of my own and realising that there’s so much work to be done in that space.

I’d already done a Bachelor degree in health science so I had an interest in public health and the work I was already doing in the health space. I saw an opportunity working in youth for us to be intervening earlier and preventing things from escalating, especially in the justice system where we know that there’s a real issue with young people finding it hard to get out once they’re in the system.

I was previously working at Victoria Police in the mental health department, and it was then that I really liked the idea of possibly working further with young people. The course was recommended through the person who runs the youth department at Victoria Police.

I knew I didn’t want a clinical role, and I think that this degree is unique in that respect as you're not tied to becoming a clinician, its more around providing a holistic education which I don’t think you’d find in very many other places.

Everything is online with this degree, and I’ve found the experience great. As most of us are mature aged students and parents it's probably one of the only ways we can do it. We’re also online with students based interstate and overseas, we’ve got nurses in Queensland, doctors from the Middle East, social workers in Japan. You’re getting to hear experiences from health professionals in very different worlds and environments.

You also get to learn in your own time. There are no exams with this Masters, it’s all theory-based so if you’re working full-time like most of us, it’s a lot easier because you can plan your time according to how you work.

The other good thing about the course is that Dr Ani Wierenga [course coordinator] and the teaching team are really good at making sure you’re choosing the right subjects. If you do want to do your Masters then realise after one year that you need to postpone, at least you do have your graduate certificate or your diploma because they helped steer you in the right direction. They’re really personable. I was a student at another university for a while and I’ve never come across the support that I get from the coordinators here, it’s amazing how approachable they are.

Firstly, most people doing the course are mature age students. We don’t always work directly with young people, but we all have some sort of experience working in health, social work, or in police and emergency services and we all have touch points with adolescents. Being able to come together in our tutorials and workshop things and get everyone’s experiences on discussion boards has been helpful in my own job, and it’s been really cool to see how you can coordinate work just by networking.

The other highlight has been working with lecturers, teachers and professors that are ‘walking the walk’. People that are out there practicing social work, advocacy work, working at the Royal Children’s Hospital. That’s been a highlight of my learning because you know that you're learning what’s being done on the ground. I think sometimes at university, when I did some of my subjects for health science, you learn one thing but what’s happening on the ground is not the same. Whereas this is not like that, you’re learning what’s happening right there and now, and it’s current.