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SPECIFIC – In the next 5 years I would like to reach a position of a family and domestic violence case worker with Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander women. Specifically, to do this, I will finish and obtain my degree. Once I finish my degree, I will obtain experience in my current job.

MEASURABLE – Measurable milestones will be finishing my degree which is Bachelor of Arts (Criminology). Another milestone will be finding experience in casework and doing remote work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander women.

ACHIEVABLE – This achievable as I have the resources and time to finish my degree. I will also be able to find casework as I have access to casework in my roles in my local area. I also have recently been offered a working holiday to remote communities in Australia.

RELEVANT – This is relevant as it begins creating my experience so I can work on becoming a confident and capable family violence worker.

TIME BOUND – For the first year I will work on finishing my degree and graduating. For years two and three I will work on travelling and gathering experience with different communities. For years four and five I will be applying for case worker jobs and then start beginning a caseworker job.

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SPECIFIC – In the next 10 years I would like to reach a higher position as a advanced case manager. After my 5-year goals are reached, I will start to fine tune my skills by taking high roles and doing more certificates.

MEASURABLE – Measurable milestones will be obtaining a higher role and finishing more certificates.

ACHIEVABLE – This achievable as I have the resources and time to finish my degree. I will be able to maintain financially as most places do certificates through the workplace.

RELEVANT – This is relevant as it begins creating my experience so I can work on advancing myself as a case worker.

TIME BOUND – For the sixth and seventh year I intend to complete the certificates and then for the eight nineth and tenth year I will apply and work up to higher roles.

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STAGE ONE

2022-2024: Finish Bachelor of Art (Criminology) and Associate’s Degree in Criminology/Criminal Justice at University of Southern Queensland. Continue working at Centrelink in this time.

STAGE 2

2025 – 2027: Obtain cultural knowledge. I will travel and study different cultures. I will do this through my work and through general personal travel/experience. While doing this I will continue working at Centrelink. I will cut down my hours to do be able to have more experience to volunteer and try get some work experience. In the final 8-12 months of this stage, I will apply for case worker jobs in my local area.

STAGE 3

2028-2029: In this stage I will have obtained a job as a family and domestic violence case worker. I will begin learning in my new career for the first 12 -24 months. Once I do this, I will begin to be found out what is required to move to a higher role. I will ask my employer if I can job shadow a team leader role to get some experience.

STAGE 4

2030-2032: I will begin to ask my employer for high roles and start applications (if they have them). I will obtain a higher role and begin to manage staff and potentially take courses on how to ensure the psychological safety of my team can be ensured. After this phase I will begin to work on my life and work balance.

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My objective is to become a family and domestic violence caseworker (or practitioner) and work up to higher roles and become an advanced/senior case manager or potentially a team leader. According to the Victorian Government (2022) website from 2021 all family and domestic violence case workers need to obtain a Bachelor of Social Work or equivalent qualification and some cultural knowledge or lived experience. So, the first step is to obtain my Bachelor of Art (Criminology) to be able to meet this criterion. Then I wish and need to get some more cultural knowledge, as I already have lived experience. With my current job, I am currently in the application process of applying to work in remote Aboriginal communities in remote parts of Central Australian. This will give me the experience I need understand those better in the role I want. I will then work on applying for jobs and continue to find more education options, such as a Family Violence and Sexual Assault Traineeships Program or Family Violence Sexual Assault Program. After I have more experience, I will apply for higher roles as I will have the knowledge I need.

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Health

One potential obstacle is my health. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease one year ago. I have been learning to manage it, but I can have the occasional flare up which can halt my everyday life. This could potentially stop me for days or even weeks at a time from preforming at my work. This could make me be seen as an unreliable worker to an employer. To overcome this, I will need to ensure I schedule regular appointments, maintain medications and take proper rest days to ensure I’m taking care of my health.

Work-Life Balance

With my set goals and objectives for my career, I may become to busy within my career plan that I don’t make enough time for relationships, friends, family, self-care and other important activities. The result of this would lead to a burn out, less productivity and decline in mental health. I would overcome this by ensuring I use time management to plan time to have self-care, catch ups with friends and family and any other activities to allow me to de stress from work.

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Therapy

A great way to ensure I take care of my own psychological safety is to regularly visit a psychologist or therapist when I am handling tough cases or for general conversations around life. While there is no statistics of the percentage of social workers that seek mental health support, there is a general statistic that around two-thirds (61%) of working adults took actions to improve their own mental health in the last 12 months (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2021). Many studies support that seeing a therapist is a great way to debrief and create healthy habits and coping mechanisms for workers. Doing this will allow me to handle the jobs heavy workload.

Building a Network

Another way to become resilient is to build a network. A network can be creating a group of colleagues to discuss, debrief and share information with. Not only will this support me in stressful situations, but I may also learn off my colleagues. Building a strong network allows me to create career progression. Studies by Elma Mrkonjic (2022) have found that 80% of people got hired in their current role because of networking. This shows the important of networking. So, I will ensure to create a network to have support and to ensure career advancement.

Manage Stress

I will ensure to maintain my stress by having a work-life balance. I will ensure I’m checking in with myself and doing things such as creating good sleep habits, eating healthy, working out, socialising and making time for rest. According to Victoria Health (2012), paying attention to your ‘work–life balance’ can help you manage work-related stress and allow you to perform at the best of your ability compared to someone who does not.

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Victorian Government (2022). Mandatory minimum qualifications for specialist family violence practitioners. Retrieved 23 November 2024 https://www.vic.gov.au/mandatory-minimum-qualifications-specialist-family-violence-practitioners

Department of Health and Aged Care (2021). National study confirms importance of mental health services. Retrieved 23 November 2024 https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/national-study-confirms-importance-of-mental-health-services

Elma Mrkonjic (2022). 20 Astonishing Networking Statistics You Must Know. Retrieved 24th November 2024 from https://goremotely.net/blog/networking-statistics.

Victoria State Government (2012). Work and your health. Retrieved 24th November 2024 from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/work-and-your-health#dealing-with-stress-at-work

Open Universities (2023). Burnout in social work and what you can do about it. Retrieved 24th November 2024 from https://www.open.edu.au/advice/insights/burnout-in-social-work-and-what-you-can-do-about-it