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When Marcus first learned about intersectionality, it was a light bulb moment. “It’s a theory from black feminists who are talking about a subjective experience they’ve had… about what it means to be a black woman, to be queer,” they say. For Marcus, an African American queer person with lived…

Support for young people often takes a one-size-fits-all approach. Youth worker Cihan Tohumcuer has seen how this cookie-cutter model has left Victoria’s Muslim community behind. Cihan is Muslim himself and grew up in Melbourne’s north watching many of his brothers and cousins using and dealing drugs. “Back…

Dave Pettingill has felt like a youth worker since he was three. He grew up with many foster brothers and sisters, and eventually, his parents used the family home as crisis accommodation. He loved meeting so many different kids. “From an early age I could see that…

There’s an old saying in social work: if you want to help people, you have to meet them where they are. For Akash Nadar, that meant heading over to his parents’ house in the back of a police van.*

The year was 2019, and Akash’s home life, which…

They call it the Experience Paradox: to get a job, you need experience; but to get experience, you need a job. Larry De’Corso understands the problem well. After completing their Master of Social Work, Larry spent months looking for work in their chosen field of youth mental health.…

When Kelly* came to YSAS, she was 17 and looking for help. “I was having problems with alcohol,” she remembers, “and using marijuana and ice.” After chatting with a case worker, she decided to enter one of YSAS’s withdrawal units. And though she occasionally found detox “overwhelming”, she…

Sometimes the best candidate for the job isn’t the person with the longest list of qualifications or the most technical experience – they’re the person with the most time spent at the coalface, who understands the task from personal experience, rather than a textbook.

By this definition, Sione…

The idea of ‘bringing your whole self to work’ has become something of a corporate trend in recent years. But for Georgia Willmott, tearing down the wall between your professional and personal lives is just business as usual.

As a Youth Advocate, it’s Georgia’s job to ensure that…