Making a new connection

Eight Illawarra Aboriginal women have received new qualifications to help them work in the aged care and community services industry.

The women graduated from a training course in Home and Community Care last week.

The course ran over three months and was targeted specifically at long term unemployed Indigenous women in the area.

Kay O’Donnell is one of the women who recently graduated from the course.

She said she and the others in her group are planning on going out and applying for jobs in aged care, and along with several of the other women involved in the course she expressed a desire to help take care of older Indigenous people.

Ms O’Donnell said non-Aboriginals might struggle to understand and take care of Aboriginal people, whereas other Indigenous people have a firsthand insight into their situation and can forge a stronger connection.

The women said they were also interested in working within the mainstream aged care or community service industries, where they said there was a need for greater numbers of Indigenous staff.

The Department of Education and Training funded course is free for long-term unemployed people and is the fourth of its kind held in local community centres since July 2007.

Wollongong City Council supports the program locally. Council’s Manager of Community, Cultural and Library Services, Sue Savage said the program helps local people gain employment in areas experiencing a skills shortage.

“The latest 12 week training course was the first of its kind to be held specifically for long term unemployed Indigenous women, and has been hailed a huge success with all participants set to gain employment as a direct result of the training,” she said.

“Based on this successful model of teaching, Council is currently running three more Home and Community Care courses, one specifically designed for Indigenous community members, one for Berkeley residents and one for members of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse community.”