Building my skills

Building my skills 

Adela’s background (story related by staff member)

Adela (pseudonym) came to Australia from Afghanistan on a Spousal Visa in 2011.

When she first sought help from a service provider, Adela was experiencing severe Family Domestic Violence (FDV), which was causing her extreme mental anguish and stress. The social worker within the agency assisted her to take out a Violence Retraining Order (VRO) and provided her with the necessary support she required.

For security and safety, Adela and her children have been staying at a home unknown to her husband.

Getting involved

Since becoming involved with the support agency, Adela became involved in various activities and ongoing supportive meetings. On one occasion, she attended a talk where various career and training options were presented.  The educational institution indicated that they required more people from multicultural origins in nursing as Australia has become a very multicultural country. Adela was inspired by this and at the end of the presentation she spoke with the career representative indicating that for some time she had been thinking about becoming a nurse.  Adela’s English is of a competent level and she is now in the process of applying for entry into nursing, translating the necessary Identification documents and following the process of recruitment. She is also concurrently applying for citizenship.

Adela has hope for her future.

What Adela’s story highlights

• Adela’s strength to confront a situation of severe FDV and follow through with what was necessary to remove herself and her children from that situation
• Her hope for the future
• Her vision / dream for herself that led her to pursue training towards a helping career, and one which could build on her multicultural skills and understandings
• Her ability and application to take the necessary steps to make what will be major changes for her in a new country
• The fact that she sought out and productively used the support of a service provider with the appropriate support for CALD women.