Generations of Knowledge Commemorative e-Book 2014

as a student. I feel very comfortable here. My partner’s also very supportive of me getting a degree, because he says that one day when I’m earning the big bucks he’ll get to stay at home. Ha. Yeah.

Being here, being part of UWS has helped me appreciate my own cultural identity. There are a lot of people like me here on campus, like Melissa and other Aboriginal staff, trainees and students, and they have lots of Aboriginal art on display, they have dances and events, all of which builds up that part of me, it helps me feel part of that world.

I now want to be a role model for other Aboriginal kids. I think that perhaps some of them might be like I was, afraid to take up some of the opportunities that are on offer to them and I think I can be a role model in saying that you can change, to clean these sorts of things up, give it a good go and when you do there are people around to support you.

I’ve gone from someone who was as an awkward student to someone who is now hard working and wants to be a role model. That’s a pretty interesting change isn’t it? I’m very confident in my Aboriginality, I feel more confident about it now than when I was a teenager. I think I learnt that by doing Psychology, it taught to me to understand difference and gave me a clearer understanding of myself.

That’s something I’ve come realise, that psychologists need specific skills and understanding in dealing with Aboriginal situations and that’s part of my desire to be a role model – being a role model as a psychology issue for Aboriginals. That’s why I definitely believe we should have more Aboriginal psychologists.

As my appreciation of my own Aboriginal heritage has grown I’ve come to realise that Aboriginals think about life differently, especially community. It looks to me like they’re more adept at family life, not just immediate family but your broader family, so I think we have something to learn from them.