Transcription
Hello, I'm called "em" or "you"? I'm called "em". I'm talking to you, okay? Okay, let's go live.
Hello everyone, friends who are tuning in to share information. We will talk a little bit about the weather, which is the first segment.
Yes, here. Now, what is this season like? This season is very beautiful. It's the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Not too hot, not too cold. The climate in Australia is generally quite beautiful. In Adelaide, it's usually dry, so even in summer, it's always dry. Because you know the location is in a valley, right? So, mountains? Yes, that's right. It's often dry, so even when the weather is hot, it's not humid like in Vietnam. Generally, it's comfortable. But this season, is the Adelaide region beautiful, or is the Adelaide region more beautiful in autumn? Every season is beautiful. Each season is beautiful in its own way. For example, in this season, you can start picking strawberries. In a couple more weeks, you can pick cherries. In a couple more weeks, you can pick figs, walnuts, and figs. In Vietnam, people don't know this fruit yet, but here, yes. You've already picked cherries.
Oh, so you have already picked them? It's hotter, it's hotter than Adelaide. Oh, really? Do you find the weather in Adelaide quite similar? I wouldn't dare to say. Oh my goodness. It's not much. Four seasons in a day. That's incredible. Okay. So, Adelaide is stable. Generally, if it's cold, it's uniformly cold. If it's hot, it's uniformly hot. How many times have you been to Adelaide? I go occasionally. In the last few years, I've been going often because I have friends there. I visit my friends sometimes. The time we met was the first time you came to Adelaide. It was the first time I came to Adelaide. Okay. Currently, which area of Adelaide are you in? Adelaide is divided into east, west, south, and north. I'm in the east, about 20 minutes from the city, about 8 kilometers. About 8 kilometers east of the city center. That area is near the hills of Adelaide, also close to the areas where cherries and strawberries are grown. So, it's the upper part? No, it's the east. Adelaide is in the center. Here, the west is the sea, and the east is the mountains. So, it's towards the airport side? Opposite. Exactly. Opposite direction to the airport. The airport is near the sea. This side is near the mountains. People often joke that Adelaide is a city of 20 minutes. Exactly. Everything is 20 minutes apart. But now it's very big. Because it's expanding. People are living further away now, so the centers are also developing further out. Now it probably takes 30-35 minutes to get to the city, not 20 minutes anymore. Now, students are flocking here, right? Yes. They live around that area, the central area. But now, even if it's 30-40 minutes from the center, or even an hour away, they still live there. That's why the city is also big now. Yes. Okay. So, I guess we'll start now, right? I don't know if we can start yet. I need to ask the marketing team if we can start. Can you share the post? Share my livestream in there so people can follow. Okay. Now, I think most of you have joined. So, we will start today's livestream so that people don't have to wait too long.
Hello everyone who is following the PT Helper livestream channel. I am Huy Ly, one of the hosts of this series of direct and honest livestreams about Australia. Most of the content of this livestream series will talk about professions through the stories of guests who have lived and experienced life in Australia. And today, our topic is social work. This profession is very difficult to translate into Vietnamese, so Huy will call it social work in English. And we will also get acquainted with our guest today, Tra. I will let Tra have a few minutes to share and get acquainted with everyone.
Yes, thank you Huy. Hello everyone. My name is Tra. I've been in Australia for almost 7 years. And of course, the reason I'm here today is because I studied social work and can temporarily be considered to be working in this field. I have worked. So, I was a student of PTE and then had the opportunity to work with Huy. That's why I'm here today to talk with everyone. And currently, I am working in the field of psychological treatment.
In the past, I shared with everyone that in the past, Tra was a PTE student, then studied CCL, which is one of the translation certifications to earn points for settlement for Tra's journey. After Tra finished studying, she was also very good at teaching, so she was good at studying. So, Huy kept Tra to collaborate and teach CCL. So, later, because of being too busy with work, Tra continued her journey in the social work field.
I guess after we've learned about Tra's profile and information, I'll ask more so everyone knows. You've been in Australia for 7 years. You chose Adelaide as your first place to live and study, right?
Yes, that's right. The reason I chose Adelaide at that time was for settlement. Adelaide is still considered a regional area now. This means that studying in regional areas gives you 5 extra points. For that reason, it was very clear even before getting on the plane that I had a plan to study this profession and in that city to serve my settlement purpose, right?
Yes, that's right. But among all the professions, the question is, why choose social work? Because I know that before, what was your background, and why did you choose this social work field?
My background has nothing to do with it. I chose this field because of passion. And now, because of that passion. And now, even when I talk to everyone, I still share that you should choose a part. Of course, for settlement, it has to be practical, a little realistic. But if you have passion in it, the journey will be easier and much less painful.
But you say passion, right? But actually, passion must come from... that is, you have researched and know what the field is like. At that time, what did you understand, what did it look like to you?
When I was in Vietnam, I really liked participating in volunteer activities related to environmental protection and social welfare, etc. And by chance, I was researching professions related to that. Then I found social work. At that time, I thought, "Oh, this field sounds a bit strange, and it has the word 'social' in it, which seems like..." I decided to research it. And after reading carefully about the job descriptions and the field of study, it was exactly what I liked to do. That's why I researched it deeply. And when I came here, I read more information. Back then, in 2018, no one knew anything about this field. Even agencies were very vague and didn't understand what this field was or what to study. It's been 6 years since 2018. So, I mainly read and learned on my own, and found information myself. If you don't believe me, then of course, only a few universities offer this field of study. Not every university allows you to study. They have certain conditions. So, you will look for universities that meet their conditions. Regarding qualifications, study, and admission requirements, etc. You can find agents, or you can read on the university's website. Each university has different requirements to see if you meet the admission criteria. But now, I think the admission standards are quite similar, quite standardized.
Okay. So, it's clear that in the past, as you said, your background was unrelated. Yes, that's right. What did you do before, I'm curious?
I studied at Foreign Trade University in Hanoi, majoring in Business and Economics. After graduating, I worked as a translator because I was passionate about languages for a while, and then I became passionate about something else. People say that those from Foreign Trade are very good, right? There's no room for debate. So, when you chose social work, what was the university you chose at that time?
I chose to study at Flinders University in Adelaide. As I said, yes. As I said, at that time, of course, I looked for universities that met the conditions to be granted a valid degree. Then, I prioritized universities in regional areas because at that time I wanted to get regional points. Actually, not everyone needs that, but I did. Because when I went to study, I was already 28 years old, so the more points I could get, the better. I was afraid of losing points due to age. So, I studied in a regional area to get points. Then, among those universities, I looked for the ones with good rankings. When I narrowed down the scope like that, I found the university that suited me.
Very reasonable. So, there's a similarity: you and I went to study abroad at the same age. I was also 27 and 28 years old. And I think people will be very curious to know more about this profession. You studied for a Master's degree, right?
Yes, that's right. I studied Master of Social Work. So, a Master's degree is probably 2 years. Yes, that's right. And in total, in Australia, it's probably the same: there are two semesters per year, starting in February and ending in July. So, you had a total of four semesters. Can you briefly tell everyone how you studied the initial subjects so that people can get a general picture of the social work field?
Okay, I will share my experience. When I started, my university and my major allowed me to start studying directly. I could start in the first semester. And in the first semester, I studied subjects related to society, general subjects related to society, and studied the target groups we would work with. Social work is a field that helps vulnerable groups in society. Each subject relates to a group of people: children, people with disabilities, people with mental health and psychological problems, people with alcohol and drug addiction. And also studied Australian policies. Because this social aspect is closely related to policies, and there must be government funding for us to do it. So, it's very necessary to understand the political context of Australia and what Australian policies are like. Actually, we only studied for two semesters, and in those two semesters, we had to do internships. This is also something that people need to consider when they want to pursue social work: you have to do a lot of internships. You have to do 1000 hours of internship, which is equivalent to two semesters. Yes. Two semesters. Three months, six months of unpaid work. I have to say it honestly, this is a drawback of social work: the internship period is very long and extensive. And if... this means that if someone plans to go there to work and earn money to pay for tuition, I think it's very difficult for this field. Because you spend so much time on unpaid internships for two semesters.
Yes, two semesters. During the time you were studying general subjects, learning about policies, etc., what kind of assignments did you do? Was it writing, presentations, group work, or individual work? Can you share more details?
Okay, this is also specific to my university. Other universities might be different. At my university, we hardly had any exams. We only did assignments, wrote theses, and of course, group assignments. Of course, there were group assignments. And besides the lecture hours, where we attended lectures, we could have tutor hours. That means we were in a smaller class with a tutor to break down smaller assignments for us, and we worked in groups. That's only a small part, not the majority. The main format was writing theses. But other universities might be different.
So, according to what you shared, the ability to read, understand, and write are two essential skills in the semesters of general study, right?
Yes. In social work, both during study and during work, communication skills are almost one of the core skills of this field. Because you will have to communicate with many parties, work with many parties, and handle relationships very skillfully.
Okay. That's for work. For studying, you write many theses. According to the program you studied, you didn't have exams, but you wrote many theses. Yes. You also had to read a lot of documents.
So, when you were studying general subjects like that, did you encounter any difficulties when you first came from Vietnam, with the language barrier, or when working in groups with your classmates? Were they international students, or were there also local students? Did that affect your studies?
I think the difficulties when you come here to study, regardless of the field, are similar. There's a language barrier. And secondly, you haven't built relationships here yet. So, finding resources related to study materials, mentors, people who help you participate in activities, or people who help you get jobs, or people who give you information about this profession, you haven't built all those connections yet. This field, like others, is that when you first arrive, you have that. During the study period, most of the students were international students. Because people in Vietnam didn't know about it yet, but Chinese and Indian students were already very numerous. So, locals, meaning people born and raised in Australia and studying in Australia, were only about... I think about 1/3 of the class. The majority were international students, with many Chinese and Indian students. And not everyone was passionate. So, when working in groups, sometimes we had to carry a lot of the burden. The phrase you said, "not everyone is passionate," I understand what you mean. Many students will not... because they haven't researched clearly, they will not... they don't have the information that some professions are specialized for settlement in Australia. Most of the students from India and China... not all of them, but mostly study to get settlement.
Yes. So, the enthusiasm and participation in group assignments, or really delving into the science, they don't need it, right?
Yes. I had to go through that. And actually, it's very difficult for them too. Because when they study with passion, it feels fleeting, it's a struggle. And they think, "Oh, I've been studying for so long, why is it so boring?" So, I felt that boredom from them. So, I understand that it's not easy for them if they are only studying for settlement. Therefore, okay, I'm not completely pursuing it in a naive way. But when I choose something, I research it a bit more deeply and hope to find some motivation from within. That process will be less of a struggle for me. That's good for me.
Yes. But were there any differences between what you imagined about this profession and what you experienced and learned at that time?
Yes, especially from researching to studying, and from studying to working, there's always a certain gap. I'll talk about the research and your imagination first. When I was in Vietnam, this profession didn't exist. This profession... generally, in universities, I know this profession doesn't exist. It exists in the form of volunteer work, or youth union work, or commune/ward work. So, it's very spontaneous. People are very enthusiastic and have good intentions, but it's spontaneous and not under a strict system. Yes. But it's also very happy. We work from the heart. But it's like, if you can do it, you do it. If you can't, you don't. Here, there's a system that monitors us more strictly. We have to meet certain standards. We have KPIs. It's not like, if you feel like it, you do it. If you don't feel like it, you don't. It's not volunteer work anymore. Yes. It's not volunteer work anymore. It's our profession. So, during my studies, I learned a lot about what challenges you face when you work in this field, what difficulties there are, and what policies are still not fully supported for this profession. Yes. So, I felt the pressure. Didn't you feel the pressure? Not at all. And I also had a clear picture of who I would be working with when I started working. We don't just work with the people we help, but we also work with the people who are helping them. And even though everyone has good intentions, everyone's approach is very different, and they work at different speeds. And if I want my work to be done, sometimes I have to rush some things, urge this person and that person. Therefore, communication skills are very important. Yes. And our bosses too. Our bosses also have their KPIs, and they have to pass them down to us. We have to get the work done. Yes. It's not just about intentions anymore. So, during my studies, I saw that picture and learned a lot of theories behind social work. And then there were decisions that seemed very easy, like accepting a gift. Can you accept a gift? If they like you, they give you a gift, so why not accept it? But there are many reasons behind it that prevent you from accepting it, and you have to refuse it skillfully. When you start working, that becomes even clearer. You truly feel that pressure. You feel the despair of the client and your own despair when you can't help them. Yes. So, gradually, from imagination to studying to working, many things will be revealed.
So, the first two years of general study, and then two years of internship. Will the university arrange the internship placement for you, or do you have to find it yourself? And is the location far from the center where you are staying?
Yes. My university arranges internships for us. And I think most other universities do too. So, we don't have to find it ourselves. We can find it ourselves, but usually, they will arrange it for you. And this is also something that needs to be developed further, needs to be improved. It's not always the case that the university can arrange an internship placement that is directly related to social work. Even though it's an internship for the social work field, it's not always the case that the university can arrange a position that is related to social work. So, it's very possible that if you are not careful, if you are not proactive and extremely eager to learn, it's very possible that the experience you gain from the internship will not be useful.
Yes. Can you explain in detail that for the first internship, the work they want you to do is it part of the curriculum of the subject you are studying, or how is it arranged?
When we do internships, we will have a supervisor. One supervisor at the internship site and one supervisor provided by the university. Yes. Theoretically, theoretically, the work we do for the internship must be related to social work, and we constantly have to reflect. Reflect means, what is it? To reflect, meaning to think about your work and draw lessons from it, and report to the supervisor. Yes. So, we learn from the meetings with the supervisor. Yes. To make our work progress better. Theoretically, that's how it is. In practice, as I said, not all jobs are related to social work. And of course, we will be guaranteed two supervisors. But they won't always have the time and the capacity to keep up with us continuously. And often, they will very likely say, "Oh, just ask if you have any questions. If you don't have any questions, then just do it." Yes. Because that's all they can do. They are also busy, right? Yes. They can only do that much. So, if they ask, "Do you have any questions?" and you don't have any questions, then it means you don't have any opportunity to learn from them. They won't sit there and teach you this and that. Yes. That's my personal experience.
It's just mine. Of course, the place in Laos, everyone can be different, so you have to be extremely positive in the matter of being eager to go, they have to block the Supervisor's path to find out. First, regarding the social work major, what was your internship about? Can you describe it? Yes, well, in social work, I don't know about other schools, but at my school, the two places where students are most often placed are schools and nursing homes. Schools, ah, schools, and so, what will we do there? Yes, after I researched it, the role of social work is to help students in school who have special circumstances, need more help, and need the cooperation of the school with parents and special helpers. Then the social worker will be the one who contacts doctors, psychologists, speech pathologists, etc., to work with that student. Along with the school and family, in schools, teachers cannot take care of all of that. Yes, and those who specialize in a certain profession will not be able to do all of that. So social work is the one who does that, but not every school has social workers. It's normal for one social worker to handle five or six schools. Yes, many students, the government wants to have them in a school because people often say that in an organization or something that brings people together, there will be individuals with completely different circumstances. So, who will listen to those individuals who have unfortunate circumstances? Who will support them, right? So that is the job of a social worker. That's right, supporting them in the sense of, yes, that's right, being able to find out other information and see what this student really needs. Then the social worker will connect with those needs. For example, this student is autistic, this student has a speech delay, so they will help the student connect with a speech pathologist. This student doesn't communicate with other students, so they can help them join group activities where they can communicate better, improve it better, improve it more. Generally, I feel like in Australia, the system is organized in a way that this social work department is placed in a position where we are a unit that will proactively seek them out when we see that they need help. But in Vietnam, we are almost always passive. In organizations, we will wait for people to come to us when they have a problem, right? Actually, it's a system, so one leads to another. Usually, teachers are the ones who work directly with students, right? They see that this student needs more help and the teacher cannot help them all, so they will find a social worker. Yes, that's how it is. So social workers also receive referrals, meaning of course they also proactively research, but they also receive referrals from other parties, and social workers will also refer to other parties. It's a system of steps, steps, steps with each other. So in Vietnam, there might be many missing links, so we don't have enough steps to refer to others. What about the situation at the nursing home? It's similar to schools. Usually, not every nursing home has a social worker. Maybe a few nursing homes share one social worker. For a social worker, a client at a nursing home can have many needs because they need help with legal matters, they need someone to advocate for them. Because at that time, they might be confused, so maybe their family is not the best advocate for them, not on their side, for example. So social workers can help in that process, help them manage finances, yes, etc., do paperwork, etc. Yes. But social work is mostly not in private companies, right? It's mostly government-run, right? Yes, mostly social workers work for the government or non-profit organizations, but some people also work privately. Yes, there are those professions, those services, all of which can be services that you can start your own company and outsource. If people don't want to go through the government, if they don't want to go through this organization, but they know you, they know you are a good person, they can completely use your services. You can run a private company. Yes. So, during your studies, you must have had classmates, right? You said you were passionate because you saw the picture like that, or you researched it. When you started working, what was your personal feeling when you interacted? Did you ever feel like, "I'm wrong," or "I misunderstood it," or did you hear from your friends, "Oh, I was so wrong, I chose the wrong profession"? Did you ever encounter such situations? I don't think it was the wrong choice, but there were times when it was very stressful. There were also times when I thought I should do a little less, or maybe find another path. The social work profession is famous for its stress and burnout. It's famous. No matter what field you work in within social work, it's related to that problem. Can you give an example of a field where social work can lead to extreme stress? For example, okay, I can give an example. I apologize if anyone watching this works in that field. I really don't mean any harm or have any prejudice against this profession. I'm just listening and observing from friends who have worked in it. Social work in child protection in Australia. In Australia, children's rights are very important, and there is a strong focus on protecting children to ensure they are safe, live in adequate conditions, and develop. And many children are abused. Social workers in Australia have a role where, when they receive a report that a child is in danger, they must go to that family, investigate, assess, and make a very difficult decision: can this child continue to stay with this family? Can this child continue to be cared for by this family? Or will this child have to move to another family? That decision is extremely difficult because we are taking a child away from their parents. It's very dangerous. Yes, it's very difficult to make this decision. Emotionally and logically, right? Logically, okay, maybe the conditions are not good, but emotionally, no one wants to do that. And parents will strongly object, of course. And when we are forced to do it, they will hate us very much. Generally, it's very coincidental. Sorry to interrupt, but because of this, I will remember that. I will tell everyone. It was very coincidental that one time on a flight, I was flying back. On the flight, I usually watch movies. Exactly like the scenario you just described: a family, two siblings, and parents died in an accident. And the social worker came to decide whether the younger sister could stay with her older brother. After considering everything, they made the decision to send the child to an orphanage and have her supported by another family to raise her. And precisely because of this, it created a division of love between the brother and sister. This brother became someone else, and they became a bad person. So it goes back to what you were saying, that you can make that decision, and it affects a lot. Yes. Your story, through that movie, I can understand the difficulty of the profession. Yes. We carry a lot of psychological burden because often we don't control the subsequent developments. Things can turn out very badly. At that time, we carry the psychological burden: "Did I cause this?" So when you work, you have to be sure that you are doing it because you want to help, and when you make a decision, you make the best decision at that time with the information you have. You have made the best decision. As for what happens afterward, there are many things you cannot control. To some extent, that helps reduce the psychological burden. Of course, that decision cannot be made quickly, right? You have to investigate many things before you dare to make a decision. But the KPIs are many. So, during your studies, you only worked in those two fields: schools and nursing homes, right? Yes. Yes. You graduated in which year? I graduated at the end of 2019, early 2020. At that time, what was the định hướng (orientation) for settlement like for you? Was the social work major easy or difficult at that time? At that time, social work was extremely difficult because it was the beginning of COVID, and social work means socializing. And at that time, it was the quarantine period. So at that time, oh well, everyone probably knows, those who have lived through that period. The quota was very long, very low, very few invitations. And social work, this major, had a requirement from my parents at the time, which was to have a job to be able to apply. It's like everywhere. It's still like that now, and the conditions are even higher now. And jobs at that time were few because social demand was low due to COVID. Yes. But now the situation is different, and it's also quiet, so yes. But now it's different, so this is just a personal opinion. But for students now, I think it will be more abundant. What was the cost of your two years of study? How much did you spend each year? Each year, it was around over 30,000, and that was just tuition. Just tuition. Yes. But did you work to earn extra money or anything? Or as you said, when you started your internship, you had to focus entirely and couldn't work? Yes. Yes. Generally, at that time, I was lucky that my family supported me. I didn't have too much of a burden to work to earn money for tuition, and I also knew in advance that I probably wouldn't be able to work during the internship. Yes. So I had to prepare mentally for that. But after graduation, was it easy to find a job? And where did you start your first job? Yes, I'll tell you now. That's just my personal experience. But for students who study later, you might still be able to work because there are fields like support worker and youth worker. These are also fields that I worked in when I first graduated. You only need to study a certificate to be able to do them. And these fields are quite related to social work. They not only help you earn money to cover expenses but also help you build relationships gradually. So, for those who are new to the country, you can look into these fields. They are called support workers. Yes, support worker means you go to help the elderly, people with disabilities, or children with cleaning, cooking, and helping them participate in social activities. You can even provide personal care. Wow, like nursing? Almost like nursing? Yes, but with more social support. Meaning you can take them out, take them to activities, classes, etc. Yes. This is that profession. You don't need a Master's degree, just a certificate. Yes. So, for those who are new to the country, or are just studying, or have just graduated and haven't found a job directly related, they can. And even those who studied with me, some of them continue in this field. Because first, the income is not too low, it's okay, and it's quite enjoyable because the clients are usually quite nice to us, compared to the real social work, where the psychological burden is very large. In support worker roles, it's a bit more hands-on, but with less psychological burden. Yes. So, based on what you've told me, I see that to encompass the field of social work in just two words, "social work," is too small. It's very big. It's everywhere. I see that in every field, there will be the involvement of a social worker, right? So, I remember a story you told me that you worked a job where you answered the phone, right? You provided psychological counseling over the phone. Can you tell us more about this job so people can visualize it? Yes, as I shared at the beginning, in Australia, it's a care system for everyone. It can be from step one to step two to step three. There is a system where you can book appointments for psychological care. But sometimes, in critical or emergency situations, or when you really want to talk to someone but there are no appointments available, there are hotlines to support that need. The first job I did, and I think I told you about it, was supporting people with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Yes. So, the job mainly involves checking if the person you are talking to has a high need, if they are in danger. If they are in danger, you have to call the police or ambulance for them. If they are not in danger, then yes. Yes. That's a lot of work, especially in cases of suicide intervention. Calling an ambulance is a very normal thing. Suicide intervention, meaning they call you and say they are going to commit suicide. Yes. They might say that. Yes. So, you have a step where you will de-escalate their emotions. De-escalate means they are very tense, very upset. You help them reduce it a bit. When they calm down, they can have time to talk more about why they have reached this situation. You can say, "So, this is the core problem. To solve this core problem, here are some services that can support you," or "Here are ways you can overcome it." Yes. Are those phone services usually overnight or something? The service is 24/7. 24/7, always. There will always be someone calling at any time. Yes. It's almost a step to relieve the burden on ambulances. Instead of them directly sending an ambulance, they can almost do that. Yes. But at that time, you were still under the old law of 485, meaning after graduation, you had 2 years to stay, right? Not 3 years, right? Ah, yes, that's right. So, in which year of the 485 visa did you start to get permanent residency, and through which path? Yes, I encountered the initial difficulty, which was during COVID. It was difficult to find a job, so about a year after graduation, I was able to meet the conditions to apply for the visa. In the second year of the 485, I received an invitation very close to the visa expiry, right? Yes. In the middle of the second year of the 485. Wow. So you got the PTE score of 20 points and got the CCL score and the points for that, and then you received the invitation, right? Actually, it wasn't that high. In the first year of COVID, the quota was too small, so they didn't invite many people. But in the following year, the points were lower, and you were still invited, so it wasn't necessary. Yes. But the main thing is, the higher the points, the better. Yes. Of course. Your work. Did you ever encounter any difficulties that made you feel like you couldn't overcome them? [Music] It's very stressful when everyone, I don't know if everyone will experience this feeling, but when you apply for a job and don't get the job you want, and you keep applying without success, everyone will feel stuck. The feeling of being stuck is a very scary feeling. And after starting work, if you feel like you're not progressing in this job, or the job is too stressful, and you don't have another job lined up immediately, you can also easily feel stuck and not know whether to continue or not. Actually, very much so. If any of you watching this livestream are in Vietnam, you might not understand the difficulty of being an international student like me who has graduated and is looking for a job. It's very difficult, everyone. Because, yes, the story of the market, the demand we are talking about, is the chicken and the egg. Experience first, or job first? Or when will they ask, or about our visa? They will ask, "I really want to hire you, but your visa only has one year left." So, imagine this: from an employer's perspective, I think it's fair. Yes. No one wants to hire someone and spend six months training them, only for that person to work for them for nine to ten months and then their visa status is uncertain. So they would rather invest resources in someone who might be slightly less capable but who can be seen as sustainable with the business long-term. So the difficulty for an international student is immense, and only those who have studied abroad and gone through those challenges can truly understand. Yes. To get a job, you need a visa, but to get a visa, you need work experience. Exactly. That's how it is. However, with anything, if we don't try and we don't go, we will never arrive, right? If we think we can't, then we will never achieve anything. We have to take a risk. We took a risk by coming to Australia. We didn't know for sure what would happen. We can only try our best. Exactly. And so, after graduating, settling down, and becoming fully qualified with a permanent visa, did it become easier for you to find a job? And what was your first job then? Yes. Yes. My first job was in psychological counseling for people with gambling addiction. They are often also involved in drug addiction and alcoholism. They usually go hand in hand. Yes. So, the subjects we work with often have a series of interconnected problems, not just one. Sorry, what was your question? My question was, what field are you working in now? Yes. Yes. And you also asked if it was easier, right? When you have a visa, etc., things are more convenient. First, psychologically, you don't have to worry about that anymore. You're not afraid of one side being work and the other side being visa, right? Yes. Yes. So you can freely pursue the things you like to do more, and you feel more at ease. And yes, some jobs also require you to have a driver's license, and how long your visa is valid. They don't explicitly say "we won't hire you if you don't have it," but they will ask. Yes. So, you are now specializing in supporting clients, let's call them clients, who have social problems, gambling issues, or psychological issues with alcohol addiction. Do they find you themselves, or are you assigned by an organization to help them? There are two sources. One is people who already know our organization. If our organization accepts people who come to us themselves, we will work with them. At the same time, we also receive referrals from doctors or other services, or ambulance services or police. When they see that this person needs psychological help, they will refer them to our organization. And some people know about our organization and come to us themselves. Yes. Okay. There is one thing that I find quite interesting, and I have to ask this question because it's the theme of our livestream series: "Straight and True." Straight and true means we have to tell the truth, not lie, right? We won't paint a rosy picture or embellish it to attract people. So, what is behind your statement? And can you tell us everything? Why do you think that? Let's share honestly. Okay. First, you have to realize that this profession won't make you very rich. Your salary won't increase based on KPIs. Some people have KPIs, but the salary won't increase based on KPIs. But the salary will not be bad enough to live on. Yes. So, only...
The thing is, you know that it won't increase forever and skyrocket like revenue. It's not too rich. Second, it's related to the psychological aspect. You have to do a lot of things for many parties and endure pressure from many parties. And often, the decisions I make are not always what I want to do, but I have to comply with this and that. So this is quite a burden on my heart. You really have to feel that in this profession, you must be very patient and very strong-minded to pursue it long-term. It's not that I don't think about switching to another field because of that problem. It affects my psychology, and that's not something to joke about. Because when you do a job, when you finish work and go home, you play, you spend time with your family comfortably and leisurely, it's still much better than when you go home and work still haunts your mind. Or even some jobs where you have to be on call, on call, and if someone calls, you still have to answer. In the case where you are taking care of children, before I did this job, I was taking care of children who were separated from their parents and living elsewhere. I went there to take care of the children. Your superiors have to be on call, even when they are at home. They have to be on call. When we have urgent matters, they have to answer, and they still have to rush in the middle of the night. Or when you work with homeless people, alcoholics, their problems are very big. I am just one link, I only solve a very small problem. However, they expect me to solve more, they expect me to help them. So they pour all that frustration onto them. They are higher up. They feel like this is government resources. I am the one in the middle, I am the one responsible for delivering the bad news to them. So I have to bear all that frustration. It's not easy at all.
But actually, in my opinion, I think like this. Actually, for each profession, it will have its own unique value. That's right. If we only look at it like, of course, when we work, everyone will look at the benefits for themselves personally. But on the other hand, if we look at the benefits in terms of value, it is very great. Because let's ask ourselves, if there were no social workers in society like this, how would society change? Who will do it? That's right, if we don't do it, who will? So it proves that the value we place within the economy, people, and society is very important. Yes, yes, that's right. So in general, this is a meaningful job. Every job will have its difficulties, and social work is no exception. It's just that we choose a job where the value it brings is meaningful to us, then we will have the motivation to pursue it. Because I think every profession will have difficulties. There is no profession that is completely smooth. Just like me now, for example, if I am a business owner, a startup owner, sometimes the burden is certainly financial, but behind me are the jobs of many people, which is also very stressful. The value that I think I am pursuing, that value is the spiritual motivation for me to always strive and try, even though I have to give everything. Yes, I completely agree. In this field, I don't think we should give up because of difficulties, but we also shouldn't pursue it solely for the sake of value. We have to know that it's a profession that brings value and also has difficulties. Every profession has difficulties, but the value, like what is being said about the network being unstable, is it still being heard, or is it our network that is unstable? If it aligns with our personal values, then we will have the motivation to pursue it. Okay. Generally speaking, after 45 minutes, it means that you haven't even mentioned that social work has a lot of jobs. It seems like what I shared is that social work has a lot of jobs. Yes, hello, can you hear me clearly? It seems like it's not very stable yet. It's probably better now. I'll just share one more thing. Social work has a lot of jobs. Okay, okay, okay. I'll just share one more thing. There are a lot of social work jobs, and they will be concentrated in remote areas and areas with many social problems. Because of the nature of our work, our clients will be concentrated in such areas. So there will be very few jobs where you are in the city center, sitting in an office, having coffee in the morning, coffee in the afternoon, etc. It's not like that. We have to go out a lot, meaning we have to travel a lot, right? Hello, I don't know if it's our network or Tra's network. Hello, hello. It seems like Tra's network is dropping. Can you switch to 4G? Let's see, it will be a bit interrupted, please bear with us. Yes, a friend asked a very good question. A friend asked if my physical condition is like a small child, is this profession safe? Because you said you have to interact with families, etc., is it safe? Yes, yes. Usually, the company will have policies to protect us. For example, if the client has a history of abuse or violence, the company will usually help by having someone accompany you, or there will be a system for you to check in continuously so that others know where you are. And if something happens, they will call the police immediately. Usually, the company will have a routine to protect you. So it's also... Yes, there are some... Yes, for those clients. Okay, so after 45 minutes, we have fully provided information about the social worker profession. The network was a bit unstable at the end. However, in the beginning, Tra shared very detailed information about the learning process, the working process, and settling down in this profession. So if anyone wants to find out more information, you can leave comments in today's livestream. Tra can also provide answers later. The marketing team of BT and BT Helper will assist in answering everyone. So before we end today's livestream, if you are facing someone who is learning about this profession, what message or advice would you give them, or what questions would you ask them to answer, or how can you share it? It's too broad, isn't it? Because it's quite personal. Everyone has a different situation, so I don't know if there's any general advice for everyone. I think it's a very big thing. Okay, we continuously have to question ourselves and have a certain balance between perseverance and whether it's truly suitable for us. If, at first, you are exploring and feel like you are halfway there, then okay, just do it. When you feel like you've been doing it for a while and find that it's not working, hello, don't be afraid to not do it, but don't force yourself to the point of disregarding your health and your spirit. You have to be at least halfway there, you have to be at least halfway interested, and you have to have enough ability to pursue it. If the network is too unstable, I don't know if it can be resolved. Because it's very general.
I will summarize Tra's point for everyone because Tra's network is unstable. However, I understand the point. First, if we are in the process of exploring and feel that we are halfway there, we have to weigh whether the choice we are making will help us, not even talking about passion. Because sometimes we go in a direction that is not our passion first. But if it's difficult and it's a choice that helps us serve our purpose of staying, then we can continue, right? But we always have a backup plan for ourselves. Because honestly, I think we should just experience it and serve our purpose first. And if we make a mistake, we can correct it, and that's okay. It's different, right? Yes. Okay. Thank you very much, Tra, for taking the time to be online with me today for 45 short minutes in a livestream series about this profession. I've never done this profession before. I hope that the information Tra has provided to all the viewers of today's livestream and in the future is very valuable and useful for us to have motivation or to make a correct decision before we choose this profession. Thank you very much for coming to BT's livestream series, honest and straightforward. I hope to see you again somewhere in another livestream on a different topic. And now, goodbye everyone. Thank you all very much. You're welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to share with everyone. Okay, goodbye everyone. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye bye everyone. Okay, thank you everyone.