Recent Monash graduate, Abbie McNamara has already put her Master of Social Work degree to good use, by tackling youth homelessness.

Abbie chose to study a Master of Social Work following her arts degree, where she had minored in criminology. Abbie’s experience as an undergraduate student made continuing her studies at Monash a natural choice, with access to prominent industry leaders a huge benefit. For Abbie, her favourite part of her social work degree was the relationships she built with her tutors and lecturers.

“Listening to tutors stories about direct practice and experiences were invaluable and often my favourite part of tutorials. Their generosity in sharing their own challenges and ethical dilemmas in practice along with how they dealt with issues was incredibly enlightening.”

Now, Abbie works in child welfare and protection with young people aged 9-16 years old. Abbie helps these children access mental health support and informal counselling, and collaborates with their schools to better support her clients.

“There is a clear trajectory of out of home care into homelessness, so the program I work within is aimed at interrupting that pipeline.”

A proud career moment for Abbie was working on a VIP day with clients from her organisation. Working with Homie, a Melbourne-based streetwear label and social enterprise that works to employ young people experiencing homelessness and hardship. Abbie was able to supply young people with free haircuts, manicures, clothing, toiletries and beauty products, and a fully catered lunch.

“It was nice to do something that had the sole purpose of being fun and an afternoon of pampering for the young people we work with.”

One of the things Abbie finds most rewarding about her work is when a young person finally gets to the point where they can trust her.

“I remember with one of my first clients, we used to do outreach and I would sit outside of his closed bedroom door and check in with him. Slowly he began to crack the door open each time I visited. It then progressed to colouring in at the kitchen table, and eventually leaving the house for walks. The young people I have worked with have experienced a lot of trauma at the hands of adults, so it can understandably take a while for them to get to a point where they can trust you and be open to your support.”

Though Abbie loves her work, she has noticed how often similar issues crop up with her clients, and hopes that she can move on to address these issues in a broader context.

“Family violence, parental substance use, parental incarceration, school disengagement, mental health concerns. Each client is so different yet so similar in so many ways. To me, unless there is a change at a structural or policy level, these adverse experiences will continue. While direct practice is so incredibly important, it is my eventual goal to be working in policy and research to implement change at a structural level.”

Abbie advised future social work students to be ready to look after themselves just as much as their clients.

“Practice what you preach! We learn so much about how to support others and how important support networks are for clients, this is also incredibly important for you as a student. Particularly with the long placement blocks, looking after yourself is really important. It will be a challenging 2 years (or 4 if doing part time), but it will be so worth it in the end. Placements are invaluable and can often lead to employment opportunities as it did for me and many of my peers.”

Find out more about the Master of Social Work