Season 1, episode 4
Season 1, Episode 4
Mitchell Bowden
Engagement Lead at the Monash Health and Social Care Unit
Guest biography
Mitchell Bowden is a passionate health promotion professional, and qualified social worker. He’s currently the engagement lead at Monash University’s Health and Social Care Unit. Prior to this, he has delivered health promotion and community development initiatives in a range of settings, including local government, not-for-profit and primary care landscapes.
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Key concepts mentioned in Mitch's interview
- Health promotion: An approach to improving health by understanding and influencing the various systems that play a big role in determining health status: environments both natural and built, social and cultural factors, political and economic contexts and more.
- Interpersonal communication: This skill is vital to working in this field. It involves communicating well with a wide range of people, through active listening; humility, and a willingness to acknowledge the expertise of others and seek their input; competence in the use of clear and plain language; empathy; and being able to recognise your own biases and assumptions.
- Health literacy: The capacity of a person to find, understand and use information and services to have better health. Some barriers to health literacy include language, cultural norms, education level, socio-economic status, gender, location, and many more.
- Health system navigation: Health systems are often large and bureaucratic; waiting lists can be long, important documentation and referrals can be missed, and translation services are not always available, among many other potential complications. This can make it difficult for people – particularly for those with some form of disadvantage – to get the care they need in a timely and affordable manner. Being able to successfully navigate the health system to achieve good care is not always straightforward.
- Generalist vs specialist: Some job roles require very deep knowledge or skills around specific topics, while others benefit from people who with a broader and less specialised knowledge- and skill-set. There’s no right or wrong, it depends upon the needs of the job. As you progress through a number of jobs, you gather a variety of skills that you take with you, expanding your abilities.
Top tip for students
When finding a job, it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you, and what they know about you.
Mitch's recommendations
- Book: Phosphorescence: On Awe, Wonder and Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark by Julia Baird
- Bingeworthy TV show: Schitt’s Creek. You’re welcome :)
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