Mariam’s inspiring career shift to aged and disability care

“I'm from Nigeria originally, and I've been living here for about a year and six months. When I started studying the course, I began to understand things that I didn't know about before,” Mariam began.

“While studying this course I realised how much I wanted to help since I couldn't do that back at home,” she said.

Mariam began her TAFE Queensland journey originally with a Certificate III in Information Technology (ICT30120), knowing that she wanted to study and earn money, but didn’t want to commit to doing a four year course.

“In my spare time I like to read, listen to some music, and sing with my friends. Information Technology wasn’t for me, which I found out partway through the course, but working in support and disability — one of the things I enjoy about it is that it is very flexible,” Mariam shared. 

“You get to pick your shift times, especially if you're hired on a casual basis. You get to say, ‘Okay, this is when I want to work, this is what I want to do.’”

“Sometimes you and your clients share the same interests and likes. You get to go to places that they enjoy and you also enjoy as well, which is really good.” 

“It's a lot of assisting clients with day-to-day activities — taking them out to go shopping, assisting them with tasks, or if they’d prefer to stay home — just being there and engaging with them,” Mariam continued.

Originally Mariam was almost dissuaded from studying the course, but she’s very glad she went with her instincts. Mariam was also able to access Fee-Free TAFE funding, so course costs weren’t a barrier to studying.

“When I mentioned to people that I was looking at studying ageing and disability they started telling me about how ‘hard’ it was. ‘You probably don't want to go into that’, but greatness is doing whatever you want and being the best at it,” said Mariam. 

“If you’re keen to pursue something and people are discouraging you left, right and centre — I don't necessarily think you should give up just because of that. I feel like you should do everything you can,” Mariam offered.

Mariam’s teachers also inspired her to ‘stick at it’.  Whilst Mariam completed some of the course online, her time on campus with her teachers and using the equipment within the TAFE Queensland training facilities, proved very rewarding.

“The teachers knew almost every answer to every question that we had for them, and because they had been working in the industry for such a long time, they really inspired me to want to do more, and grow as well,” said Mariam.

“They’d give us real-life examples, share their experiences, and advised how to handle different situations.”

“When on campus we’d train in the practice rooms, using the bed, the set-up and everything. We have some wheelie walkers that assist with walking. We have wheelchairs.”

TAFE Queensland's Certificate III in Individual Support (CHC33021) course includes simulated training exercises that mimic real-life scenarios.

“We have something called the ‘Sarah Steady’ (a patient transfer aid) which helps people to stand and move between seated positions, and we’d also use hoists — to transfer clients from their beds to a wheelchair,” Mariam shared.

Mariam’s enjoyment of TAFE Queensland wasn’t just limited to the training facilities – but extended to the ‘feeling’ when being on campus, too.

“I really think it's a great place, especially as I saw a lot of different cultures. Sometimes when I would go downstairs to get stuff for myself, there's like an English class down there, and you get to meet a lot of different and interesting people.”

“I really like how you don't feel alone, even though you're from a different place entirely and in a different country.”

“One of my most favourite campus moments actually was when we had this cultural dinner that my classmate suggested, and our teachers helped to organise. We all brought food from different cultures, and we all sat together and thought it was really fun to have a taste of each culture’s dinner,” Mariam shared.

These days Mariam is enjoying her new career working with clients who are living with low-level disabilities, which she has been doing for several months, and which she obtained with consistency in applying and following-up.

“Quality Lifestyle Support is a really good place to work. I don’t have a car, which is important in this line of work, but I followed-up when expressing my interest, and got an interview. They also give me flexible working conditions — in my interview they asked me about the days I wouldn’t be available — gym nights, Church etc, and accommodated that for me,” Mariam said.

Mariam finished with the following advice, to those considering training with TAFE Queensland: “I would say they should go for it, and give it their all.”