Nearly all the students who graduated from EIT Tairāwhiti with a degree in social work now have highly regarded jobs as social workers. We talk with four of them about their experience.

• Taylor Morrell-Thomson, works at Barnardos with the families of children or young people who need support, either through neglect or emotional abuse, violence, excessive drug and alcohol use in the home or other things that put a strain on the family and leave children vulnerable.

• Alyssha Maynard-Wilson is working at Matapuna Training Centre where her role is to help people who fell out of education begin to achieve again. They range from young teenagers who have dropped out of school to adults who want a second chance at education.
• Kalisi Ma’afu is working at Kaiti School where her role is to work with families whose children are struggling at school, for a variety of reasons.
• Emma Te Kani is at Turanga Ararau where she works with some of the most disconnected young people in our community. Her role is to break through barriers caused by things like drugs, violence, neglect and help get them back on track and into education.

What made them choose social work?

Taylor: “I started in early childcare – I worked in that for two or three years and loved working with children but felt I wanted to do something more.”

Alyssha: “My parents were caregivers for Child, Youth and Family and I was inspired by them”

Kalisi: “ I saw all the negative things happening around the community and thought if I could help even one child that would make a difference”.

Emma: Comes from a long line of teachers and social workers. “I feel sorry for the kids I work with – it is not like when I was growing up – now there are things like P in families which is a major factor.”

What were the highlights of studying at EIT?

Taylor: “I made some very close friends and I had a lecturer who supported me, kept me focused and encouraged me to keep going part-time even after I became pregnant.”
Alyysha: “The lecturers at EIT were awesome – they were our role models and they helped push me through when I was contemplating giving up. Half of us had young families. We were each others’ support base.”
Kalisi: “What I really enjoyed was having the classroom support, I think it really helped us get through together. The programme was fantastic and really did set us up well for the job.”
Emma: “ We had some amazing tutors like Florrie Brooking – she was a great role model and a lot of what they taught us in terms of the framework has really helped me.”

What advice would you give others considering studying social work?

All of the women referred to the need for more male social workers.

Emma: “I would like to see more Māori men become social workers, Our kids really respond to people who have walked the
talk. I know heaps of good role models who would be perfect.”