JavaScript is required

A Day in the Life of… Cat: A Sexual Assault Services Counsellor Advocate (full version)

0:00

My name is Cat.

0:01

I'm a social worker and I work as a Counsellor Advocate at CASA House,

0:05

the Centre Against Sexual Assault.

0:11

I think I always wanted to work with people.

0:14

Specifically I wanted to work in a field

0:17

advocating for women and children.

0:20

I don't think I had the word ‘social work’

0:22

when I was growing up to define that in.

0:26

But I had the idea.

0:28

And so I started a Bachelor of Social Work in university and narrowed my focus

0:34

more specifically into gendered violence, social work and advocacy.

0:40

CASA house takes a Rights, Options,

0:42

Control model or framework to our support with clients.

0:46

Rights, Options, Control are things that are taken away

0:49

from someone when they experience violence or assault.

0:53

We want to give that back to them when we support them.

0:56

That can involve advocacy and navigating services.

0:59

Most typically the police and medical units, but sometimes

1:02

other social work organisations that come into contact with the client.

1:06

It can also involve meeting therapeutic goals of healing and recovery.

1:11

You advocate for their choice.

1:14

You advocate for them to feel in control of the decisions that they're making,

1:18

and you advocate to pause or slow down the process whenever they need to.

1:26

We have a really great level of access

1:29

to supervision, clinical supervision, and this collective care model.

1:35

And so you never really feel alone in the challenges at work.

1:40

You always feel like there's someone you can lean on

1:42

or someone that you can share your decisions with

1:45

and share your decision making processes with that it always feels like there's

1:48

someone to turn to, to either validate your decisions or help you make them.

1:56

I think it feels really exciting

1:58

to be involved in a sector that is expanding

2:02

and to be involved in a narrative

2:05

that doesn't feel silenced anymore.

2:08

Being able to engage in

2:11

policy submissions or policy advocacy.

2:14

Being able to engage in prevention workshops.

2:17

Being able to engage in research.

2:20

And to take a role as a worker

2:22

and an advocate in that change, in that increased dialog,

2:27

feels really exciting and feels like a real privilege.

Updated