Donna Sheridan is a 56-year-old mother from regional New South Wales who graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work and a Dean’s Award.
Her journey took six years and could easily have been derailed by the isolation of regional distance education, until a local study hub changed her life.
Donna had stepped away from the workforce for 10 years to raise her three children, losing her confidence and identity in the process. She had always been interested in working in the welfare sector, and a personal tragedy made that interest stronger. When her sister was dying of liver cancer, systemic failures in rural healthcare meant her final moments were stripped of dignity.
“She was left in the emergency with all the lights on and strange people around her and no family there, while she was dying,” Donna said. “I promised her I would make a difference, and that no-one would have to go through this again.”
Enrolling via distance education at Charles Sturt University was her first step towards keeping that promise. But Donna was also raising teenagers, including a daughter who was severely unwell, and had to drive daily from Smith’s Lake to Taree. Rather than make the trip twice a day, she was forced to find makeshift study spaces.
“I became this homeless person in a van, wandering around Taree, looking for a shaded area, looking for areas I can get Wi-Fi,” she said. “I’d take my laptop and I’d study in my car. Sometimes in the pouring rain, sometimes in 40 degrees, and that went on and on.”
A turning point
The turning point came when she discovered the Taree Universities Campus (TUC) while staff were still moving furniture into the building ahead of opening.
“I was the first person to turn on a computer. I was the first person to sit on their beanbag. And I was the first person to cry in their arms,” she said. “Because I was so incredibly grateful that I had a place where I was a part of something.”
The TUC became more than a comfortable place for Donna to study. It also offers a solution to a very real problem in regional education and healthcare training.
A mandatory 1000-hour unpaid clinical work placement is required to complete a social work degree, a barrier that forces many regional and rural students to abandon their studies or leave the region entirely.
“Placements are very difficult to find. And then when you do find them, they want you there 35 hours a week. And you don’t get paid,” Donna said. “There are a lot of social work students that halfway through their social work degree either transfer into psychology, or a Bachelor of Social Science, because they cannot cope with doing the 1000 hour placement.”
TUC CEO Donna Ballard said the regional study hub was created specifically to tackle geographical and financial barriers, keeping professionals in the regions where they are desperately needed.
“It just reassures me that there’s a whole lot more potential in this region or this town than we realise, and helping people take those steps is so important,” Mrs Ballard said.
Pathways for locals
For locals intimidated by the prospect of returning to study, TUC offers the Univenture Pathway program, which includes a personal tutor and a possible $1000 scholarship to help cover the cost of a laptop or other essentials. TUC also helps students find local placements so they can stay at home without disrupting family life.
As for Donna Sheridan, the generational impact of her degree is one of her reasons for completing it, and it has taken root.
“My daughter from her hospital bed, she was sick for over a year... I used to say to her, ‘I am going to be so good at what I do, because of you’,” Ms Sheridan said.
“She just got early entry in social work.”
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Image supplied by: Donna Ballard (TUC); Pictured L to R: Taree Universities Campus Campus Coordinator, Evan Weller, Donna Sheridan, Taree Universities Campus, CEO Donna Ballard
