A Day in the Life of… Shweta: A Team Leader - Primary Prevention (full version)

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My name is Shweta and I work

as a Team Leader at GenWest for a program called Multilingual Health Education.

So the Team Leader job I think was a combination of management experience and community engagement.

The job that was originally advertised was an entry level job as a health educator and at that time I was working in the arts and I really wanted to switch industries and work in community.

And I looked at the ad and said, I know it’s entry level, but I don’t think I have the skills and I actually called them and said, “Am I qualified to apply for this job?”

And after I applied, they called me back and said, “By the way, I think you should be team leader instead of the entry level.” Because they recognise that there is a lot of leadership and management experience which was transferable.

I sat with my manager, I was trained on the organisation and the kind of work they do. Trained on the industry inside information, as in what is primary prevention? What is prevention of violence?

I mean, I had no language of this industry.

And slowly and slowly we built those skills.

They really helped me understand the feminist way of working.

Really helped me understand the values of the organisation and ensure that they resonate with me.

Primarily this program aims to provide migrant and refugee women in Melbourne’s West with evidence based in language culturally safe health education.

So we talk about health, we improve their health literacy, to help them understand the system in the country they have migrated to.

Which for them is very difficult because of language and cultural barriers.

Then we try and talk about healthy relationships, prevention of violence.

We do not enter into a space and start talking about these things till we’ve created a relationship with the group.

And then we kind of finish that by talking about healthy relationships, recognising the signs of an unhealthy relationship.

It feeds me in terms of the love they give you, the validation that you get from those women.

And it also helps you understand how they think.

And I might be from the same community, but we’re not homogenous.

I come from a very different background.

And we design it to what they want, and that’s the difference.

So you are listening to community, you are not talking down to community. And that’s what makes it powerful.

Updated 3 June 2024

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A Day in the Life of… Shweta: A Team Leader - Primary Prevention (full version)

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