“Amazing experience” for school based trainees

Today at Western Health, four young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women celebrated completing their Shake a Leg school-based business traineeships.  

Over the past year, Phoebe Amedovski, Allira McAuley-Dryden, Riah Morgan and Lucy Vicendese have worked towards gaining a Certificate III in Business while also completing their secondary school studies. 

The young women did work placement with Western Health for one day per week, across a range of departments, including the Aboriginal Health Unit, People and Culture, Education and Volunteers teams. This on-job training allowed them to gain exposure to a real workplace environment, and enabled them to apply their newfound business knowledge directly to their daily tasks.

At the graduation ceremony today, Riah spoke about her experience and thanked Shake a Leg and Western Health for providing them all with the opportunity.

“It has been an amazing experience working alongside you all, giving us the support, care and time. Working here has encouraged us to become great women in our communities. You have all left a special place in our hearts,” Riah said, “we are eternally grateful for everything you’ve done for us.”

Shake a Leg’s partnership with Western Health aims to develop young Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people’s workplace skills, knowledge, and confidence while providing them opportunities to explore future career pathways within the health industry.

Annette de Jager from Western Health says “This program is not only a great innovative opportunity for those wanting to enter the healthcare workforce but it is also a great opportunity in improving career pathway opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in our region.”