Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Young Canberran Poppy Chalmers is now working as a training and business administration officer.
A desire to work in health care has seen Poppy Chalmers embrace success via an Australian School-based Apprenticeship (ASbA).
Poppy’s story is like many who choose a Vocational Education and Training pathway.
She knew she didn’t want the university pathway but felt unsure which direction to take.
In 2022, she started an Australian School-based Apprenticeship program with Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA).
The next year, she was named ACT Australian School-based Apprentice of the Year at the 2023 ACT Training Awards.
She then went on to be a finalist at the 2023 Australian Training Awards.
These awards recognise students’ commitment to formal studies at school and in the workplace.
A VET pathway
Poppy had previously taken on leadership roles at school. She was selected as a Year 6 leader in 2017 and as a Year 10 Indigenous Leader in 2021.
“I am a natural leader and see myself in a leadership position. I have a lot of ideas. I’m not sure where I want to end up, but I know I have what it takes to get there,” Poppy said.
She completed a Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance under a new program in the ACT called the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Academy.
“I didn’t particularly like school, it wasn’t something that I enjoyed. One of my friends got an ASbA in childcare and I thought that was cool, so I did a placement where she worked, and they offered me an ASbA,” Poppy said.
Moving into health care
“Though my school supported me to do the ASbA in childcare, I had always been interested in working in the health industry so when an Auntie from the Community reached out with an opportunity to do an ASbA in Allied Health through an Aboriginal company, I applied and was successful.
“I wanted to be a nurse, my Auntie was a nurse, I had spent a lot of time in hospitals because my sister has cystic fibrosis. I even went to school at the hospital. I saw the positive impact that nurses, doctors, and the hospital had on us all,” Poppy said.
Through the ASbA, Poppy got to experience what nursing and working in a hospital is all about and what is out there in terms of a future job in Allied Health. She is now employed as a training and business administration officer for Indigenous Allied Health Australia.
Poppy says applying for the ASbA was seamless, with support available if she needed it.
“The ASbA process showed me that there are so many other pathways to get to where I want to go. Doing this I saw that I can work in health without having to go to uni. I finished the Certificate III and was offered a job at the hospital as a social work assistant straight away,” she said.
The path ahead
Poppy graduated from college in 2023. She says the ASbA has given her self-confidence and redefined her idea of success.
“The ASbA has given me a lot of direction, opportunity and such a great community. When I was younger, I wanted to be a nurse but now I’m not sure because I have so many opportunities. I’ve been told I can do anything I want. You work with what you have and take every opportunity you get,” she said.
“I’m not ready for uni yet. I want to do a Cert IV in Business.
“Success is not where you get to, it is how you got there, the path you took, what you learned and did. Success for me is to experience everything I get to do. I would have a goal, but I would focus on the journey,” Poppy said.
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