G'day I'm Mark I'm a program manager with Barnardos. I lead teams of people who work
with vulnerable families children and and young adults. I do this work because there's something
inside that drives me to work alongside of children of young people and their families
and to see them heal from the effects of trauma of abuse in their life. There's never a day that
goes by in our office or our centers around the Central West where families don't knock on the
door ring the doorbell come in and say hey I'm in crisis. I'm not frustrated that people don't
realize the scale of issues, I'm surprised that we don't have more of an understanding of what
trauma and disadvantage is like in Australia. If you go into your community with different eyes and
and allow your eyes to be open you'll see the trauma, you'll see the disadvantage and you'll
see where perhaps you can make a difference. I've been told by young people and children
directly about how I've helped them or you know worked alongside of them to to make a difference,
so it's those realizations and those truths that keep me doing what I'm doing you know. The
experience of having a young person or a child say hey Mark thanks, that just you know just blows me
away and it kind of puts you on this high and you kind of you can go home you can hop on your bike
and go riding and think wow someone's actually you know said thank you for the work that you do