Social work and community welfare

Are you passionate about protecting the rights of people, promoting wellbeing, empowering communities and advocating for social justice?

Turn your passion into a career in human services. Our graduates are sought-after across a range of fields of practice including child protection, health, mental health, disability services, housing, youth work, aged care, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, community development and domestic violence services.

Social Work and Community Welfare Showcase

Helping others live their lives well

Youth Outreach Drug and Alcohol Counsellor

Canditta has been working at Lives Lived Well on the Gold Coast since doing a field placement there in the second year of her degree.

Studying a Bachelor of Social Welfare was a personal journey for Canditta.

"I grew up in a low socioeconomic welfare housing estate in NSW where the prospect of university was just a dream. I was expelled from high school before my 14th birthday and decided the welfare and education system had failed me. I wanted to implement change within the realm of social welfare but paradoxically realised I required a sound education to do so."

Success is a state of mind

Bachelor of Social Welfare; Preparing for Success (PSP) graduate

“I’m doing this degree so that I can give back to my community. I want to work in resettlement services to help migrants and refugees have a better life like me.”

John’s journey – starting as a child in the war-stricken Congo of Central Africa, to enduring refugee camps in Kenya before reaching safety a few years ago in Australia – is one of courage, determination and inspiration. He came to Lismore in 2015 and two years later featured in the community’s Refugee Week campaign.

“Without the PSP course – the skills and the lessons I learnt, how to write for university and how to manage my time well – I would not be in the position I am today. I have family responsibilities, a job as a youth worker, I run workshops in my community, and I study my degree online.”