Jules Allen: finding the light in the darkness

Given well-documented struggles in her own life, followed by intimate professional proximity to similar struggles in the lives of others, one might assume an overriding sense of despair from this renowned social scientist, youth advocate and counsellor.

Not so. Instead, after more than 20 years working at the pointy end of youth and family crisis, Jules continues to manifest her experience and wisdom in helping others achieve recovery, progress and empowerment.

“Your greatest adversity in life is your biggest gift. With the right tools, overcoming adversity can provide the opportunity to strive,” says Jules, who graduated from Southern Cross University with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in 2009.

Adversity covers myriad culprits, from mental health, drug and alcohol disorders, issues around child protection and school and family counselling, to domestic violence and the need for adoption and foster care reform. (Jules is the proud single mum of four grown children, a blend of her own, adopted and fostered. Over the years she has fostered more than 30 children).

Within that support remit, she says education is fundamental.

“I was already working with young people in crisis when I came to Southern Cross University as a Mature Aged student,” she says. “Rightly or wrongly, a university degree had become essential for advancement in the areas of social work and social justice.

“Living in the Northern Rivers, I knew I could not handle a big, impersonal university, so studying at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus was ideal; such a beautiful place to think and to learn.

“Another benefit was the personalised nature of the learning. I wanted an experience where my lecturers knew me. And they did, but also more than that. People always had time for me, and this is why that matters.

“At the heart of dealing with vulnerable people is their confidence in you, in your availability to them, and in the comfort of having you with them and for them. An innate understanding of that need ran through my degree.

“Also, I was a Mature Age student in a degree that attracted others like me. Our work and life experience were never dismissed or disrespected. We were valued, as was our desire to take our new credentials and apply them back in the field.” 

Jules’ openness about her past difficulties is integral to her professional approach and perspective.

A troubled childhood saw her become a youth at risk. Her late teens and early 20s were marred by drug and alcohol addiction, anxiety and depression. As if that was not enough, she also endured sexual harassment, workplace discrimination and domestic violence.

That she was able to recover says much for Jules’ character and self-belief, although recovery is always a relative term and a work in progress.

“The problems affecting young people have not changed. Mental health, suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, child welfare – they continue to prevail in society,” says Jules.

“What has changed is the amplification of these issues and others via recent developments like social media. The imperative to support troubled youth has become more complicated.”

“Social media has heightened the lack of maturity and understanding among already troubled young people. It constantly confronts them with language and concepts they are not old enough to grasp.

“It also encourages the kind of self-diagnosed over-diagnosis of problems that keeps young people down; keeps them small and scared to grow. And it has become a contagion. 

“Parents and peers used to have influence. Social media has eroded that to the points that we are losing real engagement with each other and in the service of each other.”

So, what keeps Jules going, when positive change is so much harder to achieve?

The answer is at the top of this article: Jules Allen is an optimist. 

“When I was younger, I was always wanting to change the world. Striving for the biggest change possible, that was me,” she says.

“I have since come to learn – and my Southern Cross degree helped me learn it – that small gains are just fine. And when they occur, and they do, they are empowering.”

Empowerment is an energy for Jules.

“When I work with young people, when I see them get it, like really get it, when they grasp their own empowerment, the first thing I feel is relief,” she says.

“Then I feel good, because I know that even though they are just at the start, they have made a move towards something better. They understand that they can solve problems rather than add to them. They can extricate themselves from the dependance that disempowerment feeds.

“When that acceptance and understanding lands, I love it. It keeps me going, the eternal optimist, always looking for the light and the way out of the darkness.”

Where does Southern Cross University fit in the search for illumination?

“I took a lot from my degree,” says Jules. “I was impatient, but my time at Southern Cross University taught me the value of patience and discretion. I also learned the worth of smaller tasks and attainable goals, and how every interaction and every relationship is important.

“My degree gave structure to my experience and my objectives. It has helped me help others as I wish I had been helped when I was the one in need.”