“I thought this course would help me to go further. And it has.”
Suchiti is a Service Coordinator with the Needs Assessment team at CMDHB. Her job of providing support to the elderly in the community requires a lot of problem-solving and decision making. She has to adhere to legislation and guidelines, and standard operating procedures of multiple stakeholders and service providers. Suchiti says, ‘It can be very difficult to make people understand what the process is, what we have to follow, often they don’t understand, they want things now! I have to step into their shoes and understand what they feel. It depends on the scenario whether I can solve it at my level. Sometimes I need to get further advice.’
Suchiti enrolled in the ITL3 course because she felt she could improve on her ability to serve the elderly in her community through having a deeper understanding of New Zealand culture. She had done all her previous studies in India. ‘I thought this course would help me go further. And it has. It’s provided me with problem-solving techniques and taught me to be assertive and voice my thoughts. I’ve found a way to tell our external stakeholders, this is what I need, and this is like really urgent. I can talk with them very confidently. If I need something, I just tell them.’
She has also identified ways to improve the care process. For example, when providing respite care, she wanted to ensure, whenever possible, that the elderly returned to an environment that they had previously visited. ‘The elderly like to mix with the people they know and have carers that know and understand them.’ So, Suchiti now maintains a database of client profiles and immediately knows ‘exactly how many days each person has left in the year and which facilities they go to regularly.’
Suchiti was delighted to graduate this course and receive her certificate. She was equally delighted when her daughter came home from school and happily announced, ‘Look Mummy I got a certificate just like you.’