Learning life lessons through Catalyst Clemente

When asked why she volunteers, Catalyst Clemente Learning Partner Sarah Carter has a simple answer – she loves helping people to help themselves.

A Reservoir Engineer with Woodside Energy, which is a strong corporate supporter of our services in Western Australia, Sarah has been involved with the Catalyst Clemente program since it was introduced to Mission Australia’s Wattle House two years ago.

Delivered in Perth in partnership with Edith Cowan University, this accessible program enables people who have experienced significant challenges in life, including homelessness, to participate in undergraduate level humanities education. It caters for the particular needs of students by combining education with social support.

Learning Partners like Sarah are recruited from corporate partners and the wider community, and play a vital role in the program. As a Learning Partner, Sarah supports and assists students at weekly study evenings during the semester and with essay writing, research and course material interpretation.

Team Leader Community Development and Catalyst Clemente Coordinator, Mario Gomes, said he has been impressed by Sarah’s unfailing commitment to the program over the past two years, despite the demands of her family and working life.

“She has been with us from the start and has renewed her commitment unit after unit,” he said. “On one occasion, she was very busy at work, but came all the way out to Maddington for the Catalyst learning evening, then went back to her office to complete her work! Sarah had her first baby last year, so we really appreciate the time she gives is valuable.

But for Sarah, the satisfaction she receives from volunteering at Wattle House make it worth the effort: “It is not difficult juggling volunteering with my paid work but I have found it more difficult to fit in spending time with my son, Henry,” she said. “Ultimately, I really enjoy my volunteering time and so try to fit this in around our family routine - my husband helps by picking up the slack at home!

“The most rewarding thing about volunteering is the opportunity to be involved in the greater community doing something that helps others and that is not just about me,” Sarah said.

“Also seeing students graduate from their four subjects as part of the program and move on to further university study or different challenges in their lives with so much more confidence and motivation. The students become great examples for their family and children and end up not just changing their lives but those around them as well.

Mario said its this positive attitude that makes Catalyst volunteers like Sarah an integral part of the program: “Our six Learning Partner volunteers are extraordinary. So often they tell me that they get more out of volunteering that the Catalyst Clemente students do,” he said. “I think that’s because it’s very tangible work. The volunteers help the students to get results and feel so proud to be a part of their success – it’s very interactive.”

For Sarah, student graduation ceremonies are the highpoints of her volunteering year. Seeing the sense of achievement on the faces of the students, she said, make her efforts worthwhile.

“There is so much to gain from getting involved in your community through volunteering activities and I’d recommend it to anyone,” she said. “It is also really important to use volunteering as a way to help people help themselves, which is what the Catalyst Clemente program is all about.”

Find out about current volunteering opportunities at Mission Australia’s Wattle House at our WA Volunteering Opportunities page.

Further reading:

• Woodside volunteers freshen up YASS for Christmas
• Promoting social inclusion: Emerging evidence from the Catalyst-Clemente program
• World opens up for WA Catalyst graduates
  

World opens up for WA Catalyst graduates

A dream has come true for three students of Mission Australia’s Catalyst Clemente program in Western Australia who last week received their University Certificates in Humanities and Arts.

Dressed in graduation regalia, Beverley, Loralei and Amanda joined about 400 Edith Cowan University (ECU) graduates at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre last Sunday.

Before the ceremony, the trio gathered with family and friends at Mission Australia’s Wattle House, which provides support services for people facing significant life challenges. From there, they were all transported by bus to the graduation venue, with several past and present Catalyst students coming along to cheer the women on.

Catalyst Clemente is a free educational program for people who have experienced significant barriers to education. Now run from five Mission Australia sites in partnership with educational institutions, it was established in Western Australia in 2008 in association with Edith Cowan University and sponsored by Woodside Energy. Weekly lectures, which are held at Wattle House, are supplemented by one learning evening each week.

The three Catalyst graduates all agreed that the program had been a journey in self-empowerment.

“I feel like I used to float through life,” said Beverley. “I didn’t have direction, whereas now I know what I want and I now have the avenue to get there.”

Two of the graduates plan to pursue further study at ECU, while the other is studying Community Services at TAFE.

Mission Australia’s WA Catalyst Coordinator Mario Gomes was invited to be the occasional speaker at the graduation event. He thanked ECU for its commitment to the program and urged the graduates to give back to the community no matter what career, profession or business they planned to pursue.

In his well-received address, Mario fondly spoke of the “students, who are the real stars of the program. Their commitment and persistence in the face of all adversity is truly inspirational”.

One student, he told guests, was a young mother of three when she enrolled. She gave birth to her fourth child during her studies and then attended lectures with her baby in the pram.

“Another student,” Mario added, “is a grandmother who had battled through self-doubt and health issues while the third is a sole parent of three children who also overcame personal obstacles to reach this amazing milestone.”

“It was an excellent opportunity to speak about the program and the inspirational stories of the students,” Mario said this week. “As I reminded graduates on the day, ‘Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars’.”

Above image courtesy of Phillips & Father

Milestone for the Catalyst Clemente program

Left to Right:  Alex Prudnicki, Jeanne-Marie Thomasz (Manager MA), Nerissa Blake, Susan Ash (Associate Professor ECU), Anita Welsh, Mario Gomes (Catalyst Coordinator, MA), Tasha La Mer.  Photography by Phillips & Father  

Mission Australia’s Catalyst Clemente (Catalyst) program provides tertiary education in arts and the humanities to assist marginalised people escape cycles of poverty and homelessness.

Catalyst reached a memorable milestone when four of its students graduated from the 2009 program.

On the 31st January Alex Prudnicki, Anita Welsh, Nerissa Blake and Tasha La Mer received their certificates during the formal Edith Cowan University (ECU) Graduation Ceremony at the Perth Convention Centre. Three of these graduates are enrolled for further tertiary study at ECU in 2010.

The graduates were supported on the night by fellow students, family and friends, staff and academia from Mission Australia, Woodside, ECU and Curtin University. Claire Brown, the original program co-ordinator from ECU also travelled from interstate to see the students graduate.

True to its name, the program has proven for another year that it can be a catalyst for change and social inclusion.

Through the learning of the arts and humanities, students are empowered to think about and reflect on the world in which they live. In turn, this intellectual engagement can promote a broader re-engagement with society, and encourage students to take action in their own lives - as seen in recent survey responses from the students:

“My confidence – I have posture. I smile more. I have goals now that I’d like to meet. I’m not as ashamed. Now I feel my life has a purpose. It has given me self worth.”

“It has given me a new and different attitude towards education and myself.”

Their stories are evidence of the empowerment and hope that opportunities like this can provide.

Mission Australia now offers Catalyst in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The program is also offered by other community services agencies in NSW (Sydney, Newcastle and Campbelltown), Ballarat (VIC) and Canberra.

The graduation event is a commendable achievement for the four graduates, acknowledged with immense pride by all who have been involved in developing and delivering Catalyst Clemente in WA. It also provides tremendous encouragement and motivation for the students who are currently engaged in the program.