My name is Sam. I am a proud Wakka Wakka man from Queensland and I am also a Red Cross TeleYarn volunteer caller in Melbourne. I moved to Victoria so I can study psychology at RMIT in Melbourne.
I’m really passionate about this area of study because I’m interested in working in mental health and Indigenous health.
As a TeleYarn Volunteer I call Indigenous people who would really benefit from having a yarn with someone, as they might be living alone and not have a lot of social connections. The great thing about TeleYarn is that Red Cross works in partnership with Aboriginal Housing Victoria to run it.
I found out about TeleYarn when I was looking around on the Red Cross website. I really wanted to find a volunteering experience that would go towards my degree and any future job prospects. The fact that TeleYarn works with Indigenous Elders and I am an Indigenous person were major factors in taking up this volunteer opportunity with Red Cross.