Nicole Conner

1. What was your UNE qualification?

   Master of History.

2. Online or on-campus study?

   Online.

3. How did you find UNE lecturers?

   I found lecturers generally very helpful and super-fast at responding to questions, which was always appreciated.

4. What was your reason for studying at UNE?

   History is a passion - I was working full-time and studying history was more of a hobby. UNE offered a course that was accessible.

5. Your current job

   I hold several roles. I am a Narrative Therapist and also an Adjunct History Lecturer at Eastern College, Wantirna (https://www.eastern.edu.au).

6. How has your UNE qualification aided you in your career?

   I get paid to teach subjects I am passionate about (Empires & Globalisation, Silenced Voices, Social Reformers & Radicals, Contact, Conflict & Reconciliation, Oral History) - thanks to the course!

   I also incorporate the skills and knowledge of history to narrative therapy.

7. What inspires you inside work and outside work?

   Positive change/transformation inspires me. In narrative therapy, I help clients understand how history/context may have shaped problems that are negatively affecting their lives. This can lead to insight, deconstruction of problem-laden stories, and the reconstruction of a preferred life narrative.

   As an adjunct lecturer, history serves as the ultimate teacher and provides unending lessons in human progression or decline - and how these lessons can inform us today.

8. Do you volunteer your time for a community project or organisation?

   As a narrative therapist, I am in a position where I can see clients who, due to financial constriction, have problems accessing other mental health professionals. Generally speaking, I don’t turn anyone away based on finance.

9. In this time of Covid-19, how has the virus impacted your work?

   As Covid-19 is on the rise, so is the level of anxiety, fear, grief, depression in our community. I can still see people in my counselling room whilst observing social distancing/hygiene regulations. However, I now conduct many narrative sessions online.

   In my role as adjunct lecturer, my units are mainly online.

10. Anything else you would like to share?

Melbourne has been hit very hard by the Covid-19 crisis. I am concerned and saddened by the stories of hardship I am hearing. There are not many people who have not been affected. So,

in this liminal space, between letting go to an old world and having not yet reached our new destination - 'let kindness be the stronger and longer-lasting ‘pandemic'.