Albert Bevan, a First Nations social and emotional wellbeing officer

So my name is Albert Bevan and I come from the Bardi, Nyulnyul and Kija tribe, which are three different language groups in the Kimberleys.

My role at the moment is around mental health and well-being.

I'm a support worker at the local Aboriginal, Regional Aboriginal Medical Service where I work.

So I also facilitate and coordinate groups for aged care and NDIS.

Everybody wants to feel connected, everyone wants to feel validated.

They want to have value in their life.

And sometimes our mental health challenges can be a really big barrier for a lot of people.

And what I've learned through my training and what I do through my job gives me really genuine satisfaction because I can see that it helps a lot of people cope with a lot of these challenges.

So the advice I would offer young people that are looking for a career in health is go for it, really, really go for it.

There are so many opportunities now for us that come from remote communities, I grew up in a remote community.

I never imagined that, you know, I'd have the opportunities I have now in regards to working as a mental health officer.

The training that I did that helps me with what I'm doing now in my role at BRAMS was the Cert 4 in mental health.

It was fortunate that I had the opportunity to train here in Broome.

There's a local indigenous tertiary campus that offers the training, which is called the

Kimberly Aboriginal Medical Service, and they deliver the Cert 4 in mental health.

You know, and I still want to do more training and become a psychologist and a counsellor.

So, you know, those were things that I thought because of being so remote and being in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't even possible.

There are so many opportunities that are available, not only to, you know, those that live in towns and cities, but even those that live in the most remote communities, you know, and there is ways that we can provide support for people that live in remote communities to do this type of training.

And, you know, if you ever want to grow up and if you think you want to be a doctor, if you want to be a nurse, if you want to be a physiotherapist or a mental health worker like me, it's really possible.

And there is so much opportunities out there because there's not enough of us working in this space.

And, you know, I think the more sort of local faces that we see working in our clinics and in our hospitals, the more safe our people are going to feel.