Gurjot Kaur
As a young girl in Punjab, India, Gurjot had dreamed of being a nurse, and had her heart set on studying nursing in Australia.
After arriving in Australia, Gurjot studied nursing at Monash University. At first, she was thrilled with her classes, topics and experiences. However, as the course went on, she developed a keen interest in women’s health and gender equality issues. And she decided she wanted to do more to help women from migrant communities more directly, in the mental health sector, rather than in hospital wards.
Courageously, she made the life-changing step to leave university and start a Bachelor of Community Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs at Chisolm Institute of TAFE. Gurjot had found her calling.
A year into her studies at Chisholm, Gurjot experienced a horrific workplace injury that left her mentally and physically scarred. Her health was so bad, she struggled to move, and she took a break from her studies to repair her own mental and physical health, and wellbeing. At first, her doctors were so concerned about her recovery, they feared she may have to give up studies and any hope of ever working again.
While it took her 18 months to recover, it was the thought of getting back to her friends and studies at Chisholm that gave her the courage and drive to get well quickly.
Gurjot's work injury gave her insights into barriers in education and everyday life. She came back to Chisholm with a newfound passion after the accident.
As a way of giving back to those who had helped her, Gurjot started cooking nutritious Indian meals, offering them to other students who were missing the traditional dishes from their homelands. Those precious meals have created a greater community of support for international students.
Gurjot is also volunteering at an AOD centre one day per week, broadening her experiences in the mental health space.
It is for all of these reasons that she was selected as a finalist in the Higher Education Student of the Year (International) category of the 2024 Chisholm Education Awards.