Episode 32 - The Homeless Mental Health Clinician

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This transcription is automated, therefore it may not be 100% accurate. It is to be used as a guide only as the AI bots may have some things wrong.

0:00:00 - (Nicole): This episode of bring your kid to work is brought to you by Lioness Media.

0:00:04 - (Nicole): It's time to bring your kid to work.

0:00:07 - (Nicole): Hey everyone. It's time to bring your kid to work. It's the family podcast that explores the world of work through the eyes of parents and their kids. Each week we interview one parent and their child to chat about what they do for work, what they like, what they don't like, and how they got there in the first place. Let's find out who we're talking to today.

0:00:25 - (Nicole): In our last episode for season two, we have another wonderful pair of guests for you, Ben and Inez. Ben Bushing is a psychologist, but his work is a bit different to Doctor Rachel's, who we heard from. In bring your kid to work's very first episode, Ben uses his psychology training working in the field as a homeless mental health clinician, primarily assisting men who are homeless.

0:00:52 - (Nicole): Those who find themselves homeless don't all fit into one easy to solve box. There are so many different reasons people can find themselves without a home to live in. The homeless men Ben works with have severe and chronic mental health conditions that make it very hard for them to look after themselves or to get and keep a job. It's a tough job that Ben does, but he loves doing it. And his daughter Inez loves hearing the stories of those he helps.

0:01:20 - (Nicole): But she doesn't think it's the job for her. She wants to help in a different way by becoming a police officer, though she knows that at twelve years old, she'll likely change her mind a few times before she sets off into the world of work. These two were so much fun to chat to. In fact, we talked for over an hour, so I struggled to cut down our conversation to the half hour that we usually have for our episodes.

0:01:44 - (Nicole): This is a special one that I really loved, and I know you will too. So let's get on with the show. Welcome to bring your kid to work. I'm really excited to welcome our two special guests today. We've got Ben and Inez in the bring your kid to work studio. And this episode is called the Homeless Mental health clinician. The reason it's called that, Nezzy, is because that's your dad's job, right?

0:02:07 - (Inez): Yeah.

0:02:07 - (Nicole): What does that even mean? What does it mean to be a homeless mental health clinician?

0:02:12 - (Inez): I think it means that, like, so basically the people that he works for, they like find homeless people and then like, he helps them through medicines and stuff and making sure they go to their hospital appointments and he like, fills out paperwork for them.

0:02:26 - (Nicole): Yeah. So people who are homeless helping them with their life skills and mental health?

0:02:32 - (Inez): Yeah, pretty much that.

0:02:33 - (Nicole): What does that mean? He actually does all day? Is he in an office? Is he outside? What is he doing?

0:02:38 - (Inez): Well, sometimes he's like, he tries to find people who are homeless that he. Like.

0:02:43 - (Nicole): He's like he has people that he.

0:02:45 - (Inez): Tries to find to make sure they go to hospital appointments. And sometimes he's just in the office filling out paperwork because then he calls me when he's doing paperwork.

0:02:54 - (Nicole): Excellent. I forgot to ask, Nezzy, how old are you and what grade are you in?

0:02:58 - (Inez): I'm twelve and I'm in grade seven.

0:03:01 - (Nicole): Grade seven. So high school for you. Very exciting, Ben. So Inez just told us a little bit about your job. How did she go with getting that right?

0:03:10 - (Ben): I feel like you've succinctly put it.

0:03:13 - (Inez): You talk about it a lot. You're pretty proud.

0:03:15 - (Ben): Look, that is exactly pretty much what we do.

0:03:17 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:03:17 - (Ben): I work for the Queensland government. Essentially, we have a big team in the valley that is populated by a whole host of characters. Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, ots, nurses. And we work in a model where we do case management for homeless people, but we do assessments and we do take people to hospital if they need it and they're anywhere in Brisbane and it's dealing with people with major mental illness. So schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, polysubstance use, yelling and swearing in the street.

0:03:51 - (Nicole): Yep. That sounds like a really hard job to do with people who have got such severe mental health challenges. Is that a really hard thing to walk in, knowing that something could be triggering someone and making them upset and you've got to try and calm them and get them the help that they need.

0:04:08 - (Ben): At first it was, but I think I just. I learned early on that I just absolutely loved it.

0:04:16 - (Inez): There are some lovely old guys that he just loves seeing them and he thinks that they're so sweet.

0:04:20 - (Ben): Sweet? I wouldn't say sweet, but just I.

0:04:23 - (Inez): Well, dad, it's kind of hard to explain it.

0:04:25 - (Ben): They swear at me in a warm way. They say it with some affection.

0:04:29 - (Nicole): They say it with a great deal of love.

0:04:32 - (Ben): One night, some guy was yelling at me from the post office square and he was like, swearing and carrying on. And I said, mate, I'm not coming over. You're drunk and you're swearing at me. And he goes, I just wanted to tell you I appreciate you for who you are, what you're doing. And I'm like, man, like, we did a lot of. We worked together a lot, you know, look, I enjoy that part of the job, connecting with people, but I think what I love the most is working with people that most people avoid.

0:04:59 - (Ben): I think when people talk about homelessness, because it's all in the media, has been for a few years since COVID definitely with the lack of housing and stuff like that. And of course it is a huge issue for housing in general. But I think, like most things in life, it's not just a homogenized, generic homelessness is, unless you're in it, working in it. There's all different, varied, different reasons why people are homeless, and it requires different responses to all of those things. And even within those sub sub groups, there's different responses and different art required to do it.

0:05:35 - (Ben): It's been happening more where the funding's coming out for more homeless stuff and all the rest of it. But since COVID all of the shelters have closed down in Brisbane. Did you know that all of the homeless shelters, every single one.

0:05:48 - (Nicole): Where do people go?

0:05:50 - (Ben): I'll tell you where they go. They bought a hotel up at Wickham Terrace. So homeless people live in that and there's not a lot of support and they just stay there. It's really hard.

0:06:00 - (Nicole): That doesn't sound like what I understand of your role. The whole point is to actually support people who are homeless in order for them to then get back on their feet, find a home, make a contribution to society, whatever way that is, whether it's volunteering or having a job or whatever, but being healthier in the world and being someone who has a home. So how. I don't understand how cutting support like that would be useful when you're actually like, the roof is the first thing, but then everything else that needs to happen underneath that, to support someone.

0:06:36 - (Ben): They are supporting people, but there's something like 60 or 70 in that hotel. There's no real rules to get them out after three months. They just stay as long as they want. That means that people can't really get in. Yeah, but I think a lot of the guys that I've been working with for these years, they've got major mental illness. Like, not just. They don't just feel a little depressed, they've got all blown, integrated, schizophrenic, paranoid schizophrenia. They have got. It's just been.

0:07:06 - (Ben): It's been there for 25 years sometime. And I'm not saying those people aren't treatable, because of course they are, and we do. But I think it's really unfair to put them in support. Put them in accommodation.

0:07:17 - (Inez): But daddy, whether people have chronic or not, you feel really bad for them. Like one time he saw a homeless person, he asked him for some money but dad gave him a ride and stuff.

0:07:29 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:07:30 - (Inez): And it was very, very sweet because he felt really bad for him.

0:07:33 - (Ben): It was pretty funny because I picked him, he wanted money and I said I don't have any money. He goes, can you give me a lift? I said sure, I can give you a lift.

0:07:39 - (Nicole): I imagine, Nezzy, that you would hear a lot of dad stories.

0:07:43 - (Inez): Oh my God, there are so countless.

0:07:45 - (Nicole): Honestly, when you hear those stories, do you go, that's something I want to do. Or do you want to do something completely different when you're big?

0:07:53 - (Inez): I don't think I want to do something like that. I'm proud of my dad for doing stuff like that because it's sweet. Stories of bravery and just generally being sweet. But I don't think I'm going to grow up to do something like that.

0:08:05 - (Nicole): Yeah. What do you think you're going to do right now?

0:08:08 - (Inez): I'm like, well, I've considered being a police officer or being involved in law systems. I'm still not really sure because obviously I'm only twelve.

0:08:17 - (Nicole): Correct.

0:08:17 - (Inez): And I'm probably gonna change my mind somewhere towards the future. But yeah, that's generally what like is on my mind at the moment.

0:08:25 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:08:26 - (Inez): When I was in prep I really wanted to be a teacher and that.

0:08:29 - (Nicole): Changed and became a police officer.

0:08:30 - (Inez): Yeah. Because I just thought that like there's like other things that I could do and other things that I could explore or maybe I could be a scientist. But I used to play classrooms with my dolls where I'd write their names in little classes and then I'd teach little classes.

0:08:46 - (Nicole): Oh my gosh, that's the best. What about being a police officer is appealing to you? Do you think?

0:08:51 - (Inez): It's just kind of like. Cause I want to do something that's obviously being a police officer is kind of dangerous, but I want to do something that it's not like just a desk job and it's not boring. And when I come back from a day I can be like, wow, I did that. I'm proud of myself for doing that. Doing something to protect my community. So I'm trying to find something related to that. Yeah, maybe I could be like a lawyer or something like that.

0:09:14 - (Nicole): Yeah. Okay. That sounds like a really good path. It sounds like you've got service kind of angle of being of service to community.

0:09:22 - (Inez): I think me and my parents are generally interested in doing something to help the community and something productive, something that'll generally help someone.

0:09:31 - (Nicole): Yeah, being helpful is good. What do you think it's gonna take to be a police officer? What do you think you're gonna have to do between now and trying to apply for being a police officer?

0:09:41 - (Inez): I think I had so much stuff and I imagine that if I do end up doing it, it'll take a.

0:09:46 - (Nicole): Lot of work, a lot of study, a lot of hard physical kind of tests that you'll have to do, but.

0:09:50 - (Inez): You can totally do it if they want to.

0:09:53 - (Nicole): Exactly. If you want to. What did you want to be when you were twelve, Ben?

0:09:57 - (Ben): Mostly doing film, something in film and tv. Not an actor. And it's not an actor.

0:10:03 - (Inez): Yes, obviously.

0:10:04 - (Ben): I just always loved movies when I was a kid and I have this memory of watching some film. It probably was a second world war thing because it was quite depressing. But I remember this train going by and there was credits coming up and I'm like, oh, those people are involved in making this. I'd like to be one of them.

0:10:25 - (Inez): Yeah, my dad, he knows about a lot of movies and stuff in pop culture, and he's constantly pointing out amazing design stuff and stuff. So I think if he were to do something in film, his best thing would be in film, in design and photography stuff. Cause he would be so good in that field.

0:10:43 - (Ben): Thank you, Inez.

0:10:45 - (Nicole): Yeah, that would be amazing.

0:10:47 - (Ben): Thank you, Inez.

0:10:48 - (Nicole): So going from film and movies and tv to being a mental health clinician that helps people who are homeless. I don't understand how that gets from one place to the other. How did you get there, Ben?

0:10:59 - (Ben): Many, many wrong choices. Many choices where I was like, I went that way and I should have gone that way. I went to do like undergrad, whatever. I just had to do a degree to get a degree to do something. And I fell onto psychology in an arts degree. Did that with psychology. You don't just do an undergrad degree and go, oh, I'm a psychologist, get out of my way.

0:11:24 - (Nicole): Job done.

0:11:24 - (Ben): Three years give you nothing. Essentially. Three years of a degree, that it's an application form for the next degree. Gotcha, essentially. And then. So you have to do honours. Mine was, I did an undergrad. I always say to everyone, I've got three degrees, right? I've got three degrees and they all go, but it's one profession. And I'm like, but it's three degrees. I actually had to fight for three. And then you do your honours and if your GPA is high enough you get into masters.

0:11:48 - (Ben): Nezzy.

0:11:49 - (Nicole): Does your dad like his job?

0:11:50 - (Inez): Yeah, he likes it. He always says how cool he thinks it is and that he loves his job.

0:11:54 - (Nicole): Ben, what's a great day at work? What does a great day feel like, look like, sound like?

0:11:59 - (Ben): It's a day where you feel challenged and it's sort of. You don't really know what you're gonna do and you feel comradery with people that. Cause it is a. It is quite an intensive place. I think it's just a whole melange of things. It's a specificity on. A specificity. Right? Like, so, mental health, acute mental health, acute homeless, mental health. It's like art on art on time. So that's what I like, being able to go, oh, my very specific skill fits right here, and I can use it today.

0:12:33 - (Ben): Yeah, I like that. But I like being able to provide reasonable service to people that need it.

0:12:39 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:12:40 - (Ben): But, yeah, what's a good job? What's a good day? It's that.

0:12:42 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:12:43 - (Ben): And, you know, being pushed to do something, it's all. It's just so new. I love it. I genuinely do love that because who. How many people are going to want to do that? You know, who really love that?

0:12:56 - (Nicole): It takes one person. Nezzy, what do you love at school?

0:13:01 - (Inez): It's kind of hard because I love high school and I love a lot of classes. My teachers are very sweet.

0:13:09 - (Nicole): And what do you love in general, in life? What do you do outside of school?

0:13:12 - (Inez): Well, I learn musical instruments.

0:13:14 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:13:15 - (Inez): Like what I learned in violin.

0:13:17 - (Nicole): Very cool.

0:13:18 - (Inez): I actually started learning in grade three.

0:13:20 - (Nicole): But I still play it nice at music.

0:13:23 - (Inez): In our music class, we learned the guitar.

0:13:26 - (Nicole): Cool.

0:13:26 - (Inez): When I was, like, a little preppy, I used to go to ballet, and he was very, very cute.

0:13:31 - (Nicole): Little preppy ballet dancers are very cute.

0:13:33 - (Inez): No, the reason why I quit was because my stockings were very itchy.

0:13:37 - (Nicole): Look, it's not an insignificant thing. It's very important to be comfortable.

0:13:42 - (Ben): Can I cut in just then? There's one thing you've missed out with school that I think you've undersold. In my opinion. You've done an amazing job. You're doing spanish immersion.

0:13:52 - (Inez): Oh, yeah. Spanish immersion.

0:13:55 - (Nicole): No way.

0:13:56 - (Ben): Yeah. It's crazy.

0:13:58 - (Nicole): Immersion.

0:13:59 - (Ben): Yes.

0:14:00 - (Nicole): Okay, so for people who don't understand what immersion means when it comes to a language at school, what does that mean?

0:14:06 - (Inez): So basically it's like, so you have a spanish class where you just learn Spanish and generally that. And then you have spanish immersion where you do some of your classes in Spanish, and it's really cool. At the moment, I'm doing science and humanities and spanish class. So basically we learn the science vocabulary in English and then we have to learn it in Spanish. And then we basically have to learn it. What happens? How to learn how to do it in English and then learn how to do it in Spanish. And then in humanities, it's the same thing. Like, you have to do it in two languages, but it's really cool and fun.

0:14:38 - (Nicole): That is unreal. That is so great.

0:14:42 - (Ben): Yeah.

0:14:42 - (Nicole): Do you want to keep going with Spanish? You want to learn Spanish and, I don't know, travel well?

0:14:47 - (Inez): Yeah, maybe. I just generally think it's really cool. You want to know how I got into Spain?

0:14:51 - (Nicole): Please.

0:14:52 - (Inez): I started getting interested in it because I really like my name, Inez. I have this lovely grandma. She knew that my mum was pregnant. She had a dream where her granddaughter, her granddaughter called Inez. And she had a dream and then she told us. She was like, guys, you won't imagine. I had a dream about this lovely little girl called Inez. And then, like, they called me Inez. And it's really sweet.

0:15:16 - (Nicole): Wow. So she dreamt Inez when we were.

0:15:19 - (Ben): Living in England, she dreamt it. And I remember thinking, Inez, that sounds ridiculous. I didn't like it first. I thought, that is just the craziest thing ever. It's beautiful. It couldn't be more her. Yeah, it could not be more her.

0:15:30 - (Nicole): And it's Spanish in origin, isn't it? That is wicked cool. That's the best way to learn a language. Having a language is really cool though, Inez, because it means you can travel and be able to speak and understand in lots of different places, particularly Spanish.

0:15:44 - (Inez): There are so many countries that speak Spanish.

0:15:46 - (Nicole): So many.

0:15:47 - (Inez): Literally, so many.

0:15:48 - (Nicole): Yeah, that'll be really cool. Do you want to travel? Do you want to do lots of that stuff?

0:15:52 - (Inez): I think maybe, yeah. Nicole, you'd think that, like, everybody thinks, oh, Spanish, that must be hard. It must be hard with your grades. Like, you would get first grades. Surprisingly, I get better grades when I join Spanish.

0:16:03 - (Nicole): Wow. Yeah. Then what do people not understand about those who are homeless?

0:16:10 - (Ben): I think the poor family that have lost their job and living in a caravan park. That is terrible. Right. But it's usually a less complicated. Like, it's not still complicated. I'm not minimizing it at all, but I think it's just a very, it's one of those things that seems to be more black boxed than people think in our society. Like, I'm glad we're having the discussion about domestic violence because it needs to continue forever and needs to be more and more and more. But I think the homeless stuff, it seems to be.

0:16:38 - (Ben): I don't know, it's so strange. It's like that general, generic, as I've said to you before about the generic mental health discussion, mental health and air quotes because it's podcast. But like, mental health is just. It's as big as the world. Like there's so many different variables and different variations and different contexts and like, you can't just say mental health funding. What the hell? What are you talking about? Might as well say government funding.

0:16:59 - (Ben): What are you doing?

0:17:00 - (Nicole): Too broad.

0:17:01 - (Ben): So I wish. I wish people could. I don't know, I just think I've been very disappointed, as I said before in my rant, that, like, I feel I was very fortunate when I was doing my honours at a placement and I got to go to the Wolston park hospital in Ipswich. Yeah. And it was the time where they were closing a lot of it down, that wonderful choice. I don't know who made it, but it seemed to be made by lots of countries around the world at the time to de institutionalise things.

0:17:33 - (Ben): I really. I never worked in the system where people were living on the campus either. So maybe I would probably go, oh, let them go out in the community. But as I've said before, I think we. You know, these people are severely severely impaired, severely unwell, like, just so unwell.

0:17:51 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:17:51 - (Ben): Really want them to get the right care, clearly.

0:17:54 - (Nicole): But not everyone can live in society in a healthy way, doesn't have major impacts on other members of society.

0:18:04 - (Ben): Not everyone's gonna live in their own place. Not everyone is gonna be able to ultimately have their own room, live in a place and do their washing and cook. There's no way can you imagine expecting other client groups to be able to do that. Like people with dementia or bloody, like, there's all different types of people and all different types of ways of dealing with it. I feel like homelessness and mental health, homeless in particular, or it's that stuff where they, like. It's still in that generic, like, try to deal. And again, I'll happily respond to letters and emails if people send any, and happy to, about difference of opinion, but I just. I don't see the fleet footedness of the responses in the last five years to homelessness. It's terrible.

0:18:49 - (Nicole): It sounds to me like even though film on tv is like a first love and that you almost fell into this role, it sounds to me like it's a good job for you.

0:18:59 - (Ben): It's the closest thing I've gotten to true happiness as a psychologist. Yeah. It's the job that I go, it's so good. On a good day. It's great. Yeah, right? Yeah. And I still have the niggling. Like, I think that's part of the problem. Like, I've been in the job for ten years, and it's been something that, like, when I started, I told one of the guys there, and, like, I don't really stay jobs very long, a couple of years. And he goes, oh, it's a shame. I'm like, no good.

0:19:31 - (Ben): And recently he was saying, oh, how's that two years going, mate? You know, it's just one of those things where, you know, you get lucky. And it was for a while there, it was an amazing job.

0:19:43 - (Inez): He would constantly talk about how much he loved it, and it was pretty much his dream job.

0:19:48 - (Nicole): Yeah, yeah. What do you consider to be a good job, Inez? What makes a good job, do you think? Just generally, not specifically for you?

0:19:56 - (Inez): Well, I'm gonna answer the question by saying that when I think about what would make a good job for me, I generally just think about, like, what, after I come back from a long day on the job, what I can think to myself and say, wow, I did a good job today. Like, I'm proud of myself for that. Or that was like, that was a pretty fun day out, and I'm happy with what I did and stuff. And I think I'd be happy with myself if I had a job like.

0:20:21 - (Nicole): That one that gave you satisfaction at the end of the day, that you actually had some impact?

0:20:25 - (Inez): Yeah.

0:20:25 - (Nicole): Yeah, I liked that.

0:20:27 - (Inez): I was happy with what I was doing, and it was a nice day.

0:20:30 - (Nicole): Yeah, that sounds like a good job. I think that's a great description of a good job. What have I failed to ask you, Inez? Is there something that you are desperate to tell me about life, work, jobs, anything that you're worried about, that you're excited about? What have I missed?

0:20:46 - (Inez): I don't think you've missed anything.

0:20:49 - (Ben): She's pretty good, isn't she?

0:20:51 - (Nicole): No. Nothing burning that you need to tell me before I. No, you're good. Ben, what have I missed in asking you? You've got a baby psychologist who is coming to you and going, you know what? I really want to have an impact in the community. I think homelessness is where I want to work. What would you say to them?

0:21:10 - (Ben): It's what I say at the end of every session if we're doing assessments. I go, look, are there any questions I haven't asked you that you really want to tell me? Any information?

0:21:18 - (Nicole): Do you really?

0:21:18 - (Ben): Oh, yeah. Always say that. I always go, look, I've talked a lot of rubbish. I've asked you a lot of questions. You ask me anything you want. Yeah, but, like, are there questions I haven't asked you that you need me to ask you? I think in this job, I think it's about remembering. It's not about you. It is about the outcome. It's gonna sound terrible. It's not about you. It's definitely not about you.

0:21:40 - (Ben): So if you're doing anything about how you feel because of how you feel, then that's wrong. It might be the right thing to do, but it's the wrong reason. I use a lot of Jurassic park at work. You know, that whole Jeff Goldblum, like, just because we can do something doesn't mean we should, right? And I always think, why am I doing this? What clinical need, what clinical utilities is serving by me doing this, and if I can work it that way, it's the way to do it.

0:22:08 - (Ben): But I think trying not to make it worse is probably the best thing.

0:22:13 - (Nicole): To do first, do no harm.

0:22:14 - (Ben): That's a hard question. I think it's because I'm sure I've made huge mistakes and made, done terrible screw ups, but it's. I don't know.

0:22:23 - (Nicole): Well, I think from what I'm hearing, and correct me if I'm wrong, but that first, that coming from that first place of it's not about you is actually coming from a place of not judging the other person or their experience or what they need.

0:22:37 - (Ben): Never, never.

0:22:40 - (Nicole): It's always about them and what they need and what's the next right thing.

0:22:45 - (Ben): Funnily enough, because I'm not super gaudy, as you know. Well, I'm quite, quite not gaudy, but there's a great therapist, psychologist, whatever. I forget what he is. Bill Miller is his name. And he has purported this thing called motivational interviewing, which is essentially working with people with substance abuse problems. So his thing is essentially, there's absolutely no judgment. And there's not. It's not even really, it's about meeting where they are and having a true connection. Well, people will say, that's not what it is, Ben. You've screwed it up. But for me, it's about having a true connection with people. And the change is enacted through meeting them, not sitting there going, this is terrible. You've done it terrible. This is terrible for you. So the way I think about it, and this is an analogy on a metaphor or an analogy, I'm not even sure. And as you're looking away.

0:23:39 - (Ben): So there's an asteroid coming in a few years called apothecary. Have you heard about this?

0:23:43 - (Nicole): No.

0:23:43 - (Ben): You know, like in Armageddon, where they. Bruce Willis just saved us, and now he's dying, but we can't save him. But, yeah, if only we could save you by blowing up something for him.

0:23:53 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:23:54 - (Ben): To actually fix. If an asteroid was coming to kill us, that would be the worst thing ever to blow it up near the world, because it would completely shred us to bits. Right. So what they actually think the best way to fix it is to shoot a satellite or something out to the asteroid in question. And just have a little bit of a gravity sort of change slightly. So the thing just sits with it.

0:24:16 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:24:16 - (Ben): And just gradually, over time, changes the trajectory. So how this is related, dear daughter, is that, you know, to get real change, to enact real change, you've got to meet people where they are. You've got to be where they are and really there, not just a little bit.

0:24:33 - (Inez): You have to connect with them so that they feel comfortable.

0:24:35 - (Ben): And it's never big change. It's never like this huge, ridiculous bit. Over time, you might stop them smashing into the world and killing everybody. That's exactly how I feel.

0:24:45 - (Nicole): Yeah. Yeah.

0:24:46 - (Ben): You know, I've had some terrible people over the time where one guy in particular would constantly come in and say, I'm going to kill X, Y and Z. And I'd say, look, can you just. Yeah, kill them next week. You and I disagree on why you want to kill him. That's fine. Because I think that that's not a real. You've got an illness, but that's fine. Distress is real. Let's work with that.

0:25:07 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:25:07 - (Ben): You know, we had a good relationship, that fellow, but lots of different things over the years with lots of different people. And it's always about genuine connection.

0:25:17 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:25:17 - (Ben): And you're either genuine or you're not.

0:25:19 - (Nicole): And people can sense that. They know that for sure. That idea of an individual, that it's, you know, like you said at the very beginning, I think, about using that word homogeneous, that homeless people are a homogenous group, what they all have in common, as they have heartbeats. You know, really, that the other things. There's just so many different variables about why they are homeless or how they are homeless or.

0:25:42 - (Ben): And the response to it and what.

0:25:44 - (Nicole): You need exactly to respond to it. So yeah, I think that's really important for people to understand.

0:25:49 - (Ben): Yes.

0:25:50 - (Nicole): Inez, if prime minister was going to be the thing that you do eventually, what's something you think you'd want to change?

0:25:57 - (Inez): Well, obviously, there have been a lot of movements about environmentally and stuff, and since I was in grade three, I had this lovely teacher, and she was so amazing, and she got, like. She got me into. I've always been very passionate about feminism and the environment, and I think if I were to become prime minister, I would sort of work into that and stuff and make sure that everybody was happy with improving feminism and make sure to help the environment, because there are a lot of environmentally things that we can definitely save and change in Australia.

0:26:30 - (Nicole): Yeah, that would be a great thing to do as prime minister, I would like to vote for you.

0:26:35 - (Inez): Obviously, we've come a lot ways with ending the patriarchy and helping feminism, but there's still a lot left to go. And I would just try and, like, sort of work on that, help out other people's work in the past, and basically just, like, try and make sure everyone is happy, and then with the environment, so many stuff that you can save in that, like, you're never gonna run out, so.

0:26:55 - (Nicole): Mm. Yeah. It sounds like you've got a lot of work to do, Inez.

0:26:58 - (Inez): Yeah.

0:26:59 - (Nicole): And dad and I are ready to vote for you, so.

0:27:01 - (Ben): She'd be so good.

0:27:02 - (Nicole): You would be brilliant.

0:27:03 - (Ben): You'd be amazing.

0:27:04 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:27:04 - (Ben): Amazing. And it's not like, of course I'm biased, but I'm not really. I think you'd be really good.

0:27:09 - (Nicole): I know he's objectively Nicole's not bias. I think you're fab, so I think you should go for it if you want to go for it. I want to say thank you to you, Ben, and to you, Inez, for spending time in the bring your kid to work studio. It's been so lovely to talk to you. So thank you, Inez.

0:27:23 - (Inez): Thank you.

0:27:23 - (Nicole): Thank you, Ben.

0:27:24 - (Ben): Thank you, Nick.

0:27:25 - (Nicole): I love this chat. We're going to have another great couple of guests on the beginning of season three of bring your kid to work. Man, how great were those two? I just loved hearing the stories that Ben was telling us about the kind of things that he does in his job and how much he loves taking care of people that a lot of us will probably just walk past or be afraid of or be worried about. I think it's really beautiful that Ben and the people who he works with see human beings in all of their flaws and all of their possibilities.

0:28:01 - (Nicole): So it's not just about the fact that they're homeless or that perhaps they might be having a really rough time or be mentally having an episode or a challenge. It's actually that there is a person who needs some help, and Ben and those he works with give that help and I'm just so grateful to them for that. I love that Inez loves the stories that her dad tells and that she thinks everything that he does is so sweet. I just think that's beautiful because clearly she adores her dad and thinks that his job is pretty important.

0:28:32 - (Nicole): She's going to be someone who takes on the world in a big way. I can just feel it. Big heart, whole lot of compassion and a drive and a love for learning that is going to take her a long way. I'm excited to see what happens with Inez as she gets older. This is the last episode of our second season and I can't believe we've gotten here already. I've just been so excited to tell you stories about the kind of jobs that people do out in the world and things that are so different that we don't even think about and that we get to hear behind the curtain about I'm going to have a break for a little bit and play some of our favourite episodes from season two so you'll still get your fix, and we'll be back very shortly to bring you more stories from more fabulous people with more interesting jobs.

0:29:20 - (Nicole): And I can't wait to join you then. So enjoy our fabulous best of and I look forward to talking to you then. Bye for now.

0:29:50 - (Nicole): Bring your kid to work was recorded.

0:29:52 - (Nicole): In meant on the lands of the Jaggera and Turable, people who've been sharing their stories for more than 60,000 years.

0:29:59 - (Nicole): Thanks for listening to another episode of bring your kid to work. If you haven't already, make sure you give us a review on your podcast player of choice. It helps other people find the show and follow bring your kid to work and subscribe wherever you're listening now and send your favorite episode to a friend. These stories are too good to keep to ourselves. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at bring your kid to work and on Facebook at bring your kid to work the podcast and did you know you can join the conversation join bring your kid to work career conversations community on Facebook for great career tips and conversations about the journey of work, workplace culture, and parenting while working.

0:30:41 - (Nicole): We're always looking for inspiring guests to be a part of our show. If you have a fab idea for a guest, drop us a line at admin@bringyourkidowork.com au or dm us through the socials. We would love to hear from you. Thanks again for listening. Bring your Kid to Work is a Lioness media production this episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lesio. Our music is composed by Rikuo with graphics and design by Anastasia McCuka.

0:31:10 - (Nicole): Follow bring your kid to work on your podcast player and all the socials and visit.com to see our blog transcripts from our episodes and to sign up to our newsletter for the latest updates. Talk to you soon. Close.

0:35:59 - (Nicole): Bring your kid to work was recorded in mean on the lands of the Jaggera and Turrbal, people who've been sharing their stories for more than 60,000 years. Thanks for listening to another episode of bring your kid to work. If you haven't already, make sure you give us a review on your podcast player of choice. It helps other people find the show and follow bring your kid to work and subscribe wherever you're listening now and send your favourite episode to a friend.

0:36:28 - (Nicole): These stories are too good to keep to ourselves. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at bring your kid to work and on Facebook at bring your kid to work the podcast and did you know? You can join the conversation join bring your kid to work career conversations community on Facebook for great career tips and conversations about the journey of work, workplace culture, and parenting while working.

0:36:51 - (Nicole): We're always looking for inspiring guests to be a part of our show. If you have a fab idea for a guest, drop us a line at admin@bringyourkidowork.com.Au or dm us through the socials. We would love to hear from you. Thanks again for listening. Bring your kid to work is a lioness media production. This episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lessio. Our music is composed by Rukkuo with graphics and design by Anastasia Makkuhka.

0:37:20 - (Nicole): Follow bring your kid to work on your podcast player and all the socials, and visit bringyourkidowork.com to see our blog transcripts from our episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter off for the latest updates. Talk to you soon.