Belgravia Foundation is pleased to be hosting Yuhe Wang, who is in the final year of her Health Science degree at Monash University and will be completing her fieldwork placement with Belgravia Foundation and Belgravia Leisure. The following is a story from Yuhe about how she became interested in community health and joined this big family.

Yuhe’s interest in allied health stems from the experiences of her family members. “Three of my female relatives, including my mother, underwent breast cancer surgery. This was the first time I had a great understanding of postoperative recovery. I witnessed the physical and psychological effects of the disease on my mother. Unfortunately, the country where I grew up did not have good postoperative interventions, including rehabilitation programs to help similar patients resume activities and improve self-confidence. Therefore, my mother's experience and the desire to change this situation made me very interested in occupational therapy, hoping to help more people by joining the family of community health.”

Joining Belgravia Foundation and Belgravia Leisure is Yuhe's first contact with helping minority groups. Before that, she was a volunteer for RSPCA Australia (an Australian peak organisation established in 1981 to promote animal welfare), and rescued many stray animals. During her volunteering period, she helped stray dogs adapt to their new living environment and regain their confidence in humans.

"I think helping small animals is my first step in joining community health. They make me feel needed, because my help has brought smiles back to the faces of more lives. This is also the true meaning of community health, allowing more and more people to feel kindness."

With respect to Yuhe’s future learning prospects, she would like to study in the field of speech language pathology or occupational therapy. She hopes that in the process she can use more professional knowledge to help people in need to improve their quality of life and self-confidence.

Belgravia Foundation and Belgravia Leisure have offered great opportunities for Yuhe to participate in approaches that aim to improve physical well being and mental health status of minority groups and disabled people. These great experiences will serve as a guide for Yuhe in the future, motivating her to continuously pursue excellence and progress as she moves towards the next stage in her life.