WIS.. My fourth week so far.

Hi everyone,

As many other students this semester I was fortunate enough to receive an internship with the WA State Government, working within the Department for Communities (DfC).

As a part of my internship I have been assigned a project within the Community Relations Unit of the DfC, focusing on promoting volunteering, recruitment, training and creating awareness for the Women’s Information Service (WIS).

WIS is a free and confidential telephone information and referral service operated by the DfC to assist WA callers on such issues as; domestic violence, parenting, health, legal, finance, and counselling just to name a few.

Due to the recent decline in volunteer numbers, WIS is seeking new volunteers to assist in operating its telephone service. It requires around 20 volunteers a week, as it operates mon-fri, 9-5. At the moment it has around 12 volunteers! Recruiting possible volunteers for WIS however is difficult, as it is not widely known within the community (I actually never even knew it existed before I applied for the internship placements). In addition to the community’s lack of awareness of WIS, being a Government run operation makes it difficult to promote this service using online social networking sites as there is always a risk that untrue or misleading information may be presented to the public and the fact that the Government does not have full control over content published.

This is where I come in. My task at present is to help with the promotion and recruitment of potential volunteers by utilising current tactics as well as finding new ones that fit with how the Government likes to operate.

This is my fourth week undertaking my internship. So far I have had to further develop the communications plan to be implemented, draft media releases and research what similar organisations around Australia and overseas are doing that we too could implement. I am very happy to be supervised by the Community Relations Officer, Allan. His expertise in the industry clearly shows and every day I am learning something of value that I can take away from this great opportunity.

In saying that, I definitely value what I learned in PR Techniques. At the time I don’t think I fully appreciated the unit. Having to write REAL media releases now though, I can see that the unit was very important and I have personally already applied so much of what I learned into the work I am doing now for my project.

It is intimidating working within this environment because it is all so professional and real. However I am making the most of this placement and hope to learn more as I go so that I can take as much away with me as possible. I encourage everyone not to be scared of asking questions. I was at the start of my placement but have come to realise that asking questions is what helps you learn, and your supervisors are there to make sure you get the most out of this new experience!