My name is Chaitali Vaghela. I am a qualified nurse from India and was a clinical instructor in a nursing institution. I always had the drive to achieve higher academic excellence and enhance my career opportunities. I started studying Master of Global Public Health in February 2020. I chose Master of Global Public Health because I always wanted to work in a health sector where I can work towards improving the health care system and its aims to enhance the quality of health care for all by providing better access to health care services, disease prevention and health promotion. My study mode was on-campus, but the COVID-19 pandemic meant I had to study most courses online.
While
looking into my whole study experience, the highlight is my work on the public health practice project. My project was to organize Griffith University’s Mental health and Wellbeing week (UMHWW) 2021. It was a large team project where a group of undergraduate and postgraduate students from public health collaborated to plan, implement, and evaluate the project supervised by the head of Griffith University counselling and wellbeing department and his team.
Our aim was to improve awareness about health and wellbeing services provided by the university and improve the mental health and wellbeing of students and staff. I feel that I benefited the most from this project, as I have learned so many skills which will be valuable in my future employment. In the beginning, I was so shy to talk or take initiative, but this journey has enhanced my confidence. My interpersonal and communication skills have improved a lot as I conducted meetings with various stakeholders, send them emails and communicated with them in person. Also, I have gained project management and leadership skills as I was taking on responsibilities, delegating tasks to my team members, and chairing team meetings. I completed diverse tasks like collaborating with stakeholders, organizing, and implementing project activities online and on-campus, collecting feedbacks and evaluating the UMHWW. Our team had great cultural diversity, and it was a great experience working with them.
