Social Worker Belle Smith always felt drawn to “helping professions”. Growing up on Yuin Country on the far south coast of New South Wales, she was an avid Surf Life Saver and an active member of her community, and used to say she wanted to volunteer for the rest of her life.
She also had a role model close to home; her mum, a social worker with NSW Health in the children and adolescent space.
But Belle’s path wasn’t a straight line. Like many students, she considered a few ideas first – including marine biologist and paramedic – before an Instagram ad for the University of Tasmania’s Bachelor of Social Work with Honours landed in front of her at exactly the right moment.
“I remember thinking, ‘Yep that’s it. That’s where I want to be, that’s my future’,” she said.
Belle graduated in 2025 and is now a social worker in the Rehabilitation Unit at the Tasmanian Health Service. She works with people aged from 17 to 95 and said that range was one of her favourite parts of the job, because supporting someone in their twenties after a sudden life changing injury was completely different to supporting someone in their nineties rebuilding confidence after a fall.
Both, she said, teach her about resilience, identity, and what it means to adapt.
Belle had always felt drawn to Lutruwita / Tasmania’s mountains, rugged coastlines and tight-knit community, so choosing to study here wasn’t just about the degree. It was about the environment, culture, and her connection to the lands on which the University sits.
“I’ve never felt more grounded or connected to Country than I have living beneath Kunanyi (Mt Wellington) and exploring everything Lutruwita has to offer,” she said.
Moving interstate is a big step, emotionally, practically, and financially. But Belle said receiving the 2022 Support to Study Package for Interstate Students made the move achievable from the very beginning, helping with flights, shipping her car over on the Spirit of Tasmania, and covering rent in the early months.
Coming from a small town, Belle felt Hobart had the right balance: big enough to grow, small enough to feel familiar. And that scale shaped her learning as well, with smaller class sizes and a strong sense of community helping to create an environment where students learned directly from each other’s stories and lived experience, and the expertise of her lecturers was accessible and personal, not distant.
“Without that financial support… it could easily have been the barrier that stopped me from completing my degree.”
She also found community outside the classroom while living at John Fisher College residential college, which she said was one of the defining experiences of her time at University.
During her honours year, Belle completed a three-month geriatric rehabilitation placement at the Royal Hobart Hospital, an experience that helped her learn how to bring justice oriented social work into fast paced systems.
“As a new graduate entering the healthcare system, I initially struggled to find space for the more radical, justice oriented social work I had been taught,” she said.
“But my honours experience helped me understand how to integrate those principles in ways that are practical, collaborative, and meaningful within a medical setting.”
Belle said the University of Tasmania helped her build connections in Tasmania’s social work community, but the most influential relationships came from her peers, the people she studied and worked alongside.
“We learned together, supported each other through placements, and shared our different perspectives, backgrounds, and passions,” Belle said.
Those relationships have continued beyond graduation. Many of her peers now work across the state in a variety of workplaces and Belle she still reaches out to them for advice, questions, and to share ideas.
Are you looking for a meaningful and impactful career?
Social workers support people to address challenges and improve their overall wellbeing. You could be working one-on-one offering direct counselling, helping families, facilitating rehabilitation groups, supporting community awareness, or advocating for policy changes.