Jodie Mottram

My name is Jodie and I am a proud Aboriginal woman and mature age student, with ties to Bangerang and Yorta Yorta in regional Victoria (Shepparton and Violet Town), along the Goulburn River and up into the mountains where I would go on Country and not see people for days at a time, sometimes months. Removed from country at 9, I left home at 13 seeking the safety of the streets and became disconnected, moving many times. I have been living in regional North Queensland (Townsville) for 16 years, on Bindal/Wulgurukaba land, and am accepted as part of the Community here.  

Having the lived experiences of trauma (both intergenerational and personal) and of disconnection, I know what it is like to feel like the world is against you. I aspire to be a part of the #BuildAnArmy of Psychologists to help treat the origins of these traumas through research and publishing academic papers, and to really make a difference for our people. 

I intend on focusing on two fields of study: social psychology and family group/youth mental health. Firstly, I want to tackle the stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination strongly evident in regional North Queensland and on social media platforms in our region, where our people make up 2.8x higher population density than the Australian average (7.9% are Indigenous). Secondly, I want to focus on how intergenerational trauma has led to lost parenting skills and how we can help to support these family groups (as a whole) to recover these positive, strengths-based skills. 

I am unashamedly ambitions, currently studying two bachelor degrees and a graduates certificate, concurrently, while raising my three young children alone, two of which are home-schooled and one in mainstream. I am in my third year of my Bachelor of Psychology degree (Honours), in my second year of my Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Criminology and Indigenous Studies and will complete my Graduates Certificate in Research Management at the end of this year. Financially (and emotionally), it has been a tough road, with many setbacks, including losing almost everything in the North Queensland Floods of 2019. But I am determined to push forward and to be a part of the Army of Indigenous Psychologists to help heal our people and society, and this scholarship will enable me to continue studying in pursuing this dream.