For Jestiner, leadership is both professional and personal. As a Family Services Team Leader, she challenges bias, supports staff and promotes therapeutic models of care which respect culture and lived experience.
As Co-Chair of the CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) Working Group, Jestiner brings wisdom and a calm leadership with which to guide the group’s contribution to fairness and justice. “Many people from CALD backgrounds may not feel confident or have the opportunity to take on lead roles. Part of the reason I stepped in was to show that you can be confident to lead. It’s challenging, but it can be done.”
Jestiner has a strong belief in community, compassion and connectedness. As one of the original members of the CALD Working Group, she helped to build a space which encourages openness and safety. Now, she sees the group as a space to amplify the voices of CALD staff and consumers, and to show that leadership can come from lived experience.
Among her contributions, Jestiner highlights the group’s tireless advocacy for training to support those working with CALD communities. “We made enough noise – Uniting needs to equip its people. It’s a long road, but we’re starting to see more training for managers on how to work with CALD communities.”
“We made enough noise – Uniting needs to equip its people. It’s a long road, but we’re starting to see more training for managers on how to work with CALD communities.”
Jestiner is honoured to carry the torch for other CALD people, as her culture’s philosophy, called Ubuntu, means: I am who I am because we are (who we are).
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