After 14 years of providing counselling services with just a Certificate in Basic Counselling, Ruby Kivung Matane now practices her skills effectively as a Diploma of Counselling (CHC51015) graduate of the Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC).

Ruby was one of the 18 Papua New Guinea nationals who graduated with an internationally recognised Diploma of Counselling in Port Moresby on Friday 6 March, 2020. The event was a milestone for APTC and the PNG Counselling Association.

Ruby, a mother of seven and a grandmother, who hails from Toma in East New Britain Province, went through a journey of struggles and triumph to complete her diploma program with APTC in PNG.

She started her counselling career with the basic counselling award that she received in the 90s from the Melanesian Counselling Institute in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province. Her perseverance and quest to continue providing counselling services is rewarding after completing her Diploma program with APTC.

An opportunity not to be missed as a member of the PNG Counsellors Association, Ruby had to leave her family in Kokopo and travel to Port Moresby to take up the program offered in four blocks.

“The last block of the course was very challenging as I had to look for a place to rent and complete the course,” Ruby said.

She also had to look for a job to sustain her living in the city. She was fortunate when the Don Bosco Technological Institute (DBTI) offered her a job as the Students Guidance and Counselling Officer in June 2019.

Since then, Ruby has been with DBTI and continues to provide counselling services to the students.

“Dealing with students is always sensitive,” she said.

An achievement she celebrates in her job is the skills learnt on case management requirements that helped her develop processes to manage cases more confidentially.

“We were able to determine appropriate responses in accordance with the school’s policy which helped me develop a yearly plan to educate students on various issues and how they can manage them.”

APTC is managed by TAFE Queensland (RTO 0275).