Brands, services, platforms and people
Try It by Career Calling

Refuge Worker

Community and Personal Service WorkersUsually a trade certificate or similar, or several years of experience

What the work is

Provides services and support to people seeking assistance in a refuge.

Would you enjoy the work?

These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.

  • Assists individuals, families, refugees and asylum seekers with provision of crisis/refuge accommodation, and provides support to access relevant resources
  • Ensures security of refuge
  • Admits into refuge individuals and families who are homeless as a result of family and domestic violence, and/or crisis in emergency situations
  • Provides emotional support to residents of the refuge
  • Advises individuals and families about health and welfare resources and assistance, and refers them to relevant Professionals
  • Provides assistance to access and transition to appropriate accommodation options, such as youth housing, family reconciliation, private rental and public housing
  • Advocates for, and supports, individuals and families

Try it

A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a community welfare centre with a drop-in counter and small interview rooms. They are fictional.

The kind of days you could have

Good days

  • A person who arrived in tears leaves with a plan and a phone number to call
  • A family you helped find a home sends a photo of their kids in their own bedrooms
  • A stack of letters that overwhelmed someone becomes a list they can manage

Hard days

  • Having nothing available to offer someone who clearly needs it today
  • A day of back-to-back crises and no time to eat or think
  • Hearing a client's story and still having to go to the next appointment

Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.

Work a mission

Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.

Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 411635, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.