In rural health education, impact does not always arrive with a fanfare. Sometimes it looks like a dietitian packing up for a Thursday morning cooking group in the park, heading out to meet people where they are, and knowing that food is only part of the story.
For Kate Richards, that way of working began as a student on a UCRH allied health rural placement.
Originally from the Gold Coast, Kate chose our region for the final 21 weeks of her nutrition and dietetics degree. She was drawn to regional health and to a part of the world that felt more akin to her own values.
“Northern NSW is kind of more aligned with how I feel I am as a person,” she says. “It’s a bit more down to earth. It’s my sort of people.”
Her placement took her through hospitals in Tweed and Lismore, but it was time spent at Bullinah Aboriginal Medical Service that left the deepest mark.
Before arriving in the Northern Rivers, Aboriginal health had not been a career path she had seriously considered. What changed her thinking was not a single moment, but a series of lessons about culture, curiosity and connection.
One conversation has stayed with her ever since. During placement, UCRH dietetics educator Nicola Buster challenged her to think about the culture and assumptions she brought into her work.
“I was like, my culture? I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it,” Kate recalls.
The lesson reshaped how she works with patients.
“Every time now someone walks into the room, I go, all right, I can’t assume anything. I’ve just got to know who they are.”
Today Kate splits her time between Bullinah and Tweed Valley Hospital. The settings are very different, but the approach she learned during placement remains the same. Conversations about nutrition start with understanding the realities of someone’s life first.
Sometimes that means helping people navigate housing stress, financial hardship or family challenges. Sometimes it means finding practical ways to eat well when there is no fridge, stove or microwave.
“Unless you understand their whole situation, it’s tricky to try and ask them to make a change,” she says.
The placement has now come full circle. Just a few years after graduating in 2022, Kate has gone from student to supervisor, hosting multiple UCRH nutrition and dietetics students at Bullinah. Having so recently been in their shoes herself, she understands the steep learning curve that comes with turning classroom knowledge into real-world practice. She hopes that shared experience helps students feel supported, build confidence and find their own way as future dietitians.
She says many arrive focused on the science, but soon discover there is something bigger at the heart of good healthcare.
“Every student’s like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s what matters’,” she says, reflecting on the common light-bulb moment. “It’s about people’s whole wellbeing.”
