When Ashley Luscombe began her CHC33021 Certificate III in Individual Support through one of For Purpose Education’s registered training organisations, ARC Training, she wasn’t sure she would be able to do it.
She had left school at a young age, spent years out of the workforce raising her daughter and carried with her the impact of an extraordinarily difficult childhood and experiences of abuse.
Study felt intimidating and the unknown was frightening. After years of being made to feel that she would never amount to anything, self-doubt was deeply ingrained.
Today, not only is Ashley a qualified support worker, but she is also the 2026 Vocational Student of the Year for the Western Sydney and Blue Mountains Region, and a finalist in the New South Wales (NSW) Training Awards at state level.
It is an achievement Ashley is still coming to terms with.
“I’m just this girl who took on this course, and now it’s like a different path. Doors are opening.
Taking the first step toward studying
Ashley had always felt drawn to mental health and supporting others, shaped in part by her own lived experiences. But it was a major change in her personal life that finally prompted her to take a step toward a new future.
Following the end of her marriage, a friend encouraged her to consider studying something she really cared about. Ashley chose disability support, but she was questioning whether she would be capable of completing the qualifications required.
Having experienced instability throughout her childhood, including time in foster homes and frequently changing schools, Ashley left school young. Returning to formal study as an adult brought fears that others would be more educated or better prepared than she was.
“I was nervous, scared and anxious,” Ashley said.
Thankfully, from the beginning of her course, Ashley found something that made a world of difference: people who genuinely wanted her to succeed.
“The ARC team were so amazing. They just helped me step by step all the way,” she said.
“No matter what time I needed help, they were there. It just made that journey a little bit easier, knowing that someone was there.”
For Ashley, it was the support that helped take studying from something frightening into something she began to look forward to.
“It was like someone just giving you that little push, trying to lift your spirit and knowing that they’re going to be there for you, knowing that they want you to succeed.
“It just makes that big difference.”
Turning difficult experiences into compassion
Ashley is open about the significant trauma she experienced growing up.
Born in Samoa and later moving to New Zealand, her childhood was marked by abuse and a lack of access to consistent education. Those experiences left her carrying deeply entrenched beliefs about herself and what she was capable of achieving.
While at times during her studies, those old doubts resurfaced, Ashley kept going and completed her qualification.
Her experiences have also shaped the compassion she brings to her work today.
Ashley is now employed as a Support Worker with Rogue, and she describes her work with people living with disability and mental health challenges as exactly where she wants to be.
For Ashley, being a great support worker begins with empathy, patience and a willingness to truly listen. This was echoed in a saying that has stayed with her.
“There is no door handle on the outside of a person’s heart. It has to be opened from the inside,” she said.
“The way you can help them to open that is by showing empathy, showing compassion and showing understanding.
“We should never assume. It’s just letting them talk to you.”
Ashley understands that trust can take time, particularly for people who may feel misunderstood or find it difficult to open up.
“A hug goes a long way. Help goes a long way,” she said, “giving them that touch, a hug, makes them feel that they are still loved.”
It is this deeply human approach to her work that shines through when Ashley speaks about the people she supports.
“You need to have a lot of patience,” she said. “It’s having understanding and patience with them, and just really listening.”
Sometimes that means redirecting a client away from distractions and creating space for a one-on-one conversation.
“You make them feel important and say, ‘Okay, we have no distractions here. It’s just you and me. What is it that you want? What is it that you need?’”
Now an award-winning learner
Ashley’s experience as part of the NSW Training Awards began with a nomination for the Vocational Student of the Year Award, with the endorsement of her employer.
“When they said I was being nominated for VET, I was like, ‘What’s VET?’” she laughed. “I thought, ‘Wow, that is such a privilege. I mean, who am I?’”
The answer became clear when Ashley was named the 2026 Vocational Student of the Year for the Western Sydney and Blue Mountains Region.
Sitting in the room as a regional winner was an emotional moment that reached far beyond the award itself.
Ashley remembered the words she had heard growing up: that she would never be loved and would never amount to anything.
“I said to myself ‘oh, she’s completely wrong. She’s so wrong’,” she recalled.
“It was one of the proudest moments I think I have experienced.
Since then, Ashley has also gone on to be named a state finalist for the NSW Training Awards! She says the experience feels surreal.
“Even if I don’t become the winner, just being part of it is an amazing journey,” she said.
From surviving the past to shaping her future
For Ashley, this is only the beginning. She hopes to deepen her knowledge of mental health and eventually move into suicide prevention, drawing on both her professional training and lived experience to support others through difficult moments.
Ashley is also passionate about encouraging people who doubt themselves or believe their past or limited education has closed certain doors.
“I encourage them and say, ‘You can do this. I’m an example of it,’” she said.
“As long as your heart is in the goal that you want, you can achieve anything. Whatever journey you choose, you will have support, because I was able to do it with the support from the ARC team.”
Her message is simple but powerful.
“No matter how you start off in life, whether you start off in a good way or a sad way, in the end, it’s you,” she said.
“You have to make that choice about what you want to do with it. Do you want to use it to make other people pay, or do you want to use it to help others heal?”
Ashley’s past no longer defines what she is capable of. Instead, she uses what she has learned and overcome to help others feel seen, understood and supported and for anyone who doubts that change is possible, she has one final message to share:
“Don’t give up.”
The New South Wales Training Award winners will be announced on Tuesday 25 August. You can purchase tickets of find out more here.