Tenille Gilbert - Society Melbourne
About Tenille Gilbert
Tenille Gilbert is the Managing Director and Chief Operations Officer at Society Melbourne. Her role oversees the everyday running of her social enterprise through managing the people that make Society Melbourne’s work possible whilst constantly discovering new ways for her team to best achieve their key focus of eliminating youth homelessness in Australia. In addition, as the Chief Operations Officer, Tenille has led their Crêpes for Change event which MMI has collaborated with for the past few years.
Q1: Has impact always been something you strived to create in your career? If not, how and why did you end up here?
“When I was younger I wouldn't have referred to it as such, but I can remember seeing social injustice in many forms… and wondering how on earth our society was letting this happen!”
Creating social change or impact has always been my driver in my career and more broadly in how I live my life. When I was younger I wouldn't have referred to it as such, but I can remember seeing social injustice in many forms ie. people sleeping rough, and wondering how on earth our society was letting this happen! I took a gap year after high school and travelled to India to volunteer for six months. I absolutely loved my experience there, however, I soon recognised that what I was taking part in was voluntourism and wasn't nearly having the impact that I hoped it would be. I had always thought that foreign aid was my calling, I studied International Studies and Community Development. My experience in India and subsequent studies that included examining foreign aid that doesn't always work led me to understand that local impact was a better, and personally more ethical, way for me to pursue my purpose, and that's how I ended up doing what I do!
Q2: What are the most common factors that lead to youth homelessness and what can we as a society do to prevent young people from becoming homeless in the first place?
“The education system is a way to engage young people who might be slipping into the cycle of homelessness, but it can only be an effective support if it truly provides a space for all young people to feel safe and a part of a community.”
Youth homelessness and its causes are super complex. At Society Melbourne, we strongly believe that young people end up in a position of homelessness due to no fault of their own. It is through a combination of life circumstances outside of their control that land them there. Domestic and family violence, family substance abuse, lack of access to quality and supportive education, and being gender or sexually diverse are just some of the myriad of reasons that a young person might end up experiencing homelessness. How do we prevent it? That's a big question! We need to provide the education and support for young people to know that if they end up at-risk of homelessness they have somewhere to turn and that there are people that they can trust. Unfortunately, right now, we don't have enough spaces for these young people to go to but we also don't have the awareness of how to access these support services. We also need education services to create spaces where all young people can feel safe and have people that they trust around. The education system is a way to engage young people who might be slipping into the cycle of homelessness, but it can only be an effective support if it truly provides a space for all young people to feel safe and a part of a community.
“At Society Melbourne, we look at our role as creating a community, opportunities and a pathway to financial independence”
At Society Melbourne, we look at our role as creating a community, opportunities and a pathway to financial independence to ensure that our young people don't end up back in the cycle of homelessness because we believe this is the trickiest part. Once a young person is in the cycle it is incredibly hard for them to get out. Prevention would need to address each of the underlying factors, and in such a wicked problem it can be very hard to determine how we could go about addressing all of the complex factors.
Q3: What do you think is the best way for students to help the homeless community while studying?
I think one of the best things that students can do is to begin to engage with the homeless community through what binds us all together - we're all human! It can be as simple as saying 'hi' to someone who is visibly experiencing homelessness ie. sleeping rough, or even starting a conversation with them. We need to create a space where we are bridging the gaps that have been created between those who are and are not experiencing homelessness.
One of the absolute best things that I would recommend is to take part in a 300 Blankets Outreach Night. The 300 Blankets team will guide you in meeting, chatting to and handing out necessities to those sleeping rough and create such a great 'in' for understanding how to approach the issue of homelessness if you have never done so before. It can be daunting to go up and chat to stranger, and it's ok to feel that way, but 300 Blankets will give you a great way to start the conversation.
Q4: Is there any advice that you would like to give students who are interested in pursuing a career in social impact?
Do it! We need more people who are passionate about social impact taking the leap and joining the movement. You will not regret being able to work everyday on something that you truly care about and using your skills to create social change.
I would also say that there are two things to consider:
“You don't need to find your 'one passion'… Drop the idea that everyone has to find their one passion, it's not helpful and it's probably holding you back.”
You don't need to find your 'one passion'. Some people might have it, some might not. For me, I am passionate about social justice in all of it's forms and for so long thought that I had to find my one passion to make a difference. I found out that I didn't have to! I am super passionate about young people and I am passionate about the issue of homelessness, but youth homelessness is not the single issue that I care about. And that's ok! Youth homelessness is the issue I am working on now and it is where I get to channel my passion for social impact and even though it is not my single passion I am able to put all of my energy and care into it and make a real difference. Drop the idea that everyone has to find their one passion, it's not helpful and it's probably holding you back.
You don't need to 'start your own social enterprise'! If you have an incredibly unique idea that does not currently exist in any form then maybe start something new. If not, engage in the current social enterprise system first. There are so many incredible people and organisations that need driven, intelligent people like you or that you could partner with to make your idea happen. I would strongly encourage you to go down this route first as a means of pooling our resources in addressing social impact rather than going at it alone.
Tenille Gilbert - Managing Director and Chief Operations Officer at Society Melbourne
Big thank you to Tenille Gilbert for taking the time to answer our questions.