First woman student health director

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33601, 1 August 1974, Page 6

First woman student health director

The first woman to be a director of a student health service in New Zealand or Australia is Dr Janet Irwin, who is at present working with the student health service at the University of Canterbury.

She will leave Christchurch in October to take up her post as director of the university health sen ice at the L'niversity of Queensland, Brisbane.

During her eight years at . the University of Canterbury, she has done counselling, 1 work with students. She is I > also a strong advocate of , . contraception advice and [ education, also education ini responsibility, and abortion' law reform. Dr Irwin said that a stu-j I dent health service had a number of roles. "Its first responsibility is to the stu- ! dents, to be available, to mderstand their problems, (

and to be accepting and nonjudgmental. “I think we have a role in putting the students’ point lof view to the administrators and academics, and 'vice versa, so there is a 'very important role we can play in educating students i and staff, and making them aware of each other’s probi lems.” She said the problems faced by students were the emotional conflicts of growing up. They were problems I or "finding an identity, finding some purpose and meaning to what they are doing. These problems apply to anyone growing up. Students are more disabled by emotional problems than people doing more manual types of work. Emotional Sroblems are more disabling you are trying to study.” The University of Queensland had about 10,000 fulltime and 10,000 part-time students, Dr Irwin said. The student health service was like the service at Canterbury, but there was a much more extensive counselling service. She said that she thought ' a woman was wanted for the job, but that she was not sure why, and she did not think a woman doctor had any special advantage in dealing with the growing number of women students.