News

Candice Liddy, a Darwin physiotherapist and businesswoman from a well-known local Indigenous family, last week provided our Haileybury Rendall senior VCAL students with her perspective on life and how to achieve success.

Candice has had an inspiring journey, beginning with the difficult decision in her final year of school to spilt Year 12 over two years, to allow her to maintain her commitment to hockey, while also focusing on her studies and continuing to achieve good grades.

Candice shared with our Stars just how much hard work, dedication and sacrifice she had to put into her senior years in high school so she could reach her goals.

After completing Year 12, and with the strong support of her family, Candice went to the University of Melbourne to study Physiotherapy. Like our boarding students at Haileybury Rendall, she had to face the challenge of moving away from her home and family to complete her degree.

After she was qualified, Candice returned to Darwin to work at Royal Darwin Hospital and a range of local private practices. She has broadened her experience by working with many Northern Territory Football and Hockey representative teams over the years, which has allowed her to travel around Australia at the same time as supporting many Northern Territory junior and senior athletes.

Recently, Candice opened her own business, ‘Totem Health’, which aims to provide culturally sensitive and evidence-based physiotherapy and wellness services to clients in Darwin and remote NT communities.

After Candice’s inspiring talk, the group finished with nourishing face mask and talked about skin types and how to maintain fresh and clean skin.

The young women shared with Candice their own struggles with being away from family and community while completing secondary school. She encouraged our Stars to persist and work hard, explaining that her own story shows how important a good education is for someone to move into the workforce successfully.

Candice finished by explaining that “having Indigenous role models, such as teachers and professionals like your Stars Mentors, can be an extremely powerful motivator for younger generations to aspire to higher education.”

By sharing her inspirational story with our Stars, she is putting her beliefs into action.