Gold Coast Construction Worker Upskills While Recovering from Serious Brain Injury
25 February, 2020 2 min read
When Gold Coast local Misaeli Falala suffered a serious brain injury, not only did his life change, he realised that he would have to expand his skills to keep working.
Misaeli, who has worked in the construction industry for more than a decade and has been working as a skilled labourer for the past 16 years, was recovering from surgery when he made the decision to adjust his lifestyle and skills to accommodate his new circumstances.
In recovery for months, Misaeli spoke to industry professionals and researched careers in the construction industry that would be suitable for him as well as upskilling training opportunities.
“Being a dad with a young family, I knew that I would need to adapt, especially after experiencing such a significant change to my life,” Misaeli said.
“One of the changes I wanted to make was to get my formal qualifications in construction – I looked into a Certificate III in Concreting and enrolled in the course with Building Industry Training (BIT).
Needing additional support because of his condition, Misaeli was able to access financial assistance and training resources for the BIT course through Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ).
“The support of CSQ was crucial to my success in completing the Certificate III, as I would not have been able to fund the training course without them,” he said.
Rebecca Lynch, Director at BIT, said the BIT team was proud of Misaeli following his successful completion of the Certificate III in Concreting.
“Misaeli works hard and is very reliable and knowledgeable – he spent a significant time with our trainer and team discussing his experience on the course and we’re glad he was able to get the support he needed from CSQ to complete his qualifications,” Rebecca said.
Now that Misaeli has completed his training, he plans to continue to keep up to date with his knowledge in the industry, no matter the challenge.