From an early age, Leading Aircraftwoman Emily-Jane Foote knew she wanted to be a mechanic.
She always had a passion for functional, hands-on creations, but after finishing school it was difficult to find an industry apprenticeship.
“I think that’s because in those times it was hard for women to break into mechanical roles,” Leading Aircraftwoman Foote said.
So, at age 21, she approached Defence Force Recruiting, who said “no worries, we’ll sign you up right away”, and was thrilled to become a vehicle mechanic in the Air Force.
That was eight years ago, and during that time Leading Aircraftwoman Foote developed back injuries and faced medical discharge, but was able to transfer to a communications technician role and now serves at the 452 Squadron Air Traffic Control Unit at RAAF Base Townsville.
“Although there’s less physical work and no more flipping tyres, I’m still in constant pain, which affects my sleep and puts me into massive depression, and medications haven’t really helped,” she said.
“I’m lucky to have a supportive partner and at the end of last year one of my colleagues, who knew about my issues, came up and said: ‘hey, have you thought about doing the ADF ARRTS program to clear your head?’.”
The ADF Arts for Recovery, Resilience, Teamwork and Skills (ARRTS) four-week program involves experienced mentors teaching music, writing and visual arts techniques to help participants discover new outlets and enhance their wellbeing.
With a breadth of experience in creating digital art, which she would share online using platforms like Twitch, Leading Aircraftwoman Foote chose to explore hands-on creative outputs through the visual arts stream of the program.
“Digital art technology is great for initial designs and character development, but I felt it had made me lazy because I could so easily go back and change things,” she said.
“It had also made me too much of a perfectionist and a lot of times I wouldn’t show my stuff because it wasn’t perfect enough, so I chose to focus on skateboard art and spray painting at ADF ARRTS.”
During the program, the 24 participants went on a range of excursions that included a visit to ‘The Green Shed’ Resource Management Centre where Leading Aircraftwoman Foote obtained several skateboards that she turned into artworks.
“I once broke my ankle while skateboarding, so on the back of one of the skateboards I painted an X-ray of my vision of my broken ankle,” she said.
“And underneath it, there’s another skateboard that’s broken in half and there are two shoes screwed into the skateboard.”
The ADF ARRTS program ended with a showcase event, which was attended by Leading Aircraftwoman Foote’s partner, who came down from Townsville, and her partner’s sister and mum, who drove down from Newcastle.
“Having them there and showing them what we had created made a huge difference,” she said.
Now back in Townsville, Leading Aircraftwoman Foote has converted her spare room into an arts studio, and together with her partner, Monday nights are now ‘creation nights’, along with games of Warhammer.
Reflecting on her ADF ARRTS experience, Leading Aircraftwoman Foote feels deeply touched by the program.
“I didn’t think I was going to produce anything so emotional, and it’s helped my wellbeing because I tend to bottle everything up,” she said.
“Being able to express it to others, and also share in their stories, has been a huge help and it’s a program I’d highly recommend to anybody experiencing similar challenges.”
The next ADF ARRTS program will be held in Canberra from May 5-31. Applications are open until April 1.
