A Kamilaroi woman who spent a year couch surfing before living in a converted bus has been named a 2026 Adult Learners Week Ambassador, crediting study with turning her life around from homelessness to a career helping others in Inverell.
Tahnee Capon, 36, has family ties across Inverell, Moree and other parts of NSW. Her path into adult education began when she heard a receptionist job was going at Rural Outreach and Support Service.
“So I ended up attending Rural Outreach because I heard that they had a receptionist job going,” Ms Capon told SBS NITV Radio.
Once in the role, she set her sights on becoming a support worker, a goal that opened the door to a traineeship with Community College Northern Inland (CCNI). Over two years, she completed her Certificate III and Certificate IV in Community Services while continuing to work at Rural Outreach.
“I chose to continue from Certificate III to Certificate IV in Community Services to further develop my skills and knowledge in my current role,” she said in a Student Voices profile published by CCNI. “The course is relevant to my work and is helping me build confidence and a deeper understanding of the industry.”
It was during her Certificate III studies that Ms Capon experienced homelessness, one of the toughest stretches of her life.
“One of the biggest challenges I faced during Certificate III was experiencing homelessness. That was a very difficult time for me,” she said in the CCNI profile.
She told SBS NITV Radio she got through it by staying organised and staying close to work and college.
“I would make sure that I’d have everything cleaned for the day that I needed to work or go to Community College. That was my biggest barrier: making sure that everything was nice,” she said. “I was couch surfing on family and friends’ couches for a year, until I could save up enough money that I bought myself a little bus that I turned into a Winnebago to live in, and then from there I also saved up enough money to buy myself a caravan, and I am now living out on a property.”
Moving into Certificate IV alongside stable employment helped her rebuild her life, giving her renewed confidence, purpose and direction. She said combining study with full-time work had transformed the way she approached her career, with her studies providing the theory and framework behind community services while her workplace let her put that knowledge into practice.
Ms Capon said patience was the most important skill that carried her through.
“I’ve always had patience a lot because growing up I see a lot of other homeless people that get very frustrated, and then once they get frustrated they don’t get anywhere from there,” she said. “I wanted to teach myself to be patient enough to sit down and wait for the outcome, and it always comes.”
Today Ms Capon draws on both her training and her own experience in her role at Rural Outreach and Support Service, which helps people into housing and runs anger management, healthy relationships and budgeting courses.
“If say someone needs help with filling out a housing application but they don’t have a birth certificate, we help them apply for a birth certificate so that they can get on the housing application,” she told SBS NITV Radio.
She said finishing her studies had also given her the confidence to share her story publicly, something she once would have avoided.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do this interview at all before because I didn’t have the confidence to talk to people,” she said. “I’m a very shy person and I’m a quiet achiever, so I’d rather do all my goals but not get recognised for it.”
Ms Capon was selected as an ambassador for Adult Learners Week, which ran from Tuesday, 1 September to Tuesday, 8 September and promotes the benefits of adult education and lifelong learning. This year’s theme, Follow Your Compass: Learning for Life, focused on how education can provide direction, opportunity and the chance to take a new path at any stage of life.
Adult Learning Australia president John Sheen said the week recognised the many ways people continued their education.
“During Adult Learners Week, adult education providers across Australia will be celebrating the many and varied ways people learn together, whether in community settings, workplaces, or through informal learning pathways,” he said. “This national celebration of learning is a chance to recognise that learning is lifelong, accessible, and deeply connected to opportunity and participation.”
Adult Learning Australia figures show 44 per cent of Australians aged 15 to 74 have very low literacy skills and 54 per cent have very low numeracy skills. More than 3.2 million Australians in that age bracket are currently learning, with about a quarter studying at adult education or training institutions.
For Ms Capon, her message for anyone considering adult learning is simple.
“Age is just a number. Learning is an everyday experience, and just have a go,” she said.
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