Imagine leaving everything you have ever known and starting your life fresh.
Having to make new friends, learn a new language and culture, understand a new system and maybe even restart your career.
Iraqi refugee Ghed Al Sabti, 48, is living that reality.
She is an accomplished psychology professor with a career spanning 18 years, but like many other new arrivals, finding employment has been one of her biggest hurdles since coming to Australia.
"In the beginning it was very difficult because I don't know where I can start, what are the rules, how can I begin? How can I study?" she said.
"I didn't know anything.
"When we came as refugees the Red Cross contacted us, they gave us some information, but it wasn't enough."
Along with her husband and three children, they settled in Perth two years ago.
Several months after arriving she discovered the Empower Project - a program which helps bridge the gaps in support services by pairing women with mentors in relevant industries to help them find jobs which match their skills.
That is where she met Mamta Kochhar, a TAFE lecturer who teaches English as a second language.
"I was lucky to get her because the idea was to give back to others what I felt I needed when I came as a migrant," Ms Kochhar said.
"Ghed is so accomplished, she's not only qualified but she's got a lot of self-belief and very high self-esteem so as a result of that half the battle was already won.
"I think I ended up learning much, much more from her than I have given her, but of course the focus on settlement, English language, resources and networks, introducing her to my networks - that's been the crux of what I've been able to bring to her."
Ms Kochhar believes a mentor is crucial for new arrivals settling into a new country.
"Having a mentor, what it does it gives them a sense of belonging and a sense of connectedness, without which you would be isolated, lonely, lost," she said.
"There is no way you can cover this journey by yourself. I had a lot of mentors myself and I think it's a privilege and an honour to be able to do that for somebody else."
But so far, Professor Al Sabti's journey has been an uphill battle.
"The most difficult [part] for me and the most important is to improve my language," she said.
"When I catch the language, I think everything will be easy."
Program helps build skills, confidence
While it is a common experience amongst many newcomers from linguistically diverse backgrounds, language is not the only barrier for migrants.
The program works in partnership with Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Centre, based in the culturally-diverse suburb of Mirrabooka, about 20 minutes north of Perth.
It helps women from different backgrounds understand the Australian system and provides services such as domestic violence and mental health support.
Shalini Noronha, who is originally from India, is a social worker at the community organisation and said she too first struggled with employment despite speaking fluent English.
"I probably applied for 100 jobs and all 100 said no because I didn't have any experience here, no referee here, I didn't understand the whole thing about selection criteria," she said.
"I think a lot of it is how you present yourself on your resume, which in India is easier to do because you can pay someone to do that for you.
"But here it's all your hard work you need to put in which a lot of migrant and refugee women will definitely not understand when they're applying for jobs."
Now a mentor in the program, Ms Noronha has been helping other migrant women learn from her challenges.
"Towards the end when we continued to have the workshops, you could see that they were talking, they were speaking, raising their hands, they were saying what their experiences were, so I think getting that confidence you could see that difference throughout the process," she said.
Leading the program is Professor Jaya Dantas, a Professor of International Health in the School of Public Health at Curtin University.
Her research focuses on the consequences of post-conflict adversity on women and youth as well as the empowerment processes among refugee and migrant populations.
"The challenges for refugee women are immense, many of them come from backgrounds of trauma, interrupted education, they come from backgrounds where they don't speak English, so all of these are disadvantages," she explained.
"They also come from cultural patriarchal systems and that also is a challenge for them."
She said they also tend to be particularly disadvantaged because they do not have any local experience and their overseas qualifications often are not accepted or recognised in Australia.
The program is in its third year and is set to conclude this year but Professor Dantas is hoping to expand the project to help international students into jobs.
In the three years since it began, almost 40 women have gone through the program as mentees.
While only about five have found jobs in their chosen profession, the support has given others the tools to start their own businesses, further their education and undertake voluntary work in the community.