Page 4059 - Week 13 - Thursday, 31 October 2013
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key to the success of the approach, in particular Northside Community Centre, Woden Community Centre, the YWCA, and Gugan Gulwan. These organisations were involved in the design, planning and implementation of the approach, providing a valuable whole-of-system perspective. The initiative was designed with the dual objectives of delivering direct benefits to participating families and creating long-term systemic improvements for all families in the ACT.
The work commenced with an initial family engagement in April of this year. A total of 10 families participated in the testing phase, providing significant insights into the experience of families with different backgrounds, experiences and needs. An independent evaluation is underway which will soon report on the success of the project.
We are, however, in a position to share some initial findings with the Assembly today. We learnt that timing is critical; and often our system is unable to provide support early, or to continue supporting families, once the crisis has been addressed. Often it is in times of wellness where families are able to move forward, to identify changes required, and to put in place strategies to prevent crises from occurring in the future. One lead worker noted that the family they were supporting were “in a good space now” and that “this is a good opportunity to build capability and focus on goals”. Another lead worker noted, “Just because families aren’t in crisis doesn’t mean they aren’t still living with risks and complexity.”
This process enables services to transition with families as needs change, rather than requiring families to transition through different services.
Families were supported to identify a lead worker from within their existing support network. Lead workers were authorised to work with, and on behalf of, each family, and to develop a tailored support offer which matched the family’s needs, avoiding duplication and confusion. This required support from services to allow their workers to operate flexibly according to the needs and objectives of the family, rather than being bound by program guidelines and role definitions.
Lead workers said the process enabled them to “walk the journey with their family, developing a relationship based on trust and understanding”. This was because:
Case Managers (working from a service) can be affected in their case management role by the changing priorities of their service or funders. Lead Workers are there for the family, to respond to their priorities.
Understanding the needs of these families is the first step towards providing the right supports. Families were supported to share their story with their lead worker. A lead worker described this process as helping them understand the family better. In their words:
… doing the map changed my perspective—
of the client—
She had developed a label of being disengaged but the map showed all the times that she had “knocked on doors” but was not listened to.
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