TasCOSS Newsletter November 2012 by Tasmanian Council of Social Service Inc

TasCOSS Tasmanian Council of Social Service

Newsletter

December 2012

Voices of the community sector TasCOSS 2012 Conference, p 6 Mental health diversity in the workplace, p 8 Young mothers program, p 13 Sharing resources, p 15

TasCOSS News December 2012

Contents 3

From the CEO

The problem with gambling

Advertising and insert rates 2012

Sector’s priorities for State Budget 2013-14 DHHS subsidises online reporting tool

Welcome to our new members

Advertising (exc GST)

Voices of the conference

Working well in a diverse workplace

Members

Non Members

Full

$70

$110

Half

$40

$70

Quarter $25

$40

New manager for TasCOSS Sector Development Unit

indsey Moffatt has joined TasCOSS as the manager of our Sector Development Unit. Lindsey has 20 years’ experience in the not-for-profit and public sectors in the UK and in Tasmania, most recently conducting Volunteering Tasmania’s major State of Volunteering research project.

She is already hard at work at TasCOSS, along with colleagues Dale Rahmanovic, Tim Tabart, Klaus Baur, Lure Wishes and Gus Risberg, to build the capacity of the sector in areas such as workforce development.

Editor: Gabrielle Rish gabrielle@tascoss.org.au Phone: 6231 0755

Contact Lindsey on 03 6231 0755 or email Lindsey@ tascoss.org.au

Work to do on multiculturalism

Inserts (exc GST)

Young mothers program built on flexibility

Members

$85

Non Members $130

Successfully sharing resources

From the CEO

The alarming rate of poverty in our state is unacceptable

he latest report on poverty in Australia has found that nearly 14 per cent of Tasmanians live in poverty and many more are dangerously close to the edge. The ACOSS Poverty Report 2012 was prepared by the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. The data source is the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ income and expenditure surveys for 2009-10 and previous years. The key finding is that in 2010, an estimated 2,265,000 people or 12.8% of all Australians, including 575,000 children (17.3%), lived in households with income below the poverty line used in international research, which is set at 50% of the median (middle) disposable income for all Australian households. In the case of a single adult, in 2010 this poverty line was $358 per week. In the case of a couple with two children it was $752. The Poverty Report 2012 also found that: • 13.1% of people in Hobart live below the poverty line. • 14.2% of Tasmanians outside the capital live below the poverty line. • 13.7% of all Tasmanians live in poverty. • When the widely used 60% of median disposable income benchmark is applied to the population of Tasmania, 24 per cent of Tasmanians are impoverished. TasCOSS has made detailed recommendations aimed at alleviating poverty in its annual submission, the Budget Priorities Statement, to the State Government.

Employment services shake-up needed

Affordable housing

The redesign of this broken system must also be complemented with a $50 per week increase in single allowance payments, which have fallen well below the poverty line.

According to estimates of the prevalence of homelessness by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the rate of homelessness in Australia was 49 people for every 10,000 people enumerated in the 2011 Census -- up 8% from the rate of 45 per 10,000 in 2006.

TasCOSS is among the peak community welfare organisations supporting a plan by Jobs Australia to design and model an improved employment services system.

The Councils of Social Service and National Welfare Rights Network are supporting the move by the peak employment services body, Jobs Australia, to invest significant funds to redesign a more workable model for a jobmatching system that is more effective in getting unemployed people trained and ready to take up jobs. We know there is widespread concern that the current system is failing many unemployed people, especially younger people, migrant Australians, older workers, those with disabilities, and people who are experiencing homelessness. We need to work closer with business to better skill and match people into jobs, and adapt the system to the structural changes taking place in the Australian economy. Improved employment services, in addition to a $50 increase for all single unemployed people on the Newstart Allowance, are essential elements of the policy response that will assist Australians back into the workforce. There has been no real increase in the Newstart Allowance for almost two decades.

The recently released Census data showing an increase in the level of homelessness in Australia is deeply concerning, and TasCOSS is part of the call for a concerted national effort to address this worsening problem.

About three-quarters of the increase in the overall homelessness estimate to 2011 was accounted for by people born overseas. Clearly we are not doing enough to deal with homelessness. One of the principal ways to deal with homelessness is to take measures to tackle the nations’ affordable housing crisis, which is causing so much strain and forcing people into poverty. The Councils of Social Service have called for the establishment of an Affordable Housing Growth Fund in order to expand the stock of affordable housing, with a long-term funding strategy attached to it. The National Rental Affordability Scheme, which directly encourages investment in new affordable flats and houses, should also be expanded.

Tony Reidy

TasCOSS Chief Executive

Sector’s priorities for State Budget 2013-14 The TasCOSS Budget Priorities Statement stresses the need to address social determinants of health and strengthen human services systems

he annual TasCOSS Budget submission presents recommendations to the State Government related to priority issues and areas of need that have been identified through consultation with TasCOSS members and others in the sector across Tasmania, and through TasCOSS policy research and analysis processes. This year’s submission focuses on four fundamental needs: 1. The need to tackle key social determinants of health, which hold many Tasmanians back from enjoying optimum health and wellbeing and from participating socially and economically in their communities. 2. The need to further protect vulnerable Tasmanians. 3. The need to strengthen human services systems to meet urgent and outstanding individual and community needs. 4. The need to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the community services sector in Tasmania. TasCOSS is concerned that we are seeing the emergence of ‘two Tasmanias’ as a consequence of a three-speed economy developing in the state. While many Tasmanians enjoy the fruits of prosperity in some sectors of the state’s economy, others are under-employed in low-paid, casual and insecure jobs, and yet others – in fact, a third of the Tasmanian population – rely on Commonwealth support payments as their major source of household income.

This situation is resulting in increasing affluence for some but in economic and social exclusion for others.

Exclusion from the workforce is not the only difficulty facing disadvantaged Tasmanians. Many Tasmanians are experiencing the limiting long-term effects of low educational attainment; lack of appropriate, secure and affordable housing; and lack of access to transport. All of these factors, and the social exclusion to which they can contribute, are associated with poor health status and outcomes – hence their characterisation as the ‘social determinants of health’. The TasCOSS 2013-14 Budget submission begins by offering recommendations relating to fundamental changes needed to address key social determinants of health. These recommendations address education, housing and transport, including calls for strategic review and coordination processes, for instance around education and transport. They also call for new or additional funding for particular programs, including in public housing. The second section contains recommendations for measures to protect some of the most vulnerable Tasmanians – children, older people and people with gambling problems. TasCOSS believes that some fundamental changes need to occur to ensure that vulnerable people are better protected in Tasmania. We also offer recommendations for urgent additional funding to strengthen the Tasmanian human services systems that provide assistance and support to those experiencing disadvantage, need and vulnerability.

Major needs have been identified in service systems – both government and community sector – addressing mental health, disability, families and children, youth, alcohol and drug treatment and support, and homelessness. Additional funding is needed for existing services to meet need and to ensure the successful implementation of service and system reforms. The final set of recommendations in the submission aims to ensure that the community services sector is able to continue to deliver effective, efficient and high-quality services and support to Tasmanians in need. The sector is now formally recognised, in the 2012-15 Partnership Agreement between DHHS, DPAC and the Community Sector Tasmania, as a significant and indispensible partner with government in the delivery of services and support to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable Tasmanians. The need to continue to build and maintain an effective, efficient and sustainable community services sector in Tasmania is more important than ever as increasingly more services are provided by the sector on behalf of government. The TasCOSS Budget Priorities Statement 2013-2014, presented to the Treasury Department on 30 November, is now available in the TasCOSS website, www.tascoss. org.au

Kath McLean Manager, TasCOSS Social Policy and Research Unit

Portal to Standards and Performance Pathways now open DHHS has subsidised a red tape-slashing online resource

a time when community service organisations are feeling the pinch, TasCOSS and DHHS, in partnership with the Peaks Network, have partnered to offer a new service that can dramatically cut the time and cost of quality reporting to the State and Federal Governments. The Standards and Performance Pathways is an easy-to-use online tool. Its content covers the main sets of quality standards for providers of health and community services. It allows Tasmanian organisations to assess themselves and report against 30 quality standards in common use around Australia, including the DHHS Quality and Safety Standards, Tasmanian Disability Standards, the National Standards for Disability Services, National Standards for Mental Health Services, Community Care Common Standards and many more. Using the SPP can cut the time it takes an organisation to comply with red tape by 80%. That releases staff to do other important work. The SPP also has great guidelines for developing and improving work plans to help build an organisation's capabilities. The SPP is the brainchild of Sydney-based NGO management experts Jane Bradfield and Julie Nyland, of BNG NGO Services Online. Jane and Julie came to Tasmania in November to run SPP workshops for the sector. This opportunity for a hands-on look at the SPP left no doubt what a brilliantly designed and very user-friendly resource it is. Funding from DHHS will subsidise the annual subscription for any

What the SPP provides • An electronic workbook containing online assessments against the criteria for all components of relevant Australian community services and health standards. • Automatically generated responses to assessment results describing action that is required to complete compliance of any component of a standard. • Guided activities, tools and resources linked to these actions that support the user to complete the action and reach compliance. • An electronic template which documents the actions, resources and enables the user to enter information for a work plan. • An evidence pack where pre-existing or newly completed documents can be loaded from the user’s system and downloaded to provide evidence of compliance for external assessors. • An ongoing progress display which shows progress in terms of completion and compliance levels; users can track their own progress by both percentage of compliance and visual graphs. • Cross-referencing with all other core sets of standards so that completion of one set of standards will automatically register with items in other sets of standards (meaning users can complete multiple sets of standards by completing a single set).

DHHS-funded organisation to use the SPP for one year, via an online portal being hosted by TasCOSS. An Early Bird rate (40% of the full price) is available to a maximum of 120 organisations until 28 February 2013. Subscription fees vary according to the total income of an organisation. (As a guide, using the Early Bird discount the annual subscription starts at $120 for an organisation with income of less that $50,000.) For more information about the TasCOSS SPP Portal, visit www.tascoss.org.au or contact Tim Tabart on 6231 0755 or tim@tascoss.org. au Tim Tabart Jane Bradfield and Julie Nyland of BNG NGO Services Online, right.

Voices of the conference

The ideas and conversations generated by the TasCOSS 2012 Conference will continue to resonate in the Tasmanian community sector “When they leave school they seem to slip through the system. Is it because their parents are in the same boat?” – Vonnie Bradford, Clarendon Vale resident and literacy mentor on the low rate of functional literacy in Tasmania

“Self-advocacy will become very important under the NDIS, when people will get more control over the support they receive.” – Julie Butler, Speak Out

“A million people are employed in community services in Australia but our sector hasn’t used its muscle to push back.” – Tim Costello, World Vision Australia CEO “Passion.” – Premier Lara Giddings in answer to a question on how she keeps her energy levels up

“Thirty-seven per cent of Australians can’t raise $3000 in a crisis.” – Les Hems, UNSW Centre for Social Impact

“The reason to bother with Facebook to reach out to homeless youth is because they’re always on it – the place to be is Facebook and you can get a conversation going very easily.” – James Davey, Anglicare

here are a million community sector workers in Australia and it’s time we made our voices heard above those of the mining magnates and poker machine operators, and set the agenda for the national conversation. That was the message for delegates in the opening address of the TasCOSS 2012 Conference from World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello. In the closing address at the November15-16 event, the message to people working in the sector was “what makes you different, what makes you work for low wages, is spirituality”. The speaker this time was that larrikin with an agenda, actor Robyn Moore. In between these two keynote speakers, there were many voices, including the voices of mental health carers and consumers, a one-time street kid acting as an advisor on a youth homelessness survey and an intellectually disabled self-advocate standing up straight and confident to address a concurrent session. There were two topics that came up again and again in the pres-

entations, questions from the floor and conversations in the foyer. One was Tasmania’s 49% rate of functional illiteracy – that means nearly half the adult population not having a high enough level of literacy and numeracy to do what they need to do in their everyday lives. The Governor of Tasmania, Peter Underwood, opened the conference with an inspiring speech which praised the new 26TEN adult literacy initiative. Vonnie Bradford, a Clarendon Vale resident involved in a university research project in her community, urged Centrelink to steer clients to the 26TEN program. Les Hems, the director of research at the UNSW Centre for Social Impact, wondered if low functional literacy had to be addressed as a critical part of the success of financial literacy programs. The other hot topic of the conference was the concept of Social Impact Bonds. SIBs have been used in other parts of the world to fund, among other things, programs to cut recidivism. Private investors take out the bonds and

Centre for Social Impact’s Les Hems, shadow minister Jacquie Petrusma and

TasCOSS CEO Tony Reidy and Premier Lara Giddings in

Parliamentary Secretary for the Cost of Living Bec White in conversation.

their Q&A. Photos: Anthony Francis

if the programs they fund save government money, they get a return on their investment.

is currently investigating Social Impact Bonds as a way to fund programs in this state.

“I’m very keen that none of that work goes on the shelf to gather dust.” – Premier Lara

Chief Magistrate Michael Hill, in his speech on solution-focused judging, offered a perfect example of a program that saves government money: the cost of the solutions-based program is $100 a day compared to $370 to keep a person in Risdon Prison.

One of the immediate results of the conference came out of a question from the floor to Premier Lara Giddings. Mental health advocate Lucy Henry raised the issue of mental health patients having to pay for stays in public hospitals beyond 35 days. The Premier was taken aback and unaware of this billing policy, which has cost patients over $1.6 million in the past two years. Questions are now being asked in high places.

strategy

The Centre for Social Impact is trying to get three SIB schemes off the ground in NSW but can Tasmania, with its close businessgovernment-community sector connections, get in first? TasCOSS

Chief Magistrate Michael Hill on solutionfocused judging

human services, children and the cost of living

“It’s the small things, the pedestrian things, the caring things that are a measure of what you are.” – Tim Costello, World Vision

singling out her conference highlight

“I used to think I was different and difficult … but everyone can be different and difficult in certain circumstances.” – Amber Meredith,

Petrusma, Opposition spokeswoman on

“Hearing from the clients in the Anglicare Consumer Engagement program, seeing their strength, courage and their resilience -- although it almost broke my heart to have one of the women thank us for listening to her.” – TasCOSS staff member Lure Wishes,

“Forget the philosophical basis – on an economic basis it’s worthy of merit.” –

Voices Group convenor

“The corporate sector shouldn’t been seen as the enemy; many people in the corporate world have a social conscience.” – Jacquie

Australia CEO

youth homelessness survey adviser

mental health consumer and Hobart Hearing

Giddings on her government’s social inclusion

Gabrielle Rish Julie Butler of Speak Out, left, and Desiree Johnston giving their presentation on self-advocacy for people with intellectual disability.

World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello signs copies of his book after giving the 2012 Dorothy Pearce Address.

TasCOSS Communications and Membership Officer

‘Treat others as they want to be treated’ is the principle underpinning diversity practice

What exactly is diversity in the

workplace? And how do we accommodate it? I like to think of workplace diversity from two points of view: 1. We are all diverse and have differing needs. 2. We are all alike and have similar needs. Now before you think I’ve lost my marbles, allow me to explain.

Diversity covers gender, age, language, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, religious belief and family responsibilities. Diversity also refers to the other ways in which people are different, such as educational level, life experience, work experience, socio-economic background, personality and marital status. Based on this we are, of course, all different but different in multilayered ways. You may be a middle-aged woman with an anxiety disorder looking after young children and an aged parent. You may be a young person with a visual impairment undertaking a parttime degree. You may be from a non-English-speaking background with special requirements relating to prayer and diet. The variations are far too numer-

ous to cover but what I want to emphasise is that we are all diverse in ways we probably haven’t even considered.

tion, but how we would like to be treated in accordance with those values may be different for different groups or individuals.

However, although we are different, we are all human beings with the same needs for respect and understanding; we all want a flexible and inclusive work environment; and we would like to be valued for our contribution.

Instead of relying on “golden rules”, we could perhaps move to a diversity-sensitive perspective and adopt a new way of dealing with difference – “treat others as they want to be treated.”

This applies to all workers, regardless of our backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and abilities. Workplace diversity involves recognising the value of individual differences and managing them in the workplace, so we are able to accommodate the need for flexible hours, we are able to provide disability-friendly workplaces, we respect workers’ religious beliefs and practices, the level of education they’ve attained, their cultural background and sexual orientation. But we need to think outside the square because sometimes the things we think make good common sense, are not as cut and dried as we imagine them to be. For instance, from a diversity perspective the notion of “treat others as you want to be treated” is probably not quite on target. We may share similar values, such as respect or need for recogni-

Some useful diversity websites • Human Rights/Anti-Discrimination Commission or the Australian Human Rights Commission. hreoc.gov.au/ • Care Aware Workplace can be found on the initiative’s website at: http:// careaware.com.au/carers-resources/care-aware-workplaces/ • Diversity Council Australia is the independent, not-for-profit workplace diversity advisor to business in Australia. http://www.dca.org.au/ • Mental Health First Aid Kit http://www.mhfa.com.au/

• beyondblue website http://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Mental health in the workplace

Because I work for the Mental Health Council of Tasmania and mental health is one of my chief concerns, I would like to relate the issue of diversity to the issue of mental health in the workplace. Again, this is an issue that has two main perspectives. Firstly, employers are required to provide a healthy and safe workplace which prevents workers from developing stress and other work-related psycho-social illness. And they must provide a healthy and safe workplace benefits all workers, including those with mental illness. A worker may develop mental illness prior to employment or during employment. Most workers successfully manage their illness without it impacting on their work. Some may require workplace support for a short period of time, while a minority will require ongoing workplace strategies. It is often presumed that a worker’s mental illness develops outside of the workplace. However, an ‘unhealthy’ work environment or a workplace incident can cause considerable stress and exacerbate, or contribute to, the development of mental illness. (HREOC website) As an employer, you have legal obligations in relation to the management of mental illness

TasCOSS News December 2012

Working well in a diverse workplace

in the workplace. The following guidelines are from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2010 Workers with Mental Illness: a Practical Guide for Managers: OHS legislation requires you to ensure your workplace is safe and healthy for all workers and does not cause ill health or aggravate existing conditions. Disability discrimination legislation requires you to ensure your workplace does not discriminate against or harass workers with mental illness. You are also required to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of workers with mental illness. Privacy legislation requires you to ensure personal information about a worker’s mental health status is not disclosed to anyone without the worker’s consent. You are also required under Commonwealth industrial law to ensure your workplace does not take any adverse action against a worker because of their mental illness. Some of the major barriers to participation in employment for people with a mental health condition include stigma, fear and lack of knowledge amongst employers and co-workers, as well as inflexible and inappropriate working arrangements. What can we do to meet our obligations to any workers with mental illness and to provide a safe and healthy work environment? Here are some ideas. • Work with employees who have a mental illness to address employment problems faced by them. • Educate staff on what constitutes harassment, discrimination and bullying in the workplace and raise awareness of the legislation and employee responsibilities in terms of workplace conduct including through a Code of Conduct or Diversity Plan. • Arrange mental health first aid training – this teaches people how to help someone before professional treatment arrives. It is important to note that

Cartoon by Elida Meadows

while many people know a lot about physical health, they are often unaware of mental health issues. • Identify possible workplace practices, actions or incidents that may cause, or contribute to the mental illness of workers and take actions to eliminate or minimise these risks. This includes having a general regard for the wellbeing of all staff. • Negotiate individual arrangements in response to the individual needs of each employee. • Respect an employee’s right to confidentiality and assist them to decide on, and main-

tain, the degree of confidentiality. • Identify specific accommodations to deal with mental health issues and put these in writing to provide clarity to employee and employer. • Put an agreed plan in place to assist an employee return to the workplace after an episode of mental illness. And remember, people with mental health issues are just as diverse as the rest of the population. They should never be defined by their illness and should always be respected and consulted when issues related to their situation arise.

Elida Meadows is a Policy and Research Officer for the Mental Health Council of Tasmania. She wrote the TasCOSS Workplace Diversity Toolkit, to be launched in early 2013.

TasCOSS News December 2012

Work to do on multiculturalism

A very active member of Tasmania’s African communities has been engaging with the community sector and general public

y name is Mr Fayia Isaiah Lahai. I am a former refugee from the Republic of Sierra Leone. I arrived in Tasmania in 2006 after fleeing Sierra Leone due to civil war and spending 14 years in many refugee camps in Guinea, West Africa. I am married and the father of four children. I am presently in the final stages of a sociology and social work degree at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

Sierra Leone Liberia Union of Hobart and a founding member of the African Communities Council of Tasmania. I have served as a member on the Tasmanian Advisory Council on Multicultural Affairs advising the Premier. I am a member of the Glenorchy Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee and also a regular speaker at community events in both Southern and Northern Tasmania.

In December 2011, I was awarded the Human Rights award for my role in advocating for the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities in Tasmania.

As a member of this great state of Tasmania, I am always ready to do the little I could to make a difference. I belief Tasmania is a fantastic place for minorities within our society to use as a pathway for proper integration into the Australian society.

I am presently one of two People of Australia Ambassadors representing Tasmania on grassroots multicultural issues at a federal level. I love doing what I do as a volunteer to positively contribute towards the diversity and multiculturalism of the Australian society.

However, there are underlining challenges that we need to work on together as a community. For instance, for former refugees to smoothly integrate into the Tasmanian community, they need the support of the local community.

Ways to help newly emerging communities • Minimise the concept of social exclusion and maximise social inclusion. • Former refugees need the support and acceptance as part of the country they now call home. • Maximise opportunities for them to access jobs to help them support themselves and their families. • For the state government to have a proper rethinking about services for refugees to adapt in rural environment where their skills can be utilised. • Enhance the provision of services that can better serve the needs and lives of refugees. • Enhance community education in order to maximise the knowledge and awareness about refugee life experience and the transition into a new society. • Academic programs that talk about the stories and lives of former refugees to be taught in schools for kids to grow with the knowledge and understanding about refugees and former refugees who now called Australia their home. cont: page 12

I am involved with many aspects of the Tasmanian community as a volunteer with the Trans-cultural Mental Health program at the Phoenix Centre, the Migrant Resource Centre, Amnesty International, the Australian Red Cross and other NGOs. I have also been a member of several working groups in Southern Tasmania aimed at addressing issues for newly emerging communities, focusing on engaging positively with the media, police and the wider community in realising social inclusion and cohesion in Tasmania. I am also an active contributor to initiatives in assisting migrant students in their transition to university at the Sandy Bay Campus.

I am a former chairman of the

Members of the local Sierra Leone community, including Isaiah Lahai, second from left, await the arrival of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in Hobart on 8 November 2012.

TasCOSS News December 2012

Young mothers program built on flexibility A local council’s program to support young mothers and their children with life, work and study skills is a model that may spread statewide

Glenorchy, in Hobart’s north, is

African Youth Forum attendees at Port Arthur in July 2012. Isaiah Lahai was a keynote speaker at the event.

There are many barriers experienced by the newly emerging communities. Language for example, is a huge obstacle for many of us. Secondly, most of the newly emerging communities come from multi-cultural perspectives and to properly settle in an individualistic culture like Australia, requires a process. Acculturation is presently an issue for many. Thirdly, some of us would like to call Tasmania home forever. However, accessing employment for example is a big problem for many and that is leaving some with no choice but to leave the state for the mainland cities in order to access jobs and other opportunities such as proper housing, family reunification and others. I believe that together, we can make Tasmania a state where everyone has the opportunity

to make a difference, especially when it comes to social inclusion and multiculturalism. Tasmania could become a model for other states around Australia to follow.

differences, and encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within the organisation or society.

In my role as People of Australia Ambassador, I am determined to make a difference within Tasmania. I have so far been talking to schools on grassroots multicultural issues and also to community forums. I am keen to reach most of the schools within the state.

As a community, we need to collectively work towards key concepts that will enhance the liveability of the emerging communities in Tasmania.

I simply believe that multiculturalism is a system of beliefs and behaviours that recognises and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organisation or society, that acknowledges and values their socio-cultural

Finally, as a former refugee and now citizen of this great country, I want to be receptive and to be able to contribute positively towards the continuous development of Australia. I have the desire to add my cultural richness to the multicultural bedrock of Australia.

an area characterised by lowsocio-economic status: 23.6% of households are one-parent families, well above the state average (17%); 34% of Glenorchy households have a weekly income of less than $600; and Glenorchy has a teenage pregnancy rate of 23.9%, compared to the state average of 16.5%. More than half (53.9%) of the adult population of Glenorchy leave school at Year 10 or below and have often become disengaged from learning before that. The average daily absence rate of students attending local public high schools is 25.3% while the figure for primary schools is11.7%. Meanwhile, the Australian Early Development Index results for Glenorchy show 24% of Glenor-

chy children are developmentally vulnerable on 1 + domains and 12.7% on 2 + domains. Our young mothers face particular challenges. The Making Choices project paper produced by Family Planning Tasmania (2012) indicated that pregnant and parenting teens who lack sound support networks are at risk of poor education outcomes, rapid repeat pregnancies and are at risk in relation to a number of issues such as housing, low income, sexual and social violence, mental health and alcohol and drug issues. The Steps to the Future project has been run by the Glenorchy City Council since 2010, providing social support and training to local mothers, aged 17-25, and their children. The project

Successful features of Steps to the Future program • Building child/mother activities into the program (eg reading together, cooking, creative activities). • Choosing venues that are easily accessible and ‘friendly’. • A number of levels to engage, eg just come to a single session or join an eight-week program. • Intensive pathway planning offered to participants who wish to set goals and progress on educational pathways. • Individual meetings with participants on entry to identify goals, potential barriers to participation and build rapport.

Fayia Isaiah Lahai is a 2012 People of Australia Ambassador and UTAS sociology and social work student.

• Time with staff outside the group (two-worker model) including assisted referral to support services. • Partnerships with a range of support, education, health and employment-related agencies which expand the capacity of the program and increase referral rates. • Flexible entry and exit from the programs.

Consumer engagement resources

Two major new consumer engagement resources have been produced by TasCOSS HACC project officer Klaus Baur. The Consumer

Engagement Handbook for HACC services in Tasmania and Consumer Engagement Literature Review, Good Practice Approaches and Pilot

Projects in HACC in Tasmania are of interest and application beyond the HACC sphere and are available from www. tascoss.org.au or by phoning TasCOSS on (03) 6231 0755.

delivers a range of individual and group learning opportunities at a local community level. All of the participants have been early school leavers who have shared the disadvantages of low income, unstable housing, social isolation, depression and anxiety. They lack transport and have limited access to childcare. Poor nutrition, poor health and wellbeing, unstable family and personal relationships, alcohol and other drug use, and offending have affected their learning and literacy achievements. They have all shared a common desire for connection with other adults facing similar issues and challenges. They want to develop their life skills, self-esteem, confidence and practical skills. They want time away from their children and in adult company. They also want their children to learn in a safe, supported and fun environment. Since the project began in 2010 there have been 472 adult participants, many of them repeat participants, plus their children. There is a core group of 12 young mothers who attend regularly with 14 children. Steps to the Future’s Independent Evaluatior said: “Clearly the group members had formed a strong bond between themselves and with the facilitators. The members appeared to have joined for a prolonged period rather than just attending a cont: page 14 short course”.

• Involvement of participants in forward planning and planning days.

Renate Hughes is a Social Planning Officer with the Glenorchy City Council and runs the Steps to the Future Program with colleague Jill Sleiters.

TasCOSS News December 2012

To date we have conducted 60 different types of programs, events and information sessions ranging from oral health to cooking, art, managing relationships, parenting, retail, fitness, work preparation, self-care and computer skills. There have been volunteering opportunities for participants. There is also a focus on health literacy and wellbeing for young mothers and their children and opportunities and activities to build family literacy. A feature of the Steps to the Future model is local service networks supporting program delivery. This network includes about 37 services. These were the initial entry point for young mums into Steps to the Future. Now word of mouth is the major referral pathway. Steps to the Future is run very flexibly and allows participants to choose the level of engagement they wish to have. Some of the programs are ongoing and run throughout the year while others are short courses of one or two sessions. Most are morning sessions with an average length of three hours. This fits best with young mums’ stated needs and attention spans. Most programs involve sharing a light meal or snack and this

has been found to be effective as a social connection point, to build trust and also to allow healthy food information to be introduced to the program. Most programs involve some level of physical activity with a walk factored into as many programs as possible. After the first year, the focus of the project shifted towards offering more substantial training opportunities for those participants who wish to extend their skills base and develop pathways into employment and training, such as the Retail Skills training program offered in partnership with St Vincent De Paul, and a Certificate II in Work and Training, offered in partnership with the Tasmanian Polytechnic and Mission Australia. Some 25 young mums have been involved in the Pathway Planning Program to give them ongoing learning support. Among the programs that have worked well has been a range of short programs in partnership with Glenorchy LINC, such as computer skills and literacy support. We have also run relationships programs, the Let’s Get Driving event, family nutrition and Zumba sessions, and the Retail & Work Skills training program with St Vincent de Paul.

Comments from program participants “It gives us time to meet each other – we have formed a bond”

young mother you are doing nothing – coming here is doing something useful for my future” “Knowing my kids are in a safe place and are learning social skills” “No-one judges you here” The strength of Steps to the Future has been its flexible delivery, its piggy-backing on other programs, provision of childcare and transport, and the mixing of group work with individual support. The challenge we have faced is that Steps to the Future is a labour-intensive program given the central relationship between the staff, participants and service/network partners. Also, onsite childcare and the provision of transport are an essential part of the program but have proved expensive.

Looking to 2012, we will move into Stage 3 of the project – sharing the model -- with a roadshow of the project around the state. The Rosny LINC has already adopted a modified version of Steps to the Future with its First Steps program.

in November 2011.

Sharing resources is already proving beneficial for cash-strapped Tasmanian community services organisations

“People think when you are a

Also we have the challenge of how to best deliver pathway planning and support services, and how to build in literacy support for individuals as well as via group settings.

Graduates of the Steps to the Future and Vinnie’s Retail Training Program

Successfully sharing resources

The project will come to an end for the Glenorchy City Council in June 2013 but we are happy to say that negotiations are in progress to transfer it to a large well-resourced NGO. This will see Steps to the Future expanding beyond Glenorchy to the broader southern region.

ife is about sharing. Whether it is the food we eat or our local community centres, our success is based on sharing resources for the benefit of everyone. Yet sharing for the community services sector can be fraught with difficulties such as determining who to share with, what is a fair sharing agreement, and how we combine the purchasing power of the sector for the benefit of everyone. Determining who to share with is the first and most important step for community service organisations seeking to share accommodation and back-office services. There are many models that are being used around the world in relation to creating community sector service hubs. Yet to create a new facility or convert an existing facility to accommodate an array of CSOs takes a significant amount of time and resources. TasCOSS started its Shared Services project in August 2012, with several strategies within the broader aim of encouraging the pooling of resources. TasCOSS is committed to creating longer-term “greenfield” type community service centres but also realises that there are ways for CSOs to share resources in the short term. The shared services strategy is already beginning to work for CSOs around the state and is exemplified by a CSO in Hobart which had excess space due to recent funding cuts. The CSO is an advocacy health organisation that also provides assistance and care to its clients. The CEO met with another advocacy organisation and the two leaders agreed on a sharing arrangement that is working for the

benefit of both organisations. Although the CSOs compete for similar funding they have benefited from the expertise each organisation brings to fundraising as well as a host of other management issues including reducing administrative costs. The first step to sharing is to identify community service organisations already located near you that have an interest in sharing accommodation and related services. The recently developed TasCOSS shared services web page lists organisations who have shared service opportunities around the state. TasCOSS also maintains a register of community service organisations by postcode and type of services offered that can be utilised to find ideal candidates for sharing accommodation and services.

The next step is to visit each candidate for a cuppa and discuss opportunities for sharing resources. This will also give you an opportunity to learn about the culture and values of the organisation and how you might work together to reduce back-office costs such as rent, IT, training and administration services.

Community Connections gets ball rolling

Community Connections Inc is a not-for-profit service that has been operating for 14 years in the Mersey/Lyell region of Tasmania. The organisation delivers services through a variety of projects including youth homelessness through the provision of a crisis shelter, a youth transition service and transitional housing; counselling services for young people and their significant others for

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Key Strategies for Sharing Resources 1. Determining whether to share. Identify candidates utilising the TasCOSS shared services page and register of CSOs near you. Meet with candidates for a coffee and determining benefits and costs of sharing and consider the impact on your organisation’s mission. 2. Creating the sharing agreement. Getting a sharing agreement in place with built in flexibility and exit strategies is critical to the long-term success of the arrangement. 3. Managing sharing relationships: It is important to manage sharing relationships by reviewing the arrangement periodically and communicating issues in a timely and effective manner. 4. Utilising resources to facilitate sharing. The Resources section on the TasCOSS Shared Services web page is a great place to start. See www.tascoss.org.au

Gus Risberg TasCOSS Shared Services project manager

TasCOSS News December 2012

How sharing resources works

In this example three organisations have three different problems. Yet they are unaware of each other’s situation. The TasCOSS shared services website hub connects the three organisations and provides them with the tools to solve each of their problems in an efficient and effective manner.

alcohol and substance abuse; and mental health through a comorbidity service.

nity Connections will be formulating a proposal in December for further discussion.

Community Connections recently held a meeting attended by a number of Burnie-based youth service organisations to discuss the opportunity for creating a colocation youth facility in central Burnie.

One of the key benefits of sharing resources with another CSO is that the rents sought are often significantly lower than the commercial market rates and there is a common understanding of the financial challenges facing the sector.

In my role as TasCOSS shared services project manager I attended the meeting and was impressed with the interest of the organisations in co-locating and working together to create better outcomes for young people. Different models were discussed which ranged from simple sharing of accommodation and backoffice services with like-minded organisations to a more integrated model with one shared governance model and one intake and assessment process. Based on input from the participants at the meeting, Commu-

The starting point for determining fair rental rates and related services is to speak with a real estate agent or utilise commercial real estate search engines. The agreements need to be put in writing and reviewed by the appropriate parties and include an exit strategy in case the arrangement does not work out for either party. Managing the shared resource requires a system for tracking what is shared, ensuring that it is accounted for by keeping records of transactions and period-

ically reviewing the arrangement with all parties in a timely and effective manner. Sharing resources requires parties to be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances.

Combining purchasing power

The TasCOSS Shared Services Project is also about utilising the purchasing power of the sector to lower costs and tailor products and services to the community sector. The purchasing power of the sector is significant, yet is rarely combined to negotiate costeffective products and services such as insurance, electricity and training. TasCOSS is in the early stages of developing products and services tailored for the sector. Stay tuned for further developments via the TasCOSS website, www.tascoss.org.au, e-news and newsletter.

Findings of indexation impact survey

TasCOSS

recently commissioned a survey to explore the impacts of reduced indexation of DHHS funding on Tasmanian community service organisations, and what might happen if this funding trend continues.

The 23 organisations participating in this research overwhelmingly agreed that it was a paramount issue for service providers.

Regardless of size, location of service, or service focus area, organisations are finding strategic or long-term planning impossible and the delivery of core services to clients challenging. What is obvious is that a range of changes are now, individually and together, starting to “bite”. and indexation is one of these. On its own, it may present as a

relatively low amount to individual organisations in dollar terms. But when an organisation is already operating with a minimal budget, rising costs and an increase in demand from clients, this can mean the difference between the ability to deliver core services to clients or not. The full Indexation Impact report is available from the TasCOSS website, www.tascoss.org.au

The problem with gambling

TasCOSS and Anglicare Tasmania staged an Anti-Poverty Week forum to highlight the massive human cost of the poker machine industry

ou can lose $1200 an hour on a poker machine in Tasmania if you are determined. More than 2500 Tasmanians have gambling problems and studies show that for every one of them, another five to 10 people are also affected. This means around 27,500 Tasmanians are harmed by gambling, including 2000 children. The 2012 Social and Economic Impact Study into Gambling in Tasmania, commissioned by the Department of Treasury and Finance, estimated that the social cost of gambling problems in Tasmania – measured in terms of loss of productivity and employment, crime and legal costs, treatment costs and human misery – was between $51 million and $144 million in 2011. A joint TasCOSS-Anglicare Tasmania forum, held on 16 October during Anti-Poverty Week 2012, drew attention to the impact of gambling on low-income and disadvantaged Tasmanians. Most poker machines in Tasmania are concentrated in lowerincome communities, and player losses per person are higher in these areas. Former publican and Australian Hotels Association head Greg James took aim at the national campaign of the poker machine lobby at the forum. He stressed that, far from being a boon for the hospitality industry, the Tasmanian hospitality sector had experienced zero growth in the 17 years since poker machines were introduced in the state. “There were 5000 jobs in hospitality in 1995 and there are still 5000 jobs in hospitality,” Greg said. “It’s stopped the growth

of hotels, tourism has stalled, there’s no backpacker accommodation, no innovation, except at the five-star end.” He said the effect of the $610,000 a day being fed into pokies in Tasmania was not just to stifle growth in the hospitality sector – including creation of part-time jobs for unskilled lowincome workers – but to suck money out of other businesses in local communities. Anglicare Gamblers Help counsellor Mara Lovrin told the forum there were many ways people became addicted to gambling. One factor was lack of impulse control; another was the big-win theory – that you would crack the code to winning and all your problems would be solved with the jackpot takings. “Then there’s the environmental factor, the time in life when people are more likely to gamble: relationship breakdowns, a death in the family, children leaving home,” Mara said. Currently, only 15% of people with gambling problems seek professional help. One of those people, Karyn Wagner, spoke at the forum.

Karyn’s personal story highlighted the fact that children of people with gambling problems are more likely to develop a problem themselves. “My grandparent had gambling problems, my parents had gambling problems,” Karyn told the forum.

Anglicare Gambling Help counsellor Mara Lovrin speaks at the Anti-Poverty Week forum.

She recalled once being left outside in the car with her sister, “hungry, thirsty and scared”, for four hours while her stepfather gambled in the TAB. She turned to poker machines herself after returning to Tasmania from interstate with her two young children and all her worldly goods in two suitcases. She was hoping to win the money to set up in a new home. Karyn, whose children are now teenagers, eventually sought help for her gambling problem in 2011. “I don’t want my children growing up thinking that gambling is the way to solve a problem,” Karyn said. Gabrielle Rish

Welcome to our new members

A mental health facility, a union and a volunteer home help organisation have recently joined TasCOSS

asCOSS recently welcomed three new organisational members. They are The Hobart Clinic (see separate profile), the Australian Services Union and Launceston VFC Services Inc, which provides community transport, home maintenance, social support and domestic assistance through its caring group of volunteers. These three new members typify the diversity of the TasCOSS membership, which ranges from organisations with one paid staff

The Hobart Clinic The Hobart Clinic Association was founded more than 30 years ago by a group of health professionals. We operate The Hobart Clinic as a private not-for-profit mental health facility with an inpatient unit as well as outpatient group therapy programs for people with anxiety and depression, addictive behaviours, eating disorders, mood disorders and psychosis.

member, through to100 per cent volunteer groups and major employers in the sector.

ple opportunity to network and provide input on policy and sector development issues.

Membership of TasCOSS starts from as little as $50 a year for organisations (depending on the organisation’s income) and is $57 for waged individuals ($15 concession or unwaged).

Every new member assists TasCOSS in its role of advocating for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged Tasmanians and strengthening the sector that supports them.

The benefits of being a member include concessions on attending TasCOSS events and training courses, a 20-page printed newsletter three times a year and am-

Visit www.tascoss.org.au to find out more about TasCOSS membership or call 6231 0755 for a membership pack or to take out your annual membership.

The Clinic’s mission is to promote mental health by providing optimal care in a safe and supportive environment. We take a holistic approach to mental health though the employment of a range of medical, nursing and allied health professionals.

We work closely with community organisations, general practitioners and government services to develop an integrated care plan with our patients.

Our inpatient program focuses on assessment and treatment of mental health conditions and our outpatient therapy programs focus on psycho-social rehabilitation, recovery and relapse prevention.

Our range of outpatient programs provide both continuity of care for inpatients and community support to intervene at the earliest possible time to prevent deterioration or hospitalisation. Outpatient programs are run on a group basis and include: • Alcohol and Drug • Mood Management • Anxiety Management • Wellness and Support • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy • Memory Clinic and Memory Enhancement • Older Persons Ageing Well • Eating Disorders Assessment and Group Therapy Further information about The Hobart Clinic is available at www. thehobartclinic.com.au or phone 6247 9960.

Staff of The Hobart Clinic, including CEO Amanda Quealy, front centre.

Tony Reidy

Beng Poh

Chief Executive

Executive Assistant

Jill Pope

Gabrielle Rish

Finance Officer

Communications and Membership Officer

Kath McLean

Lindsey Moffatt

Manager, Social Policy and Research Unit

Manager, Sector Development Unit

Dale Rahmanovic

Wynne Russell

Development Officer

Policy and Research Officer

Sector Development Unit

Social Policy and Research Unit

Meg Webb

Tim Tabart

Policy and Research Officer

Development Officer

Social Policy and Research Unit

Sector Development Unit

Klaus Baur

Lure Wishes

HACC Project Officer/Consumer Engagement

Adult Literacy Support Officer

Sector Development Unit

Gus Risberg Shared Services Project Manager

TasCOSS The Tasmanian Council of Social Service, TasCOSS, was established in 1961. TasCOSS is the peak body for the Tasmanian community services sector.

Our mission

To advocate for the interests of low-income and otherwise disadvantaged Tasmanians, and to serve as the peak council for the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s community services industry.

Our vision

A fair, just and inclusive Tasmania.

Sector Development Unit

TasCOSS is supported by the Department of Health and Human Services.