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Human Services
BACKGROUND
In 2004, the former Redfern-Waterloo Partnership
Project (RWPP) commissioned a Review of
Human Services within the Redfern and Waterloo
areas. The main findings of the review were
that:
- the human services system needs to
be reformed and reshaped at the local
level to achieve improved outcomes for
the community and clients
- changes must be made to build a more
integrated service system and more collaborative
approaches to service provision
- significant improvements are required
in relationships between services.
One of the recommendations of the review
was that the RWPP facilitate the development
of a human services plan and, subsequently,
the human services advisory committee has
been established with representatives from
government, non-government, community and
service users.
To commence the planning process, two community
workshops were held in April 2004. The aims
of the workshops were to:
- identify human service outcomes for
Redfern-Waterloo
- develop draft quality of life indicators,
which will form the basis for ongoing
evaluation of the human services plan.
A parallel process of community consultation
was also undertaken with service providers
and community representatives in April and
May of 2005. Formed into cluster groups
corresponding with the four priority areas
for 2005/06 young people; families and children;
Aboriginal people and Health, a series of
workshops were held to identify gaps in
services, duplication of services and areas
where service improvement was needed and
poor communication.
Directions that emerged from the consultation
process were aimed at securing community-wide
benefits. They were identified as:
- greater community involvement in planning
and decision-making about local services
- increased accountability and reporting
to the community from all human services,
government and non-government
- equity of access to services
- improved coordination among the local
services
- politicians and senior managers with
responsibility for services experiencing
local issues by coming to Redfern-Waterloo
- community meetings to be widely promoted
(through letter drops and word-of-mouth)
and held in accessible venues (such as
schools).
In summary the following were the key themes
that emerged from the consultations and
provided the basis for a detailed consideration
of 'quality of life indicators' that could
be used to track progress toward the community
results outlined above.
- Healthy, well educated children and
young people who have a positive outlook.
- Safe families that are supportive, self-sustaining
and participating actively in the community.
- A safe Redfern-Waterloo community that
is positive and welcoming.
THE
HUMAN SERVICES PLAN
The Human Services Plan is about improving
the well being of the people of Redfern
Waterloo. Redfern and Waterloo have a proud
history and strong sense of identity. Redfern
and Waterloo are home to two of Sydney’s
most culturally and ethnically diverse communities.
The Plan
The Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan
was developed in phases.
The Human
Services Plan Phase 1 and Phase 2 are part of a 10 year Redfern-Waterloo
Plan.
The main features of the Human Services
Plan include:
- A focus on better outcomes for people;
- Making access to services easier;
- Improving service delivery;
- Cutting red tape for government and
non government organisations;
- Setting up “one stop shops”
for youth services, family violence and
health services;
- 10 priority areas and more than 60
specific actions for change; and
- Greater accountability to the community.
Phase
1
Phase 1 of the Human Services Plan is focussed on:
- Families and children;
- Young people;
- Aboriginal services; and
- Health services.
The Human Services Plan Phase 1 was given formal approval by the NSW State Cabinet in 2005 and has been independently evaluated.
Phase 1 has enabled an improvement in the delivery of services to the key target population in Redfern and Waterloo in a number of ways. The major successes have been the multi-agency Case Coordination Project to assist young people at risk, the increased propensity of key human services agencies to work collaboratively and share information and the targeting of specific new initiatives in the area. Some of these include:
- The introduction of sustained home visiting of new Aboriginal mothers in Redfern and Waterloo
- Connect Redfern a schools as community centre project being actively involved in a number of the strategies listed in the Human Services Plan including the development of strategies for communicating with parents to increase children’s participation in childcare, supported playgroups and preschools and facilitation of interagency professionals.
- Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS) has taken a number of steps to improve the integration of its mental health and drug health services as recommended in the Human Service Plan
- The SSWAHS community mental health team has been able to recruit a full-time Clinical Nurse Consultant to the Redfern Health centre which has enabled the service to extend its intake hours of operation from 5 hours per day to 8 hours per day.
- The RWA and the NSW Department of Community Services provided training in Dadirri - Deep Listening in Indigenous Counselling Skills Training by Gnibi College, Southern Cross University. This five day training course was offered free of charge and provided resource tools to aid the educational / healing process for those working with clients for crisis intervention, counselling or longer term healing interactions.
- The establishment of the Redfern-Waterloo Community Drug Action Team
- The establishment of the Redfern-Waterloo Youth Services Taskforce
- The establishment of the Redfern-Waterloo Family Violence Taskforce and the development and implementation of the Family Violence Framework for Action
- The development and implementation of the Waterloo Green Action Plan
- Support of the Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group
Phase 1 - 18 month Evaluation Report
Read the report here.
Phase 2
Phase 2 of the Human Services Plan is focussed on:
- Homeless people;
- People with disabilities;
- The aged; and
- Migrant communities.
Fact Sheets and Cluster Group Reports
Human Services Fact
Sheets:
Human
Services Report for Redfern-Waterloo
(pdf ~1.2mb)
Inquiry
into Issues relating to Redfern-Waterloo (pdf ~1.2mb)
Cluster Group Reports
Aboriginal
Cluster Group (pdf ~214kb)
Health
Cluster Group (pdf ~264kb)
Families
and Children Cluster Group (pdf ~323kb)
Youth
Cluster Group (pdf ~176kb) |
