2019-Wesley-Mission-Annual-Report - Flipbook - Page 18
Meeting need
where it arises
In 2017/18 we continued
to expand our reach across
urban and regional NSW, as
well as exploring different ways
technology can help us bring
more services to more people. By
identifying gaps in service areas
and anticipating the needs of
individuals and communities, our
community services continue to
lead and innovate.
Initiating a new mental health program
in aged care residences
We’ve successfully applied for funding from the
Aged Persons Welfare Fund to address the need for
mental health and emotional support in older people
across our school for seniors and independent living
units. The program commenced in May 2018 and
will run for three years.
Making the transition into retirement can involve loss
of both independence and familiar community
connections, which can result in feelings of grief
and isolation and increase emotional and mental
health challenges.
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We’ve employed a mental health specialist who
provides residents with personalised support,
including counselling and making connections with
other Wesley Mission services as needed. The
specialist also delivers training on mental health to
staff in three of our aged care facilities (Alan
Walker Village, Frank Vickery Village and Wesley
Taylor Village) and to students at Wesley School
for Seniors.
This work complements and is supported by Wesley
Mission’s existing initiatives to strengthen our
ageing communities, including financial literacy
training and social programs that bring residents out
of the villages to attend Wesley School for Seniors.
And we’re seeing results. Residents are leading
happier lives, building meaningful connections and
learning new skills that enhance their confidence.
Partnering with universities to identify
future need
We’re leveraging relationships with universities to
conduct a deliberate and targeted program of
research across Wesley Mission. For example,
Griffith University has been researching our Wesley
LifeForce Networks and Wesley LifeForce training
for the last three years. Our strong partnership with
Western Sydney University has engaged research
students to asses and review the methodology
behind the networks.
Other research partnerships have students
reviewing and validating areas of need for Wesley
Out of School Hours care services in Western
Sydney, examining mental health across Wesley
Retirement Living villages and reviewing the impact
of Wesley LifeForce memorial services.
Wesley Hospital and our community mental health
programs continue to provide opportunities for our
partner universities’ mental health students to gain
experience, develop skills and establish professional
networks across our inpatient and outpatient
programs around NSW.
The research our partner universities conduct helps
us identify areas of future need and provides a level
of academic rigour to support our future planning
and funding submissions. It allows us to
demonstrate that we’re reaching areas of greatest
need with effective methodologies.
Offering the Bowraville community
integrated support
We’ve brought together two key community
services under one roof for the community of
Bowraville: Wesley Youth Accommodation and
Wesley ParentsNext. This signals a new chapter in
integrated support that will strengthen community
infrastructure and allow participants in each
program access to other Wesley Mission services.
Wesley Mission has provided youth services in the
Nambucca Valley region for many years. During that
time, we’ve worked with the local communities of
Bowraville to forge a great connection to be able to
bring services to Bowraville that meet their needs
and supports the local communities.
Wesley Youth Accommodation has been operating
in the Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Nambucca
Valley areas for over four years and for two years in
Bowraville. During the past year we supported more
than 100 young people from this region.
Wesley ParentsNext equips parents for future
employment by the time their youngest child goes to
school. So far referrals have come from Bowraville,
Barraganyatti, Macksville and Talarm. And we’re
already seeing parents taking steps towards their
employment and education goals.
NSW Government’s focus on family
restoration reflects long-standing Wesley
Mission practice
Building stronger families, by helping them access
the tools, resources and services they need to take
control of their own lives and avoid family
breakdown, has long been the driving force of so
many of Wesley Mission’s services. And now, NSW
Government policy has begun to change, to work
even harder to keep families together.
This has meant that referrals from FACS (via NSW
Health) to Wesley Mission’s Mums and Kids Matter
program significantly increased over the past
12 months as they prioritised early intervention
and restoration over placing children in out of
home care.
Mums and Kids Matter is a Recovery Oriented,
Trauma Informed mental health program that is
family focused, that can also extend to providing
support to fathers, partners, older children and
other family members where appropriate in order to
help mother’s live with mental health conditions
while still able to raise their child(ren). In 2017/18, we
supported 13 fathers with psychoeducation and
Circle of Security attachment training.
New Wesley Mission website provides faster
access for people in most need
In August 2017, we launched a more accessible
Wesley Mission website, making it easier and faster
for people in most need to find relevant information
and community services support.
People can access their nearest support through
our new servicer locator. And it’s easier than ever to
access help in a time of crisis, through the ‘Find
help right now’ option at the top of every page.
people can find information and access help
wherever they are, on whatever device they are
using. Accessibility is also at the forefront of Wesley
Mission’s freshly renovated website. The new site
was developed in line with the Website Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Relocating staff and services to meet needs
where they arise
Over the past 12 months, we undertook a significant
restructure of our out of home care service into
three regions–Sydney, Central Coast and Northern
NSW. An operations manager services each of
these regions, supported by centralised supports
including clinical services, education support and
mentoring through the Wesley Aunties & Uncles
program. A centralised governance function
oversees child safety, accreditation and complaints
management.
Similarly, we restructured the Wesley Keeping
Connected program, which promotes connection
between children in care and their birth families by
arranging safe, supervised, positive interactions.
Adoption accreditation
In NSW, Wesley Mission is the second largest NGO
provider of out of home care for children. Although
we facilitate and support adoptions we’re not
currently an accredited adoption agency. To fill in
this missing piece, during 2017/18 we applied for
accreditation as an adoption agency and submitted
all paperwork to the Children’s Guardian. We expect
to receive a response in 2018/19.
While we wait for accreditation, we continue to seek
the best outcomes for the children we work with. In
2017/18 we processed more adoptions than in the
previous year and next year we expect to continue
this trend, as we seek permanency placements for
the children in our care.
Our Permanency Panel will review every case
planning direction for every child. If adoption is
recommended, we’ll proactively pursue that with
current foster carers.
We’ve created localised teams at Bella Vista in
Sydney’s north west and Tuggerah on the NSW
central coast to ensure our staff are embedded in
the local communities and available to meet needs
where they arise.
Meeting an increased need for legal support
by people over 60
Wesley Community Legal Service successfully
applied for funding from the Aged Persons Welfare
Fund after identifying a significant increase in clients
aged over 60. This group has some specific needs
to be addressed, including financial, medical,
housing, social isolation and estate planning.
The new wesleymission.org.au also has improved
capabilities for mobile and tablet devices, ensuring
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