Central and Far West
This year our work in the Central and Far West expanded to include the Drought Assistance Program
and the Family Mental Health Support Service (Connect). As well as offering outreach to Walgett,
Cobar and Mudgee we now have services established in Coonamble, Cobar and Bourke. While the
establishment of these services was not without its challenges, distance and recruitment being the
main, the service delivery has gone extremely well, due to the efforts of our dedicated staff and the
support of the entire region.
The Drought Assistance Program is now well established among farming families and drought
affected communities and the feedback we receive has been extremely positive. As well as providing
counselling and outreach, the service has hosted and worked in collaboration with other services to
provide events. Highlights have been the Pamper Days, including a pamper day for men at Carinda
and Yarning About Bullying at Carinda Primary School.
We have been fortunate in recruiting a strong manager for the Connect services locally based in
Bourke. Services commenced with a number of individual clients and Yarning with Yarn, at St Ignatius
Parish School. A Community Development worker is employed two days a week at Cobar and our
Child and family workers will be located in Cobar and Coonamble. The development of these services
has strengthened our profile and our existing outreach services in the Far West region. The services
have been working together in Walgett to deliver programs and to introduce the Aboriginal Building
Connections program.
Over the past twelve months our Children’s Contact Service (CCS) in Orange has seen a steady
increase in the number of Aboriginal Families using the service. The staff in Orange have worked to
ensure that the CCS is a welcoming and supportive environment for Aboriginal Families. We have
one Aboriginal staff member who, where possible, is present at initial visits. Feedback from these
clients has been very positive and highlighted the degree of comfort they feel in the service and the
trust they have in our staff.
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From left to right: Yarning Carinda Primary School; Di frost at a conference in Bourke; Welcome to Bourke;
Kate Mudford in Lightning Ridge; Millener’s course in Collarenebri; The men’s Pamper Day team.