Annual Report 2016-2017 AnnualReport_2016-2017Web | Page 16

INTERRELATE . ORG . AU
»» In late 2016 , our Central Coast team renewed their Memorandum of Understanding

Regional highlights with Northern Settlement Services , extending the dedicated hours that Multi Skilled

Central & Far West

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Our Central & Far West team joined forces with Orange City Council to run the Designing Futures program . Incorporating 45 Aboriginal
girls aged nine to 15 , the program aims to build resilience in the students and teach life skills and social etiquette , while linking back to education through some of our school programs ( Bullying Awareness , Cybersafe Teens , Minding Me and Moving Into The Teen Years ).
The Designing Futures participants created a music video for their original song ‘ No Broken Dreams ’. Watch it here : goo . gl / Ai8dYa
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In May 2017 , our Central & Far West team ran three sessions of Let ’ s Have A Yarn With Yarn for breakthru , an organisation that assists people with disabilities to find employment . At this time , breakthru had a number of clients who were experiencing relationship challenges , so the ‘ yarn ’ focused on ways to have positive relationships with family , friends , carers , colleagues and social media . In addition , they identified the differences between appropriate and inappropriate language and behaviour , looked at rules in relationships , and spoke about ways to work through relationship breakdowns .

Central Coast

Practitioner Jan Bayliss spends working with clients from a culturally and linguistically diverse ( CALD ) background . This work includes counselling , delivering group programs , and involvement in joint agency projects such as developing specialised resources for the local CALD community .
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Our Family Mental Health Support Service ( CONNECT ) was funded to employ a Child and Family Worker to work with families arriving under the Australian Government ’ s Humanitarian Entrants Program . Our Central Coast team was able to locate Megan Price at the Northern Settlement Services office in Newcastle to facilitate our support of this specific client community .
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The success of our collaboration with headspace Gosford led to Children & Young People ’ s Mental Health ( CYPMH ), an initiative of the Central Coast Local Health District , approaching our Central Coast team about joint work . We now have a three-way partnership . Over the year , an integrated intake process for our service delivery has been developed , utilising headspace and CYPMH staff in the collaborative process . We have presented at a number of team training and development days , and our staff share office space with their Youth Assessment Team .
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Over the six months from June 2016 , more than 1500 local primary-school children attended presentations by one of our Aboriginal Community Development Workers on local Aboriginal history and culture .
An Aboriginal smoking ceremony run by Stuart McMinn ( far right ).
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