Finding the Right People
CSF service fun fact: Our busiest shift (in terms of number
of client encounters) was the Monday PM shift, followed
closely by the Wednesday PM crew. Not too far behind
in third place were the Friday PM interviewers.
Total Volunteer Hours — 15,762
CSF volunteers have had another busy but productive year
working to help some of Frankston’s most vulnerable and
disadvantaged members. CSF continues to see a rise in
the number of people coming through our doors, which is
reflected in an increase in the number of client interactions
this year.
In terms of our volunteer contribution this year, we have
a great mix of community members. Students and those
wanting to gain work experience in the welfare sector and
give back to the community contribute to a record number
of expressions of interest (EOI’s) to join the CSF team, with
226 compared with 205 in the previous reporting period.
It was decided after much consultation with our volunteers
- beginning late 2017 - that our data collection needed to
be updated and simplified. The workload for receptionists
and the community workers needed to be reduced so their
focus could be on supporting our clients.
A review of two years of CSF data code reporting discovered
that CSF accumulated 1100+ unique data codes yet
registered less than 200 of these (9+ times) over the period.
A review and revision of all CSF’s data codes, calling on CSF
volunteers for input, was initiated, and a more streamlined
process of data collection was introduced.
CSF keeps accurate statistics for government funding
requirements to inform our various stakeholders of issues
and needs of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people
in Frankston. In changing the manner in which CSF retained
some of our data, there was an increased workload and
responsibility placed on the administration team.
16
It takes a community
CSF has the good fortune to have an increase in retired
women with business and administration backgrounds
applying for volunteering roles.
They have added enormous value and expertise to the CSF
administration team, which needed to increase its numbers
this year to keep up with the amount of data collection
required due to the ever-increasing number of clients.
Special thanks goes to all our volunteers for being
understanding of this process, and we thank those who
gave up their time to attend additional training and for
attending our monthly case-discussion and guest speaker/
training groups.
This year saw a continued increase of long term homeless
clients presenting with a range of alcohol, drug and mental
health issues, with many continuing to fall through gaps in
mainstream services and having no real option for public
treatment.
Clients on Newstart Allowance increased, with many unable
to find accommodation in a real estate market where a
fortnight’s rent is often more than their payment amount,
and they are forced to decide between sufficiently eating
or paying rent.
CSF volunteers spend time listening to often distressing
stories of people let down by those they trusted and service
systems they don’t know how to navigate, fit into or are
eligible for. As a result, another focus for the operations
team was putting further procedures in place to ensure the
volunteers felt supported and were encouraged to debrief
with staff and each other.