CSF Casework
school costs ($449), clothes ($200), medical costs ($60)
and accommodation ($600). Food assistance was another
important source of support. Food parcels were provided
to more than half of clients at some period during their
casework engagement, while over one-third of clients
were recipients of food vouchers (the most common form
of emergency relief). Almost three-quarters of clients did
not receive any financial brokerage or emergency relief (ex-
cluding food parcels), emphasizing the importance of other
types of support such as advocacy, budgeting assistance
and referrals to external agencies.
Table 1. Types of support provided to 31 casework clients
Support Type
Volunteer Caseworker, Amy Lee
Overview
This has been my first full year as CSF caseworker and I have
continued to enjoy working with a variety of clients while
balancing my family life, work, and (almost!) completion of
post graduate studies. For me, the end of the year brings
the opportunity to look back over the year as a whole, as
well as to revisit some of the highs and lows experienced
by the individual clients I have worked with. This is a
valuable opportunity for reflection and planning. Listening
to each client’s story and individual goals has provided me
the opportunity to continue learning about the needs of
our local community. In particular, mental health issues,
significant financial difficulties, and lack of appropriate and
affordable housing continue to be brought up repeatedly
by casework clients as issues impacting them. The year
has also emphasised a number of local service gaps that
negatively impact upon our clients.
A total of 31 clients were seen as a part of the CSF casework
service this year. Of those, 4 clients successfully addressed
their goals or were referred to a service suited to assist
them to meet their goals, 10 continued to engage with
the casework process and work towards their goals, and
17 disengaged from casework before their needs or goals
could be fully addressed. The following sections provide a
summary of the types of support provided to these 31 clients
along with an overview of the issues they experienced.
Support provided
A variety of different types of support were provided
to casework clients (see Table 1). Financial brokerage
totalled $2,109 and included brokerage towards utility bills
($530), car registration or other associated costs ($270),
18
It takes a community
% of clients receiving Total Amount
Financial brokerage
Food parcels
Emergency relief
Food vouchers
Meal vouchers
Laundry vouchers
Telstra vouchers
Fuel vouchers
Kmart vouchers
Chemist letters
Referrals
Advocacy: Support Services
Advocacy: Consumer Services
Budgeting
19%
58% $2109
37 occasions
35%
3%
3%
3%
13%
0%
6%
39%
10%
26%
32% $1510
$15
$45
$400
$450
$0
3 occasions
Casework client characteristics
An overview of the issues experienced by casework clients
is provided in Figure 1. Clients were considered to be ex-
periencing each issue if it was present during the period of
casework engagement, or if it was thought to be contrib-
uting to the client’s current presentation. Mental health
issues were the single most frequent issue experienced by
casework clients, followed by significant financial issues
and homelessness/risk of homelessness. A vast majority
of clients experienced multiple issues (28 out of 31), with
the average falling between 3 and 4 issues per client. The
significant level of co-occurrence between issues highlights
the complexities that impact a client’s day to day life, and
begins to give an idea of the challenges and barriers clients
face when working towards their goals.
Figure 1. Issues experienced by CSF casework clients