[Sub ID 4733] Intensive individualised case management (Anglicare NSW South, NSW West & ACT)
Submission ID: 4733
Organisation name: Anglicare NSW South, NSW West & ACT
Contact name: Ms Ann Ponsonby
State: ACT
Contact email: ann.ponsonby@anglicare.com.au
Contact number: 0428122746
Which priority group of the Try, Test and Learn Fund does your idea support?
Young students at risk of long-term unemployment
What need or issue are you trying to address?
Young people in this situation often do not possess employment skills or the knowledge of how to apply for positions; they may lack family/guardian role models and the self-belief that they are able to better their circumstances. Without this knowledge or belief of achievement, capability and the understanding that they can further themselves, it is challenging to break the dependency of welfare. Often they face bi-generational dependence on welfare due to their family circumstances.
This issue has been identified throughout Anglicare Youth and Family Services’ portfolio within the ACT. Many young people that Anglicare support have discussed the barriers they face in breaking the dependency on welfare due to the lack of family support/role modelling of education, employment and training.
What is your idea?
Providing intensive individualised case management to this cohort will provide opportunities for young people to grow. Through mentoring young people will access literacy and numeracy skills, life skills, linkages to RTO courses, work experience and volunteer work. Anglicare’s partnerships with DEN and JSN providers will support young people to access more training and job options.
The program will work with the extended family to ensure their network understands and supports the opportunity to change, grow and ensure sustainable independence. According to Harvard University Centre on the Developing Child; “intergenerational effects of poverty lead to a diminished sense of self and are related to lower rates of school attendance, attainment and test scores and thus reduced employability. (Babcock, E. & Ruiz De Luzuriaga, N. 2016). By intervening at a whole-of-family level we seek to change this vicious cycle of perceived worthlessness and create a cultural change toward optimism and self-improvement.