Updates for Service Providers in the South West Metro region

We’re thrilled to share that Imagined Futures has been awarded funding from the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation. Their generous funding is a contribution toward the resourcing that we need for us to continue the momentum that we have built over the last 10 years delivering on a range of projects that promote the health and wellbeing of children and young people in our community.

The research into our Keeping Kids Engaged Program has been published! We are delighted that the lessons from our Keeping Kids Engaged program are reaching a wider audience. An article capturing the perceptions of students, parents/carers and key school informants about the program was recently published in the journal Issues in Educational Research. The article is a synopsis of the evaluation that Associate Professors Anne Coffey and Shane Lavery from the University of Notre Dame undertook in 2022. A link to the abstract can be found here.

Upcoming events:

Friday 12th July – Makuru Cultural Connections Day. Imagined Futures is continuing to provide opportunities for Aboriginal children in care to connect to family, community and culture. Regular events are being held to support children to connect to siblings they may be separated from, participate in cultural activities and build a sense of belonging.

Friday 2nd August – Interschool Cultural Games Carnival. Imagined Futures is working in partnership with Stephen Micheal Foundation to support a 2nd Annual Cultural Games Carnival at Fremantle Oval. The carnival will involve students in year 5 and 6 from six schools in the South West Metro region and surrounds. The students will learn about Aboriginal culture through competing in traditional games, participating in cultural education, art workshops, Noongar dances and sharing traditional food.

Below are agency updates provided at Imagined Futures meetings in May and June 2024.

Leadership Group – chair Michael Piu, St Patrick’s Community Support Centre
Youth Initiative – chair Annette Boyle, Community Representative
Mental Health – chair Clory Carrello, Cockburn Integrated Health
Davis Park – chair Julie Mitchell SMYL
Housing and Homelessness – chair Michael Piu, St Patrick’s Community Support Centre
Open Door Community of Practice – chair Sue Nickisson, Communicare

Leadership Group

Presentation: Theory of Change and Monitoring Framework – Lisette Kaleveld and Paul Flatau, Centre for Social Impact.

The Centre for Social Impact has been developing a framework for evaluating Imagined Futures collective impact. Lissette shared the framework with the Leadership Group, the point of difference from other collective impact partnerships being that Imagined Futures works across multiple social issues using a placed based approach. The framework includes measuring the health of the Imagined Futures ecosystem using the Collaborative Health Assessment Tool (CHAT). Imagined Futures members would be surveyed against the 5 pillars of social impact to give an overall ecosystem health score. The framework and theory of change should be completed in the next few weeks.

Agency Updates:

Financial Wellbeing Collective (FWC)

• FWC has won the 2024 Advancing Equity Shared Value Award.
• Their completed Impact statement for 2023 can be viewed here

Communicare

• Men’s Behavioural Change Program will be in place from July 1 in Fremantle. (Early Intervention program for FDV)

Anglicare

• Anglicare was able to provide a rapid response to those affected by tragic homicides in Floreat and they are continuing to provide support for this community.

Housing and Homelessness

The Imagined Futures working group is focused on implementing the South Metro Regional Homelessness and Housing Plan in our local area. The group has produced a comprehensive implementation plan. Priority actions include advocating for better use of underutilised data sets to enhance our understanding of the needs of people seeking housing and identifying “lazy land” parcels. Once a register of potential community housing sites is established, this information will be shared with community housing providers and other interested parties to identify opportunities for housing development.

Ticket registrations are now open for the Australian Zero Homelessness Summit! Co-hosted by the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness and Western Australian Alliance to End Homelessness, the Summit provides an opportunity for organisations, communities and individuals to come together and work towards an end to homelessness. Secure your spot now: https://events.humanitix.com/australian-zero-homelessness-summit-2024

Youth Initiative

Presentation: Youth Environmental Scan – Pauline Logan

Pauline presented information gathered through an environmental scan of services for at-risk young people in our region. The group discussed some of the key issues/themes including lack of youth data, varying age categories for youth, youth homelessness data is underestimated, and high vulnerability assessed in youth who were on the By Name List. The Youth Initiative working group discussed contributing factors to homelessness including transition from out of home care and lack of support available for complex mental health issues. The group suggested looking at how young people navigate services, outreach models to support youth and creative accommodation ideas to address the housing crisis.

Presentation: Workskil Australia – Nida Sheikh

Workskil is an employment provider who supports those on social benefits to overcome barriers to employment under Workforce Australia. They have 3 streams:

• General – online and face-to-face services for those aged 18 to retirement.
• Specialised – supports for ex-offenders – work in prisons (including Banksia Hill) with pre-employment programs and ex-offenders.
• Transition to Work – for ages 15-25. Currently support 1300 people in the Perth Metro area.

Workskil have a range of program to support young people transitioning to work and to address the barriers to employment including mentoring, training, being able to visit different workplaces, meet and talk with employment providers. Support for young people engaged with Workskil is also available around transport, accommodation, phones and data cards, clothing, out-of-pocket medical expenses, transport, driving lessons, clothing and work-related expenses such as training and licensing.

Agency Updates:

City of Cockburn

• Dockers Cultural Immersion Day for years 5/6 during NAIDOC week with 11 Cockburn primary schools attending and doing cultural and sporting activities with the Fremantle Dockers at the Cockburn ARC.
• City of Cockburn – NAIDOC Activities
• Wondermums – peer to peer support for mums with a child with disability – for more info and to register please contact: jcrowther@cockburn.wa.gov.au
• Disability Access & Inclusion Music Program at Cockburn Youth Centre – Wednesdays form 1pm-2.30pm during term 3, for more info please contact: customer@cockburn.wa.gov.au
• City of Cockburn Youth Services School Holiday Program July 2024 – Outrage

Neami National

• Partnered with City of Freo to run Youth Jam art workshops in school holidays next week. For more details: City of Fremantle | Facebook
  RightByYou is sponsoring student scholarships for the upcoming WAAMH 2024 WA mental health conference. For more information about Student Scholarships tickets visit: https://lnkd.in/gwQAZcC9
• Partnered with DADDA & the City of Freo to run: A Conversation on Workplace Wellbeing – work fatigue and how to manage it on the 10th July 2024. Register via Everbrite

City of Fremantle

• The City of Fremantle is looking for a dedicated Early Years Project Officer. – see job advertisement here

ADHD WA Spark Program – running at Meerilinga Coolbellup in term 3.

After a successful first program in Term 2 brokered by Imagined Futures, ADHD WA is running their SPARK program at Meerilinga, Promoting Positive Childhoods in Coolbellup in Term 3. This program has two streams, designed to develop children’s practical and emotional skills to better cope with ADHD. (diagnosed or undiagnosed). Parents and Carers can also gain an understanding of ADHD in a Parent Intro Session before the 6 weeks program commences.

For more information and to book a place in the program, visit: https://www.adhdwa.org/spark-telethon/ and complete an application form.

Mental Health

Presentation: Allico: A Healthy Mind for Everybody – Su Kee and Johnson Lee (Co-founders)

Allico is an online tool for democratizing mental health, making support more accessible and adaptive through data and AI technology – Allico – Modern everyday wellness for today’s generation. Allico combines data-driven insights with personalized, proactive mental health support to promote holistic wellbeing globally. Those present at the meeting discussed how a tool such as Allico might be used to assist their clients maintain mentally healthy practices that they may first learn about through face-to-face sessions.

Agency updates:

Helping Minds

• The NDIS transition funding they received was successful in assisting people with a psychosocial disability to access the NDIS
• Their individual support services are booming
• They are also in receipt of block funding which means they have the ability to support people that have not yet had a diagnosis, but still need to demonstrate that the impact of their condition is lifelong.

City of Fremantle

• They are running a social media campaign on how art can impact your mental health. The campaign includes links to supports.
• They are hosting a monthly mental health support group.
• An upcoming bike workshop is designed to increase community members’ confidence in safety and maintenance.
• They are partnering with Neami and DADAA to host a session on understanding burnout
• The Mental Health Outreach Workers have expanded their hours, now available between 9am-5pm Mondays and Wednesdays.

WA Primary Health Alliance

• They are currently recruiting for a replacement for Regional Integration Manager – Metro South
• They are facilitating a number of suicide prevention training opportunities
• GP cards are going out across WA. These cards include:
  • GP psychiatry line
  • Head to Health
  • GP supports
• They have received fantastic feedback from GPs about these.

Mental Illness Fellowship of Western Australia

• MIFWA is launching new branding
• They are experiencing a high demand from young people seeking support in their early intervention program
• Their carers program is steady.

Cockburn Support Service

• They are observing a rise in referrals this year from a combination of sources including self-referrals, GP referrals and healthy lifestyle referrals.
  They have several programs running: Parents and child playgroup, Aboriginal support group, parenting course -every week – see website for more details

Suicide Prevention Coordinator (Neami National)

• They are hosting a workshop on the intersection of FDV and suicide.
• They have applied to WAPHA through their Tryst program for funding to host Workplace Aware training in the Imagined Futures region
• They have facilitated the delivery of several mental health training session, all of which have been sold out
• They are currently advertising for a new Suicide Prevention Coordinator for maternity leave cover

Fremantle Rockingham Family Support Network

• That they are currently recruiting for an Alliance Manager as she has accepted another position within Communicare.

Davis Park

Monthly meetings are being conducted with one Davis Park resident, based on Anglicare and RUAH’s ‘The Sunshine Project’ based on the principles and work of Hillary Cottam.

Activities being held in June and July in the park, along with the regular meals and services, include a Winter Clothes Swap, Yoga in the Park, Pets in the Park, Mums and Bubs Parenting Tips, pop up garden renovation, Accessing Emergency Relief, Free Haircuts and Thread Together Mobile wardrobe.

Looking to establish a Footpath Library once a month in the park and working on a recipe book for residents to be able to replicate at home some of the cheap and easy meals that have been provided at Friday’s Nosh and Natters.

Naomi attended Uniting WA’s ‘Recipe for Change’ on behalf of Imagined Futures which included a team challenge/bonding exercise of cooking for 200+ people.

Agency Updates: 

City of Fremantle:

• reported that the Beach Street Shelter project has commenced which will provide Beach Street service hub with increased shelter, storage and improved lighting.