13 December 2023
Member Update
Dear Families ACT members,
We hope you are all starting to wind down for the holiday season and are able to find some quiet moments in this typically very busy time of the year!
In this edition: the ACT Government’s position statement on trauma informed practices for children and young people, an update on the ACT Child and Youth Mental Health Sector Alliance, the 2023 YOGIE awards, Commissioning reforms, Healthy Canberra grants and registration for 2024 ‘Talk to them’ training now open.
ACT Government’s Position Statement on Trauma Informed Practices for Children and Young People
On 29 November 2023, the Minister for Mental Health Emma Davidson tabled the ACT Government’s Position Statement on Trauma Informed Practices for Children and Young People in the Legislative Assembly. This represents a significant step towards ensuring all services that have interactions with children and young people in the ACT are trauma aware and understand how to respond in a safe way.
Families ACT was consulted during the development of the statement and congratulates the ACT Health Youth at Risk team for achieving this important milestone. The Youth at Risk team have also published the following two listening reports, the Youth at Risk of Developing Mental Ill Health Project - Listening Report 1 and the Youth at Risk of Developing Mental Ill Health Project - Listening Report 2
ACT Child and Youth Mental Health Sector Alliance
Families ACT continues to be an active member of the Alliance which aims to provide a structured, formal mechanism for government, community stakeholders, the private sector and people with lived experience, to connect and work collaboratively towards improving mental health service system responses for children and young people. The Alliance is led by OMHW, CHN and the Youth Coalition, with support from a Coordinating Committee of key stakeholders.
The next Alliance Forum is scheduled in April 2024. An Alliance website is currently being developed and should be live in early 2024. Meanwhile you can find more information about the Alliance’s work here.
Congratulations to the Annual YOGIE Award Winners for 2023
On Monday 11 December 2023, the annual YOGIE awards were presented by Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA at the Youth Coalition’s office in O’Connor. Awards were presented in 10 categories that recognise the work of groups and individuals. Nominations were invited from young people, workers, individuals, programs and services.
Families ACT congratulates all YOGIE Award winners and commendation recipients. It was fantastic to see so many of you at the event and a wonderful celebration of another busy year.
You can find out more about all the winners here.
Commissioning
2023 Commissioning year in review
Families ACT attended CSD’s update meeting last week which included a review of the 2023 Commissioning work delivered by the community and health sector. You can read more here.
JACS commissioning to commence in 2024
In 2024. commissioning will begin for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Programs, signalling the first commissioning cycle for the Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS). Six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice support programs will be the focus area for a commissioning cycle that will bring together the Aboriginal Justice Caucus, ACT Government, service providers, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, experts and people with lived/living experience from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. You can read more here.
Sector Sustainabilty program update
The Sector Sustainability Project (SSP) commenced in July this year, following the ACT Government’s response to the Counting the Costs: Sustainable Funding for the ACT Community Services Sector Report (the report). In the first six months, the SSP has started to turn the recommendations from the report into practical actions to strengthen the sustainability of human services in the ACT. The SSP is now in Phase B – Dec 2023-Jan 2024. In this phase, the project will undertake a first survey of NGO stakeholders to inform evaluation of the project in 2023-2024; development and advocacy of advice to ACT Budget 2024-2025 and manage the contract to develop Costing Tool. For more information, visit the SSP program website.
CSOG dialog forum summary published
A summary of the first Commissioning Senior Officials Group (CSOG) Dialogue Forum with non-government sector leaders which was held in September 2023 is now available here.
Other ongoing Commissioning cycles
There are currently over 30 active sub-sector commissioning cycles across the human service system. Each cycle moves along the commissioning phases of discover, strategise, design, invest, deliver & integrate. Regular updates on each cycle are provided on the Commissioning website.
Healthy Canberra Grants now open: Focus on Vaping Cessation and Reducing Alcohol-Related Harm
Healthy Canberra Grants are now open for applications from community organisations. Up to $2 million is available for health promotion programs that reduce alcohol and vaping related harm in the Canberra community. Successful programs must run from June 2024 to December 2026.
For more information:
Applications close 4pm, Wednesday 14 February 2024. Late applications will not be accepted.
“Talk to Them” training - Responding to domestic & family violence (DFV) in youth work
The Youth Coalition of the ACT is holding two "Talk to Them" training sessions in early 2024. The training takes place over 2 days in February 2024 and in April 2024. It will equip you with the necessary knowledge and confidence to initiate discussions about Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) with young people. Youth workers play a vital role in engaging with young people and providing them with support. This training will increase your capacity to understand, recognise and respond to DFV issues, safely refer the young person and/or family to specialist DFV services, and continue to support them as they navigate the specialist DFV support system.
To register and for more information for the 1 -2 February 2024 training sessions, click here and for the training on 18 - 19 April 2024, click here.
Another successful year of FACT sector development opportunities
Families ACT had another successful year of delivering sector development opportunities to community sector workers in the Capital region. We ran five Joint Case Review (JCR) sessions with more than 70 participants overall. Thank you to everyone for attending throughout the year and a special thank you to our JCR facilitators who make this program possible. We also undertook a review of our Casework Reflective Tool and are excited to offer more trainings in 2024 with our refreshed tool and a new participant workbook.
Together with the Youth Coalition of the ACT we are planning to hold further Reflective Supervision training in 2024. Our sector development planning has started and we will promote the dates for our 2024 opportunities as soon as they are confirmed.
Until then, you can read more about our sector development work on our website.
Best wishes,
Yvonne Gritschneder
comms@familiesact.org.au
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