2019, what a year at Djirra!
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The Facebook page of the national gathering is live: https://www.facebook.com/OurCulturalWay2020/!
Don't hesitate to like it and share it!
Also, please feel free to share the Save the date with your networks.
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Community Engagement updates
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Join the guided tour of KWP's new kitchen! Thanks Tahnee!
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KWP client story
*Sally is an Aboriginal woman in her late 30’s, who has a long history of working in and for community. After having to leave the workforce or a couple of years, she has been finding it hard to find a job. Not working was also starting to affect her wellbeing.
I’d been out of work for almost two years; it just felt all overwhelming, the criterias, updating my resume. And I was finding it hard to have the motivation to do it myself at home.
I was feeling in a bit of a slump
Sally was also coming up against barriers accessing mainstream job-seeking services because of the fear of losing the support she was getting from a disability pension.
“I felt like it was a catch 22, there were no services that were actually available to support me getting back into the workforce”
Sally came across the KWP pre-employment workshop on Facebook, went along to the workshop and then started to attend all of the workshops that KWP had. Sally felt culturally safe, felt welcome, and coming to KWP also helped in other parts of her life.
In about 3 months, I pretty much went to every workshop they had.
I just felt automatically at home. I felt welcome, that I wasn’t in the way, that I could come at any time even outside of workshops. I felt safe.
Just having something to wake up to and go every day, to spend time with other women and just hang out, and do cultural stuff and arts.
It made my day more meaningful. I also started going to the gym and doing other things, I was just feeling more active.
KWP not only provided Sally with connection and purpose, KWP staff also provided her with specific resources and support to identify relevant jobs, improve her CV and write selection criteria.
They helped me with the criteria and yeah, just having the PC, because I didn’t have a PC at home and you had to apply for jobs online.
Just having the two workshop facilitators there, they were beautiful, they were extremely helpful and I didn’t feel silly.
They are the reason I have a job now.
After a number of interviews, Sally was offered two jobs and she was able to pick her preferred role. Sally now has a full time role as an Aboriginal liason officer at two hospitals.
Sally is loving her new job and she is back in the community, providing culturally safe support and advocating for Aboriginal patients in the mainstream hospital system.
I support Aboriginal patients, provide cultural support and make sure they feel safe in the hospital. I help them navigate the hospital and make sure they really understand what is going on.
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Again, what a year!
Have a look at Community Engagement programs dashboards for the year. Click on the images to enlarge.
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Counselling update - Thinking about Counselling?
As many of you might know, Djirra received some funding to trial a Counselling service, two days per week for 12 months. Believe it or not, we are nearly half way through!
Starting a Counselling Program can be a bit like starting Counselling – a bit wobbly! People might say they want to come to counselling and then not show up. Having a good hard look at your life can be pretty confronting, let alone with a strange counsellor, so it is totally understandable for people to change their minds about wanting counselling! Or people might come a few times and then life gets too chaotic. It can be hard to be reflective when you are hungry and do not know where you are sleeping tonight. Some people stick to all their appointment. All of these engagements with counselling are normal.
The Djirra Counselling Program has had contact with about seven women and we look forward to meeting more women in the new year.
If you are interested in referring someone to the Djirra Counselling Program you can use the attached form.
Often the people we work with trust us and our judgement and encouragement from workers can be so helpful. Sometimes, if you talk about counselling with someone and explain what it might be like, people might be more likely to come to Counselling and feel less wobbly! How to talk about counselling in helpful ways can be different for different people. So if you are wondering how best to talk to someone about counselling, then please feel free to call Steph who is the (non-Aboriginal) counsellor at the Djirra Abbotsford office (Monday and Friday). Steph has been seconded from Jesuit Social Services to Djirra for this year-long Counselling trial. Steph is more than happy to talk to you about clients and about counselling options.
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As seen on the National FVPLS Forum website, the support for the #SaveFVPLS campaign has been amazing.
The struggle is not over though and until the Forum's members meet with the Minister Wyatt in February, there is no guarantee that the Forum will get its direct funding back.
In the meantime, we keep seeking support from individuals and organisations. Please spread the word and invite more people to subscribe to campaign updates!
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June belongs to Alice and vice-versa. June's secret dream is to run for President of the United State of Cute Puppies. She's been practicing the posture a lot.
With the impeachment going on, she's never been so close to her goal.
We wish you the best June!
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Video of the Victorian Treaty Assembly
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Job opportunities at Djirra
Please circulate to your networks!
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- Receptionist/Administrator (part time, fixed term to 24th December 2020) – Abbotsford
- Managing Lawyer (full time, fixed term)
- Senior Lawyer / Lawyer (full time, permanent) – Northcote
- Senior Lawyer (full time, fixed term contract) – Mildura
- Senior Lawyer / Lawyer (full time, permanent) – Morwell
- Lawyer – based at Northcote – outreach to Morwell (fixed term – initial 3 month contract)
Job opportunities are advertised here: http://bit.ly/DjirraJobs, and on Djirra's social media especially Twitter and LinkedIn, please share with your networks.
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