9. South East Community Links

Christina Ryan and Carolyn McAlister

Responding to the needs of local Australian communities where over half the population is born overseas is critical for social and economic inclusion (ABS, 2017). The South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne are one of Melbourne’s highest multicultural areas. Placements in this area provide students with the opportunity to increase their understanding of cultural diversity and inclusion and to contribute to better social and economic outcomes for people in our community. South East Community Links (SECL) provides students with this chance.

SECL was formed in 2015 and currently operates out of three sites, Dandenong, Springvale, Noble Park and several co-located sites within the City of Casey, with a combination of staff, volunteers, and students. SECL delivers a wide range of services to meet the needs of people in our community including emergency relief, case work, housing support, microfinance, youth and family services, financial counselling and resettlement services for refugees and asylum seekers. Our service model is based upon ensuring people in our community are provided integrated services, linking services to client needs. As disadvantage has many root causes, only an integrated understanding of these causes can support people to achieve their social and economic goals. In turn, these achievements contribute to economic and social development in our community.

In July 2015, SECL commenced a new student placement approach because providing the social work supervision required with limited trained social workers within our small service created challenges. Rather than employing a qualified case worker, undertaking two days per week of case work, we employed a qualified social worker, with experience supervising students, as a student supervisor, while carrying a small case load. This allowed the social worker to provide group and individual supervision to students, mainly from RMIT, while another worker, who co-ordinated volunteers, provided task supervision. Through this approach, we were able to provide up to 10 student placements per year for a mixture of Field Education 1 (FE1) and Field Education 2 (FE2) placements. This model allowed the organisation to undertake more generalist casework with 3 to 4 students increasing capacity with case work services provided 4 to 5 days per week.

Throughout the last 2 years, SECL had 40 students on placement each calendar year; half of those students were from RMIT. SECL values students and sees them as an integral part of the organisation. Students bring new knowledge and perspectives into the organisation, increase the capacity to deliver direct client services and undertake vital research, policy and project work that would otherwise not be undertaken. For the last four years, students have taken on the task of designing and undertaking our annual volunteer survey. The literature research on volunteer satisfaction and standards has helped inform our planning for volunteer recruitment, retention and training. We also undertake staged projects with students – one group undertaking the initial phase of a project, then subsequent students working on the next phase and so on.

Students at SECL are assigned a paid staff member to be their Task Supervisor, who assists them through induction and advises them on what work is expected to be undertaken as a student within the program. The task supervisor also provides dedicated reflective supervision, however, students are encouraged to consult with any of the paid staff members available at the time. SECL views the learning for students as a collective responsibility, and students are able to reach out to members of other program teams for information if required. It is sometimes possible, depending on staff availability, for students to spend some time within another program if they have a particular interest or learning requirement. During 2021, some students were working within programs that were unable to continue due to the pandemic eg: youth programs that were largely based around groups, and were therefore working offsite. In order to provide some client facing experience, these students were rostered to come onsite one day a week to work within the community wellbeing team/emergency relief program and gain experience working within the agency environment as well as learning client skills.

2020 and 2021 proved to be both challenging and emotionally complex as we navigated the ‘new normal’ during a worldwide pandemic; of continuing our placement in an online environment. Students who worked within the SECL Community Wellbeing /Emergency Relief program during the pandemic gained unique experience in a changed environment. SECL was committed, despite many other emergency relief services closing down, to providing uninterrupted emergency relief services to the community. Staff, volunteers and students needed to adapt and change their service delivery processes while continuing to maintain composure as our community experienced increased panic and anxiety as case numbers and deaths due to Covid-19 increased. The Community Wellbeing program was taking 80-100 calls each day from participants seeking emergency relief, many of the volunteers who had previously worked in the community wellbeing program did not return, staff from other programs were seconded to community wellbeing to assist with assessments, processes for delivery of assistance were being written as they occurred, communication of processes and maintenance of communication was suddenly through phone calls and zoom meetings -all a complete change for a team that usually works closely in an open plan office, providing strong collegial support. In all this change, students were inducted, trained and supervised online. Processes were put in place so that students could participate in assessment interviews over the phone via conference calling, eventually leading them to be independent in conducting assessments and providing well-needed support to the team already stretched by the overwhelming crisis needs of the community. This did come with many challenges however we have now benefited from the opportunity to offer greater flexibility to students working from home so that they are better able to manage their studies, placement, and other commitments

When lockdowns were lifted and participants were permitted to enter the site, the students were able to experience client-facing work, as well as the important aspect of working within a team environment. SECL continues to offer placements for RMIT students who have a desire to learn more about place-based community organisations and the important role they have in their local community; students at SECL are highly valued for their contribution and are often relied upon to ensure services to the community can be maintained; this has been demonstrated particularly within our Community wellbeing team where we currently have four former students employed.