Week three has been quite the whirlwind of agency visits and last minute explorations! We were able to visit a foster care agency called Berry Street, a family therapy center called Bouverie, a community organization center for ethnic communities called VicSeg, and a child services center called Anglicare. Some of us also attended a seminar on healthy eating and self-care led by Don Tomlin. If you have ever heard him speak, you’ll know he’s a smidge radical about food being the only medicine our bodies need and about doctors being our body’s public enemy number one…While I did walk away with some useful facts about fruits and vegetables that I didn’t learn from the food pyramid in elementary school, I also did not cancel the appointments I have scheduled with my doctor and my dentist for the week I arrive back in the U.S.
To continue, we have decided to focus and reflect on two different organizations that particularly impacted us. Chloe really enjoyed our visit to VicSeg, while our visit to Anglicare resonated more with Kathryn. Find our impressions and photos below!
Vicseg-
VicSeg (New Futures) stands for: Victorian Cooperative on Children’s Services for Ethnic Groups and New Futures Training. They are a community development organization that focuses more on prevention than direct service. 90% of their organization’s focus is on training and capacity building in the ethnic communities in Melbourne. As part of their trainings, they partner with many service providers out in the communities to help increase cultural competence so these service providers can better understand the populations they are working with.
“I absolutely love VicSeg’s emphasis on partnership and working together to build healthy communities and help newly arrived families achieve independence in an unfamiliar culture. One quote that particularly stuck with me is, “You don’t have to be a social worker to make an impact on your community.” Helping people is a mindset and an attitude – not just a profession. VicSeg has multidisciplinary teams and work with many different kinds of people to build up communities. I think it is a valuable message to remember that we all have a responsibility to our communities and that we will each have something unique to offer. I am also inspired by their commitment to prevention and early intervention work through their trainings. They place an emphasis on teaching people how to be independent and then how to also pass along those skills along to others in the community. I believe this is the most effective way to strengthen a community and to make it sustainable.” -Chloe
Anglicare-
Anglicare is an organization that provides support to children, young people and families. Through services like; family service programs, foster care placements, crisis aid and the TEAHaR Program, Anglicare is able to provide support to 80,000 children and families a year. Anglicare believes that the best way to do child care is through a multidisciplinary approach which is reflected through their wide verity of services.
“I was really blown away by Anglicare’s TEACHaR program. This program addresses the education gap by working with clients who are going through or have been through trauma. By using trained special education teachers, they are able to create IEP goals with the general education teacher and guardians that are measurable and attainable. Furthermore, since they are using teachers, the Anglicare staff member can take over the class room while the actual teacher spends one on one time with the child. I felt this was especially important because thins gives undisrupted attention for the child from an adult of authority. Not only will this help the child build trust in teachers and school, but it will also help them to generalize and build trust with any authoritative figure. This is important to me because as future educator, I hope that I am provided with the same transparency about my students that Anglicare has provided to their clients teachers. It is important to me to invest time in my students and make sure they are receiving the right supports and appropriate educational practices. I feel that Anglicare does this and excels!” -Kathryn
Final Thoughts
As we finish our trip we are left with many wonderful impressions of the city of Melbourne. From the Little Italy on Lygon Street to the metropolitan rooftop bars on Brunswick Street, to the history and culture filled museums, this city has plenty to offer all kinds of kinds. The people here are incredibly diverse and were kind and welcoming to us visitors. The health care here is public, which allows for amazing services including mental health, to those in need. Over all this city is an urban stir-fry of amazing people and organizations. This experience has allowed us to reflect on and compare Australian policy, services, culture and lifestyle to our own country. Though Australia’s population is considerably smaller, we still find ourselves left with our eyes wide open to different ways, and in some cases arguably better ways, of organizing communities and serving people. It has been an amazing experience and inspired us to go forth and continue to pursue change in the U.S. for the welfare of our people and of our youth.
-Kathryn And Chloe