With many kids in Australia (and around the world) starting to return to school after the lockdown, we thought it was a good time to do a quick roundup of the resources we have available for supporting kids to build their social and emotional …Read more
A few years ago I was involved in a project that asked people from various non-Aboriginal organisations (including my own) to self-rate how safe they believed Aboriginal people felt either working in or accessing their service. We then asked Aboriginal colleagues and staff from …Read more
So often in the work we do, we are looking for innovative and creative ways to include the voices of the people we work alongside. This can be particularly challenging if we are working with children. Dr. Lisa Stafford and her team at the …Read more
Recently, Reverend Susan Pickering from the Uniting Church let us know about some YouTube clips she’d created of her reading a series of children’s books. The list of books she read included two Innovative Resources classics, Captain Grumpy (written by Russell Deal and illustrated …Read more
When you are already managing a mental health issue, the additional stress of social isolation can be particularly tricky to navigate. As we launch the new digital version of the Eating Disorders & Other Shadowy Companions, we thought it was worth spending some time …Read more
As parents, grandparents, carers, teachers and other people who support children, one of our priorities is to keep kids safe. Of course, this isn’t always in our control. Unless we wrap our kids in cotton wool and never let them explore the world, they …Read more
When a crisis hits, many people who have never accessed services before suddenly need support, placing additional strains on already stretched services. Organisations offering support around mental health, family violence, housing, food, financial counselling, AOD, amongst other things, are all under pressure at the …Read more
World Bank figures suggest that there are around 370 million Indigenous people worldwide in over 90 countries. While many countries have worked hard to improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people, the World Bank notes that most Indigenous communities are still significantly disadvantaged …Read more
The Five Column Tool is a resource that has been used to structure strengths-based conversations for many years. This versatile tool was pioneered in the 1990s by Di O’Neil, Wayne McCashen and others working at St Luke’s Anglicare (now part of Anglicare Victoria). It …Read more
I was having a chat with a friend over coffee the other day and she described how every time she made a suggestion in team meetings, she felt like she wasn’t heard or taken seriously. She was wondering what she was doing wrong—did she …Read more
We are delighted to let you know that, at last, there is a resource to have conversations about eating disorders—Eating Disorders & Other Shadowy Companions has just hit the shelves! The lead author, Danni McDougall, is a social worker and arts therapist: ‘I’ve been …Read more
In this article, we talk to Terri Borschman, a mental health practitioner with expertise in Dialectic Behaviour Therapy (DBT)*, about how she works with people in a Secure Extended Care Unit (SECU) using DBT in conjunction with Innovative Resources’ card sets. Despite her deep …Read more
In many workplaces across Australia, many of the conversations in the lunch room are about bushfires and related topics (like the impact of climate change and how we feel about government responses). While Australia manages this most recent manifestation of climate change, these issues …Read more
When children return to school after the holidays, the playground is often abuzz with stories about road trips to visit grandparents, movies with friends, hanging out at the pool, bike rides, camping with family, conquering of computer games, shopping trips, BBQs or just mooching …Read more
In this interview, Kelly Harris, one of the team leaders in Home Based Care at Anglicare Victoria (Australia) talks about the ups and downs of recruiting carers. She also describes the many changes to Home Based Care services in the last 15 years. Increase …Read more
In this article we talk to student counsellor, Jack Bornyan, about how he used The Nature of Strengths cards in his work with a secondary student. Jack is currently completing a Bachelor of Counselling and is on placement at a secondary college in Frankston, …Read more
As we enter the holiday period, we are often inundated with marketing imagery showing happy families celebrating together and children opening an extravagant number of gifts. This made me reflect on a Christmas Day two years ago that introduced me to the shadow side …Read more
—using Reflexions and The Bears during a student placement Recently we spoke to Crystal Gordois, a third year social work student on placement with Anglicare Victoria, who shared some reflections on her decision to become a social worker. While on placement in the Home …Read more
—an interview with Steve Phillis, social work educator and senior practitioner The importance of creating pathways for young people to reconnect with school life in a positive way is reflected in the title of a community-based early intervention and prevention service simply called the …Read more
If someone were to ask each of us what Christmas meant to us, we would probably all have a different answer. We might talk about Christmas trees covered in wonky decorations made by our children, the ‘shushed’ wrapping of presents late at night or …Read more
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