When Families Disagree on Whether Home is a Safe Place
Tracks
Springbrook Room - In Person Only
| Wednesday, March 20, 2024 |
| 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM |
Overview
Bryan Atherton & Paula May, Uniting Communities
Details
Presentation key Learnings
- The importance of managing competing perspectives and voices (family and young person)
- What it takes to return young people to safe homes
- The effectiveness of combining homelessness services with therapeutic family work
Speaker
Mr Bryan Atherton
Senior Manager
Uniting Communities
When Families Disagree on Whether Home is a Safe Place.
Abstract
The Ruby’s Reunification Program is an accommodation, counselling, and case management service that works to prevent family breakdown that would otherwise result in homelessness for the young person of the family.
Primarily, Ruby’s provides safe short-term accommodation for the young person alongside counselling and case management for the whole family, to ensure home is stable and safe moving forward.
Often when young people leave the family home prematurely, they have done so because they believe home is unsafe. The young person often wishes to receive an independent living allowance and a rental property of their own. Due to the importance of believing the young person, supporting their wishes, and honouring their voice, service providers are often in a situation where they are required to refer the young person to a homelessness service.
This can place service providers in the difficult position of referring young people to homelessness, which does not often result in ideal outcomes for these young people. Unlike other services, the inclusion of accommodation for young people enables Ruby’s to take time in assessing whether home is safe for the young person to return home.
Through 30 years of experience, the evidence that Ruby’s has accumulated demonstrates that a significantly greater number of young people can return home safely, even when the impression from the young person is that home is not safe, through intensive therapeutic support for the whole family and short-term accommodation.
The Ruby’s staff have developed an approach that aims to honour and believe the voice of the young person, and still work with family members who may have a different perspective. Find out more about the Rubys Model, and what is involved in creating successful family reunification.
Primarily, Ruby’s provides safe short-term accommodation for the young person alongside counselling and case management for the whole family, to ensure home is stable and safe moving forward.
Often when young people leave the family home prematurely, they have done so because they believe home is unsafe. The young person often wishes to receive an independent living allowance and a rental property of their own. Due to the importance of believing the young person, supporting their wishes, and honouring their voice, service providers are often in a situation where they are required to refer the young person to a homelessness service.
This can place service providers in the difficult position of referring young people to homelessness, which does not often result in ideal outcomes for these young people. Unlike other services, the inclusion of accommodation for young people enables Ruby’s to take time in assessing whether home is safe for the young person to return home.
Through 30 years of experience, the evidence that Ruby’s has accumulated demonstrates that a significantly greater number of young people can return home safely, even when the impression from the young person is that home is not safe, through intensive therapeutic support for the whole family and short-term accommodation.
The Ruby’s staff have developed an approach that aims to honour and believe the voice of the young person, and still work with family members who may have a different perspective. Find out more about the Rubys Model, and what is involved in creating successful family reunification.
Biography
Bryan has a Bachelor of Psychology Honours and skills in program management including youth, therapeutic and residential services.
After starting as a mental health support worker, Bryan obtained over 15 years of experience in the NGO sector. For the last 10 years, Bryan has managed over 25 government funded programs across a range of therapeutic services with a strong focus on mental health overseeing 1:1 psychosocial support, therapeutic groups, counselling, lived experience workforce, and carer support. For over 3 years, Bryan was the manager of the Ruby’s Reunification service, bringing his knowledge of working with adolescents and adults.
Paula May
Service Manager
Uniting Communities
When Families Disagree on Whether Home is a Safe Place
Biography
Paula has worked in the Human Services sector for two decades, specialising in management of Child Protection Services, Domestic and Family Violence Services and Homelessness support for Youth, Adults and Families.
After starting out as a Senior Coordinator for the Rubys Reunification Program, Paula quickly became a service manager for community services, where she designed and wrote service models for programs. These models continue to be invaluable in supporting staff to build quality skills and practices to support young people and families
