Presentation will be an overview of the NAAJA Throughcare program in the Northern Territory. A specific focus on working with perpetrators of domestic violence.

NAAJA’s Adult Throughcare Program is a voluntary service providing case management support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people incarcerated at the Darwin Correctional Centre and the Alice Springs Correctional Centre with the key aim of helping clients stay out of prison once they leave. Our Program started in 2009 and is funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)

Our Intensive Case Managers help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison get ready to be released by talking to them about their needs and goals, and helping them to develop good holistic post-release plans. We start working with people in prison six months before their release dates, and can help them with:

Ongoing counselling and rehabilitation,
Accommodation,
Employment,
Education and training,
Health,
Access to pro-social activities and connections;
Obtaining identification,
Planning to open a bank account or obtain a drivers licence;
Addressing outstanding fines;
Life and problem solving skills, and,
Reconnection to family and community.

We also provide clients with ongoing case management after they leave prison to support them to achieve and further develop their post-release plans. Our aim is to provide support to our clients in the early, and often stressful, times immediately following release from custody; while also working to empower them by reducing the intensity of support as they become more able to independently navigate “life on the outside” for themselves. We do not work with our clients for a defined period of time post-release but instead remain engaged for as long as the client and Case Manager mutually agree there is a need for an intensive case management service.