Outreach Support

HomeGround’s Outreach Support Services provide support to people with complex needs within the City of Yarra community. By combining multiple funding sources, the Outreach model is able to provide long term support to people who are homeless, and to continue this support once housed. Outreach gets people housed and then works to keep them housed.

Outreach provides a holistic service that works in partnership with other agencies to support people with complex needs to address their individual issues. The team works with people in homes, boarding houses, hospitals, parks or on the street. The ability to find and maintain safe and stable housing is affected by a myriad of factors.

Outreach works with people who are single or in a couple; aged 25 and over; in the City of Yarra; and homeless or at risk of homelessness with one or more of the following risk factors: psychiatric disability, acquired brain injury or alcohol-related brain injury, frail/aged, or not accessing/excluded from other services.

HomeGround’s Outreach workers prepare an individual case plan for each person; refer to other agencies or HomeGround’s own services as necessary; and support clients with the paperwork and processes they need to complete.

This includes help to access and maintain tenancies in public or community; referrals to legal services and support through court processes; help accessing health care; linking people to services that provide material support; or advocacy in dealing with utility companies and government departments like Centrelink.

People with complex needs require multiple services for a comprehensive response. HomeGround Outreach provides a crucial ‘navigation’ role to make the connections and help people to find the help they need.

Partnerships across different service systems are critical to their success. During the past year, HomeGround has participated in the Yarra Alliance of Clinical Mental Health and Psychiatric Disability Rehabilitation and Support Services. This led to the development of the Strengths case management model and helped standardise referral tools.

HomeGround has also been accredited under the Psychiatric Disability Rehabilitation Support Service standards, as part of HomeGround’s overall accreditation under Quality Improvement Council Standards Australia.

Smith Street Indigenous Outreach Support Program

After running as a limited pilot project last year, this service is now delivered as a fully-funded program in partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS).

The pilot phase was critical in creating a more sophisticated understanding about the needs of Collingwood’s local Indigenous community. It also generated an evidence base that showed our funding bodies that clear benefits were being delivered.

This program provides information, agency linkages and support to a community of mostly Indigenous people who gather in Collingwood’s public spaces.

The partnership between VAHS and HomeGround enables the program to draw upon both organisations’ services and expertise, while offering a holistic service adaptable to client needs.

Recreation Programs

Through sporting activities, including a weekly barbecue at the Collingwood public housing estate and annual event days, HomeGround, in partnership with other agencies, brings a range of services to marginalised members of the Indigenous community.

HomeGround’s partners in the Billabong Barbecue are the Royal District Nursing Service Homeless Persons Program, North Yarra Community Health Centre, Centrelink and Fitzroy Legal Service.

Through HomeGround’s Recreation Worker, Indigenous women engage in social, cultural and artistic activities at the Maya Healing Centre in Thornbury.

Hoa* was 58 at the time she was first
referred to HomeGround for support in
relocating into new premises while her
public housing flat was being refurbished.
Hoa receives fortnightly injections from
Clarendon Clinic for a mental illness and her
behaviour is good when she is receiving her
medication. When she stops she becomes
unwell quickly and is often verbally aggressive,
abusive and threatening. She had been
hospitalised twice in the previous year and was
finding it increasingly difficult to manage living
independently at home. Hoa’s son frequently
takes money from her to purchase drugs.
Initially the Office of Housing was concerned
about how well Hoa would relocate due to her
mental health issues and hoarding behaviours
that included filling her flat with plastic bags full
of old clothes.

However, the Outreach Worker who met with
Hoa found that she was desperate to relocate
as she felt extremely unsafe and vulnerable in
her public housing flat. Hoa’s fears over being
harassed by nearby ‘drug users’ and her son’s
own unpredictable and itinerant behaviour were
contributing to these fears.
HomeGround continued to engage with
Hoa despite her erratic and verbally abusive
behaviour. When it came time to relocate, Hoa
was placed in a property located very close to
an active drug taking community which resulted
in more visits to her house and both threats
and violence directed at her. Understandably,
this led to further deterioration in her situation.
Homeground were able to assist Hoa
throughout this period by providing respite
accommodation on several occasions. Other
support included liaising on her behalf with the
local area mental health service to help her
receive consistent medical treatment.
After a difficult few months, HomeGround
was able to successfully advocate with the
Office of Housing for Hoa to be moved into a
neighbouring suburb. This was an excellent
outcome as Hoa herself had identified that a
lot of her issues were related to living in a high
drug use area.
HomeGround provided furniture for the flat
with assistance from Eastern Emergency
Relief, a service that has provided hundreds of
HomeGround clients with furniture over many
years.
Hoa continues to engage with her Outreach
Worker on a regular basis and her son has now
agreed to be listed on the lease as an official
tenant and contribute to the rent. The goal is
for Hoa to keep working with HomeGround and
the local area mental health service to stabilise
her situation and maintain her tenancy.
* Name has been changed