Our Parents Have Access to Supports

Integrated Service System

Purpose
Enhance quality outcomes for families and children, through provision of the right support at the right time.

Objectives

Optimise the Gladstone Region service system by increasing connectivity, alignment and collaboration within and between the diverse range of services in the system through purposeful focus on and improvement of:

Referral Pathways

Increased visibility of programs and services

Shared Practice

Shared learning opportunities (ask GRT about the collaborative training project)
Increased alignment of services and collaboration through co-design of shared tools and processes

Continuous Improvement

Data Partnerships and sharing agreements including capacity building and shared reporting and evaluation for data use in monitoring and evaluation of service system delivery and identification and measurement of continuous improvement strategies

Community Identified Need

Huge growth occurred in our human service sector over a 5-year period from 2015-2019, due to increased demand relating to migration into the region, and changes in system structures, including the introduction of the NDIS.

Reduced service system efficiencies and continuity of care across services, were identified by community as a priority improvement area for inclusion in the Gladstone Region Wellbeing Action Plan. This was evidenced by practitioner reports of a lack of visibility of available services, and inefficient and ineffective referrals, contributing to waitlists and leading to client disengagement or escalation of client needs. It was recognised that effective referrals were reliant on local knowledge and relationships of individual practitioners and that this was a significant inefficiency of the system.

Optimising the assets and strengths already existing in the service system, to do more with what we have, was agreed as the approach, to identifying and evidencing where further resourcing needs and gaps may exist.

Stakeholders

Gladstone Regional Council Community Development Team
Gladstone Community and Neighbourhood Centre
Gladstone Interagency
Agnes Water Interagency
Communities for Children (C4C) - GAPDL
Discovery Coast Community Service
UnitingCare Community
Gladstone Response to Outcomes for Wellbeing (GROW)
Local Level Alliance (UCC)
Queensland Education Department representatives
Queensland Health representatives
Individual Service Sector representatives

Measures

An integrated, effective, and efficient service system support outcomes across all wellbeing measures.

Sector assessment of outcomes related to individual initiatives.

REFERRAL PATHWAYS

Methodology

Community feedback on service delivery and barriers to supports.
Practitioner observations and identification of gaps and barriers in supports and referral pathways.
Shared information and data across sector to identify and act on continuous improvement opportunities.
Collective review of outcomes to measure success of improvements and continually improve outcomes.

Activity to Date

Networks Working Group.
Co-designed Referral Pathways Workshops x 2 (61 Attendees – March and April 2022).
Early Intervention – Case Management Working Group (11 Members – June to November 2022).
Coordinated Case Management for Complex Cases Working Group (12 members – June to September 2022).
Integrated Service System Working Group (7 Members - February 2023).

Two working groups met regularly in 2022 and morphed into one Integrated Service System Working Group in 2023.

Outcomes of working groups include identification and development of tools to support effective referrals and evaluate referral efficiencies through internal self-review.

Early indication of outcomes already experienced as a result of this work, include increased visibility of sector providers. At least two sector identified service gaps have led to the identification of lesser-known services that offered appropriate programs and capacity to support clients. In these cases clients were referred to required supports, that were previously unknown to the referrer, enabling clients to receive the supports they needed, where otherwise they may not have.

Resources

Gladstone Region Social Services Sector Map
Referral Pathway Guides

- Referral Pathways Guide Child Development Supports

- Referral Pathways Guide Youth Wellbeing Support

- Referral Pathways Guide Disability Support

- Referral Pathways Guide Pre and Post Birth Support

- Referral Pathways Guide Housing

Next Actions

Program Database.
Referral Pathway Guides – development of further guides as identified by sector.
Referral Pathways Optimisation Toolkit rollout.
Gladstone Region Social Service System Induction – sector Co-design of content for quarterly Induction Day.
Exploration of a single intake process to reduce pressure on clients to repeat their story multiple times.

Related News

Improving Referrals and Client Outcomes through Better Access to Program Information

Sector Capacity Building Initiative

Purpose
Deliver sector-identified priority training needs as a mitigation for skills shortages impacting our human service sector and to grow equitable service access for community.

Objectives

The initiative outlines plans to deliver a suite of training for sector-wide frontline workers to confidently and efficiently support our community.

Immediately enable sector-identified priority training for the Gladstone service system to reduce impacts of skills shortages and training costs that are critically impacting the quality and availability of community supports.

Create long-term benefit by demonstrating and evaluating a model of increased collective training to address inhibitive training costs and to mitigate ongoing skills shortages associated with Gladstone’s geographic location.

Human services sector organisations expressed their support for GRT to source funding for a collective approach to training to enable:

Sector-wide participation in priority training at an affordable, co-contribution price
Upskilling of service sector staff
Improved retention
Readiness for role succession
Shared practice, language and resources between referring services
Continuity of support for clients, across the services supporting them
Improved service system integration

Community Identified Need

The project acknowledges the challenges of equitable access to training in the Gladstone Region, where specialised human service training may not be available locally, requiring either:

travel outside the region - impacting on costs and time away from case management that impacts existing clients and may have waitlist consequences, or
contracting a trainer to come to the region – impacting on cost due to trainer travel and accommodation on top of training costs (and may be unviable for training relative to small numbers of specialised staff).

Stakeholders

Roseberry Queensland
Autism Queensland
Integreat Queensland
The Salvation Army Gladstone
Strong Communities
Communities for Children (GAPDL)
UnitingCare
Gladstone Local Level Alliance
Kin Kora Community Kindergarten
CQ Rural Health
Gladstone Regional Council – incorporating:
- Gladstone Neighbourhood Centre
- Gladstone Interagency
- Philip Street Communities and Families Precinct
Rio Tinto

Measures

During the three years, evaluation will assess regional costs to access training and the gap associated with the ‘capacity to pay’ of providers. Feedback from providers engaging in training, provided via the initiative, will be a key element of the project’s success.

Methodology

Through working collaboratively with stakeholders, the initiative will identify immediate training needs, suitable training providers and deliver a suite of tailored training over a three-year period.

Activity to Date

Childhood Builders Training Suite Workshop 1 – (23 April 2024, 51 attendees)
Capacity Building Training Mapping and Planning Workshop (12 February 2024, 9 attendees)
Training Identification and Prioritisation Information Stall – Gladstone Interagency Meeting (3 May 2023)
Training Identification and Prioritisation Information Stall – Gladstone Communities for Children event (21 March 2023)
Capacity Building Training Opportunities Workshop (16 March 2023)
Trauma Informed Practice Training (November 2022, 42 attendees)

A collective buying power project was developed in 2023, with sector support for a sector collaborative funding application, to help bridge and assess the gap between allocations for training in service provision funding and the level of skills available due to skills shortages in the region.

To test the potential for success of this model, GRT enabled Trauma Informed Training in 2022 as an identified priority need of sector. 42 sector stakeholders participated and post event tracking of practitioner and client outcomes returned positive feedback.

Rio Tinto, Here for Gladstone has made a significant contribution to support a three-year (2024 – 2026) initiative through their partnership in the project. 100% of these funds will be used for direct payment of training costs (trainer, travel, accommodation).

GRT’s partnership contribution (funded by the Stronger Places, Stronger People initiative) will support a collection of sector feedback, training coordination, venue provision, model evaluation, and sharing outcomes to address skills and training gaps and access challenges faced in regional Queensland.

Resources

Childhood Builders Training Suite

Next Actions

Deliver Workshop 2 – Childhood Builders Training Suite – August 2024
Seek trainer recommendations from practitioners for specific identified priority training
Procure training opportunities to roll out over next 2 years
Seek feedback from participating practitioners to evidence outcomes of collective training and any gaps in capacity to pay

Skills Attraction & Retention

Purpose

Development and furtherment of initiatives to increase the profile of the Gladstone Region as an attractive location to relocate for work, to support skills attraction and increase local capacity.

Objectives

Support improved outcomes for all Gladstone Region stakeholders experiencing skills shortages and detrimental staff retention rates.
Further leverage the existing assets and appeal of the region to attract and retain skills by doing more with what we have.
Increase effectiveness of existing efforts in this endeavour and optimise energy invested by multiple stakeholders for a more aligned and efficient approach.
Make the experience of a potential new recruit to the area easier including access to information that will make the move to the region smoother for the whole family.

Community Identified Need

In 2022 skills shortages were impacting every sector supporting our community, including social, education and health and was identified as having a significant impact on the quality and timeliness of supports for our families and children.

At the time, searches about moving to, and living and working in Gladstone were not promoting Gladstone’s point of difference as an attractive place to relocate for work, as effectively as they could.

The impact of skills shortages was featuring on the agenda of multiple leadership networks throughout the region including the Gladstone’s Senior Officers Network of Government, the Economic Development Practitioner Network led by Gladstone Regional Council (GRC), and the Gladstone Interagency Meeting.

Skills Attraction was identified by community as a key inclusion in the Gladstone Region Wellbeing Action Plan and also featured in the Gladstone Health Plan.

A collective approach to attract skilled employees to the region was identified to leverage the existing efforts of employers to attract employees, and boost efforts by adding new consistent shared narrative to help grow our local capacity.

Stakeholders

Gladstone Regional Council
Gladstone Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Limited
Gladstone Engineering Alliance

Measures

‘Glad to be in Gladstone’ webpage and GRT YouTube analytics are used to understand emerging trends and outcomes of collective efforts.
Online search results related to moving to Gladstone – compared to search results for identical searches pre-project.
Local ‘Employer Survey’ and ‘New to Gladstone Employee Survey’ feedback.

Methodology

Development of Gladstone Region Skills Attraction Employee Resources including GRC ‘Glad to be in Gladstone’ webpage and Case Study Videos.
Development of Employer Resource – Gladstone Region Skills Attraction Toolkit.
Development of a Communications Plan and resources to generate awareness and capture distribution activities of the initiative and attract participation from recruiters, employers, employees, and community.
Project partners to invite local employers in their networks to trial the Skills Attraction resources as a key enabler of Employer Toolkit uptake and growth of a collective ‘campaign’ approach to attract skilled employees and accompanying family members who offer great value in the other skills they can bring and contributions they make to community.
Identify and engage recruiters and services best suited to promote the suite of resources within their networks and clientele.
Develop project measures to understand emerging trends and outcomes of collective efforts and record progress through identified case studies, an activity tracker and monthly reports.

Activity to Date

Skills Attraction and Retention Workshop (14 attendees - 24 March 2022)
Skills Attraction and Retention Liveability Webpage Working Group (6 members – 10 May 2022)
Skills Attraction and Workforce Forum 2022 (31 attendees – 17 July 2022)
Skills Attraction Working Group (10 members – May 2022 to current)
Information exhibit at the Gladstone Chamber of Commerce & Industry Business Expo (Community Engagement) – 23 May 2024

Beyond the human service sector, skills shortages were impacting cross-sector employers across the region. In March 2022 GRT facilitated a workshop of interested stakeholders across government, business and industry to identify immediate actions that could be taken to support skills attraction efforts. A further workshop, facilitated by KPMG was held in July 2022 which widened the stakeholder pool, to develop a collective view of what was needed to reduce the impacts of skills shortages in the region.

In response, a suite of resources was developed by a collective of regional organisations to help recruitment efforts of local employers in attracting skilled workers and their families to the Gladstone Region.

The ‘Glad to be in Gladstone’ webpage was developed in 2022 and can be viewed on the Gladstone Regional Council website. streamlines access to information for people looking to move to the Gladstone Region. The webpage includes case study videos of new and existing Gladstone residents whose stories promote the liveability and point of difference of the region, job opportunities for partners and training and employment pathways for family members.

To support employers leverage the resources, a ‘Gladstone Region Skills Attraction Employers Toolkit’ was released, suited to small to medium employers. This resource aims to support local employers across sectors through their own recruitment efforts in a consistent and shared narrative approach.

The tools were launched in July 2023 through a collaborative promotion of all partners and a measurement methodology has been co-designed to support track effectiveness of the campaign to overcome local skills shortages. Feedback from local employers and new employees to the region is encouraged through surveys attached to the campaign, which also invite suggestions for continuous improvement and further actions.

The increased visibility of the Gladstone Region as an attractive place to live, resulting from access to the online resources, is already yielding more positive results in online searches related to moving to Gladstone. The Skills Attraction Working Group meets monthly to evaluate the progress of the initiative, which includes data analysis, identifying new avenues and opportunities to promote the suite of resources, and sourcing intel from employers and ‘New to Gladstone’ employees.

Resources

Cross-sector Partnership Deliver's Resources to Benefit Local Employers

Strengthening Skills Attraction Efforts through New Employee Feedback

Next Actions

A communication campaign is scheduled for July - September 2024 to promote the Gladstone Region Skills Attraction Employers Toolkit to support recruitment efforts of local business.