Settlement Services | Employment & Training Services | Driving School
SERVICES
ACCES Service receives funding to operate the following major programs:
INTEGRATED HUMANITARIAN SETTLEMENT STRATEGY (IHSS)
The IHSS Program is funded by the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship to ensure that newly arriving refugee and humanitarian
clients are resettled and supported to rebuild their lives in Australia
and can become fully active and participating members of the Australian
community.
This is achieved by assessing the support needs of each client
and providing the full range of IHSS services in accordance with the
IHSS service principles. The IHSS team provides intensive support for
the first six to twelve months after arrival in
- The services of the IHSS program include:
- Case Coordination, Information and Referral (including on-arrival reception at the airport and emergency assistance)
- Accommodation Services (including the provision of household goods)
- Short-term Torture and Trauma Counselling
- Volunteer Support Services
- Advocacy and Community Awareness Raising Services
SETTLEMENT GRANTS PROGRAM (SGP)
The SGP program provides case management, information,
developing communities, business development and referrals for clients
to enable clients to become self-reliant and to participate in the wider
community and in Australian society as soon as possible after arrival in
Australia. SGP is funded by the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship (DIAC) and is responsible for delivering the following
services:
- Case Coordination including Outreach components
- Referrals to mainstream agencies
- Provision of linguistically and culturally sensitive settlement
information including outreach
- Comprehensive referrals to mainstream service providers
- Linking Community Leaders/Members with mainstream service
providers
- Provide support, mentoring, consultancy & advocacy for community
groups
- Youth Assistance; case management, advocating on behalf of young
people, mentoring, further developing self esteem, self reliance,
Leadership and participation in mainstream youth initiatives
- Networking and developing interagency meetings
- Promotion of the SGP program
- Events Management
COMPLEX CASE SUPPORT SERVICES
Complex Case Support (CCS) delivers specialised and intensive
case management services to humanitarian entrants with exceptional
needs. The program provides flexible, tailored and localised responses
to meet the individual needs of each case.CCS is specifically targeted
at supporting clients whose needs extend beyond the scope of core
settlement services (such as the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement
Strategy (IHSS) and the Settlement Grants Program (SGP)). Eligible
clients include refugee entrants; special Humanitarian Program entrants
and protection visa holders and persons who hold or have held a
Temporary Protection visa. ACCES is contracted to assist eligible
clients in the Logan, Gold Coast, Ipswich and Redlands areas.
SKILLING QUEENSLANDERS FOR WORK
The Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative aims to give
jobseekers customised employment and training assistance to meet their
individual needs, and the demands of the labour market for a skilled
workforce. Under this initiative ACCES receives funding to operate ACCES
Employment Pathways which is a multi-regional program that provides
individualised employment assistance for unemployed people in the Logan,
Beenleigh, Gold Coast regions and the Brisbane/Ipswich western corridor.
The program has a specific focus on migrants, refugees and humanitarian
entrants from a non-English speaking background and assists eligible
participants with:
- Acquiring life skills to fit into
the Australian work culture
- Job search skills to improve
opportunities of finding employment
- Education and training
towards jobs, including traineeships and apprenticeships
- Assistance gaining recognition of
skills and qualifications
- Contacting employers to improve
employment options
- Job placement and post placement
support
- Driving lessons
Key programs include:
- CALD Hub- provides language literacy and life
skills to refugees and newly arrived migrants in an integrated service
model that links in other mainstream and multicultural support services;
- ACCES Driving School- subsidised driving lessons
and testing in recognition that transport can be a barrier to
employment;
- Training and Employment for Migrant Parent
Transitions (TEMPT)- creates links and pathways to assist mature aged
and parenting women to exit language/literacy programs and access
education training or gain employment;
- Multicultural Life Skills Project- provides
multicultural groups with access to social, economic and community
support opportunities via training and other engagement initiatives; and
- Muslim Employment Project- employment of two Muslim workers to
enhance labour market participation within the Muslim community. Muslim
Engagement program including job search, interview techniques, employer
networking, Muslim job seeker and employer forums.
- Y Zone - provides high levels of support
targeting marginalised migrant and refugee young people aged 14-19 years
who are at risk of or have disengaged from the education system.
JOBS SERVICES AUSTRALIA
Job Services Australia providers increase employment participation, by addressing skills in demand and helping individual job seekers (particularly disadvantaged job seekers), find sustainable employment. An assessment is conducted with each eligible job seeker and a personal Employment Pathway Plan (EPP) developed for each individual. The EPP sets out the personal employment goals and the services and training needed to help the job seeker find and keep a job. Job Services Australia also has a major focus on the needs of employers, with a greater emphasis on helping employers find work-ready job seekers.
ACCES Services Inc has been contracted as a CALD specific Jobs
Services Australia Provider for the Logan Region. ACCES has also been
approved as a panel member on the Innovation Fund and the Employer
Broker Panel. The Innovation Fund is designed to address the needs
of the most disadvantaged job seekers through funding projects that will
foster innovative solutions to overcome barriers to employment which
these job seekers face. Employer Brokers ensure that Employment
Services have a strong focus on matching the needs of job seekers with
the labour requirements of employers. They coordinate and target the
efforts of Employment Services providers to better match the labour
needs of employers with appropriate job seekers.
LOGAN AND BEENLEIGH YOUNG PERSON’S PROJECT
The Logan-Beenleigh Young Persons Pilot Project is a social inclusion initiative implemented by the Department of Communities. The project targets young people who are:
- Teenage parents or at risk of becoming teenage parents with multiple support needs; and
- Young people experiencing or showing early signs of mental illness with multiple support needs.
The aim of the project is to support eligible young people to:
- remain in school and increase their employability
- prevent or reduce their level of involvement with the criminal justice system
- develop skills to obtain and maintain appropriate and stable accommodation
- develop parenting skills that nurture the well-being of their children
- increase their ability to manage their own mental health needs
TORTURE AND TRAUMA PROGRAM
The Refugee Trauma Counselling Service is funded by DIAC to
reduce the negative impact of torture and trauma experiences on the
settlement process for newly-arrived Humanitarian Entrants. Under
the program ACCES works collaboratively with clients from a
cross-cultural perspective, using evidence-based therapeutic approaches.
The program goal is to improve quality of life for clients through
personal growth and sustainable change. In addition, ACCES
provides an advocacy and training service to health professionals in the
Logan and Gold Coast districts to promote and strengthen the delivery of
appropriate health services for refugees, and to address service gaps
where needed. Entrants are eligible for the service for a period
of 12 months from arrival, and where relevant are referred to external
agencies for ongoing support beyond this period.
COMMUNITY ACTION FOR A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY (CAMS)
CAMS is designed to ensure that all Queenslanders, regardless
of their cultural, linguistic or religious backgrounds:
- have equitable access to services and programs
that respond appropriately to their needs
- are able to fully participate in and benefit from
all aspects of life in Queensland
- feel a sense of belonging in a cohesive and
harmonious community.
Specifically, CAMS aims to help achieve:
- equitable access for people from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds to services and programs that respond to their needs
- equitable participation by people from culturally and linguistically
diverse backgrounds in community life - including educational, economic,
political, social and cultural activities.
ACCES in partnership with ECCL is funded for a CAMs worker for the Logan Region
HEALTHY FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS PROGRAM (HFRP)
The Healthy Family Relationships Project (HFRP) has been funded as a pilot initiative under the Community Renewal Program. It is a multi-agency partnership initiative aimed at providing a holistic approach to address the issue of family violence in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities. The program draws on existing service delivery models and utilises community elders and cultural leaders to adapt them within a program that is responsive to the needs of different cultural groups.
THE VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
The Volunteer Program objectives are to provide a pool of volunteers for ACCES Services (ASI) in the delivery of its services to the clients. This program includes students who are on work placements from the TAFE Community Services (Welfare) course as well as hosting Community Jobs Placements and Work for the Dole participants. The Volunteer Program creates opportunities for people to gain new skills and work experiences in supporting the Welfare to Work initiatives of the Australian Government. It also enhances language skills, provides socialisation opportunities and promotes the valuable role that volunteering plays in Australian life. It also enhances language skills, provides socialisation opportunities and promotes the valuable role that volunteering plays in Australian life.
September 2009