Page 2680 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 28 June 2011
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Establishing a culture of learning continues to be a focus at Bimberi. And by the end of June of this year, 31 of the current staff are expected to have completed their cert IV in youth work and, by December, 13 staff are expected to have completed their diploma in youth work. In addition, three Bimberi managers are currently undertaking an advanced diploma in management. An applied suicide intervention skills training program was conducted at Bimberi during the week ending 13 May. The training was delivered in-house and was very well received by the 16 operational staff who received it.
The commitment to continuous improvement in programming for young people remains a focus. The Construction Industry Training and Education Authority, or CITEA, in collaboration with METC, are currently delivering a transition-to-work program for nine young people who recently completed the certificate II in construction. The course involved the young people in planning, developing and constructing raised garden beds, wooden seating and a built-in BBQ on the site at Bimberi. And can I say, having seen it, they did a very good job indeed.
Associate Professor Kaye Lowe from the University of Canberra’s u-can read program is working with METC to develop an enhanced literary program and, as part of this, 18 Kindles have been purchased for use by residents. From June of this year METC is employing two part-time tutors to work individually with young people at Bimberi. And these tutors will primarily focus on the young people who are identified as having difficulty with reading within the classroom setting.
Change management and implementation also aims to improve service delivery standards. The implementation of the cognitive change group began in May of this year and this group is focusing on cognitive behaviour therapy techniques and is being run by the ACT Health forensic mental health services team.
The role of the key worker continues—to assist individual detainees. These staff act as the first point of call to provide information and communication between the young person, the unit manager and case management staff. The key worker is actively involved in the young person’s education program and acts as a support person for any conflicts, mediations and complaints. The plan also covers security risk management and safety of young people and staff. Our new security arrangement is being developed and will be trialled in the woodwork and metalwork areas and these arrangements are based on risk assessments that have been undertaken across the workshop activities.
A risk and compliance framework gap analysis has been undertaken by Your Enterprise Solutions. They have completed this work and a report will form the basis of a risk and compliance framework at Bimberi. Two highly experienced staff have been recruited to implement the framework and assist with actions on the priority tasks arising from the change management strategy.
The information that I have presented here today demonstrates the seriousness with which the incident of 5 February was taken by staff and management at Bimberi and the Community Services Directorate. It reflects the commitment by all involved in the management and delivery of services at the centre to ensure that we learn from such
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