Jo-Anne Pogorelsky

Thriving Families NSW (TFNSW) supports vulnerable young parents between the ages of 12 and 24 who are pregnant or have children between 0 and 5 years old. TFNSW provides holistic wraparound age-appropriate support services for marginalised and at-risk families experiencing adverse life events with multiple complex needs to reach their goals and keep their children safe and in their care. The multidisciplinary team provides support and advocacy around health, safety, well-being, and parenting.

As a Level 4 Senior Social Worker, I facilitated regular six-monthly Family Meetings using the Three Houses Engagement tool, identifying Strengths, Worries and Hopes and Dreams with young parents, TFNSW multidisciplinary staff members, stakeholders, and support people to create a holistic, comprehensive, and person-centred Family Plan for keyworkers to implement. I conducted six monthly reviews of Family Plans and oversaw all Family Plans in the program. I collaborated, supported, and guided key workers to implement tasks and actions within Family Plans so participants achieved their identified goals and improved their family's circumstances, stability, and safety. I successfully built trusting relationships and rapport with all participants in the program working from a trauma-informed perspective providing support, assistance, and advocacy, managed a caseload of complex needs clients and enhanced the capacity of young parents to accept support, navigate, access, and consistently engage in health and other services, implement attachment-based parenting strategies and routines to increase safety, security, and stability for all family members. I assessed all family members' needs and identified and responded to risks to increase the safety and stability of parents and children. I provided psychoeducation, preventative information, harm minimisation techniques and strategies, workshop style interventions, co-facilitated parenting programs such as Circle of Security and Tuning into Kids and conducted group work such as Love Bites and Money Minded financial literacy programs. I created referral pathways and mutually beneficial relationships, engaged, informed, joint-worked, consulted and communicated with support services, multidisciplinary team members, carers/guardians/parents, stakeholders, and specialists where appropriate. I appropriately discharge planned, referred on or handed over longer-term, more intense, or specialised interventions, treatments, or assessments when required. I maintained timely accurate documentation and completed monthly data and statistics per policies and procedures. My work complied with Child Protection, Mandatory Reporting guidelines and legislation, WSLHD policies and procedures and codes of conduct and ethics.

High Street Youth Health Service targets homeless, marginalised, and at-risk young people aged 12 – 24 in Western Sydney Local Health District. In my substantive position, I was the Community Access Team Senior, but I was originally employed as the Education Officer, and I facilitated an alternative education program for our cohort.

As the Community Access Team Senior, I successfully managed and appropriately allocated Community Access Service Requests and referrals while maintaining a Healthcare Coordination caseload of high-needs complex clients. I supported, orientated, supervised, trained, and led the Community Access Team and Social Work students. I competently developed plans, managed, monitored, and reviewed young people’s healthcare and biopsychosocial needs, and oversaw the plans of allocated Youth Health staff. I planned, promoted, facilitated, and evaluated Group Work programs and Health Promotion activities. I conducted Worker on Duty (WOD) tasks, Intake and Assessment, Crisis Intervention and Management and a free basic needs program. I facilitated Pregnancy Family Meetings (PFMs) and supported youth health staff in facilitating PFMs. I co-facilitated the WSLHD Youth Health Council Representatives and an Out-Of-Home Care Group for statutory care leavers to assist them with leaving care, future planning, accessing their leaving care plans, and linking with required longer-term supports. I arranged and facilitated capacity-building initiatives and community training for workers in the local area around young people’s health needs and the service's health priority areas. I also facilitated the organisation and delivery of the Essential Youth Healthcare Skills Training for healthcare workers to work more effectively with our marginalised and at-risk client group and represented Youth Health on Networks, Committees, and Interagency Meetings and events.

NSW Health NGO Grant Funding Program offers financial assistance to eligible organisations to provide specified health services and projects in NSW for the people of NSW. The NGO Grant Program funds a wide range of health and related services, including direct health services, health promotion, community development, social research, and advocacy. It spans Aboriginal health, mental health, drug and alcohol, Disability, AIDS and infectious diseases, oral health, women’s health, youth health, and chronic illness program areas. I was seconded to the position of NGO Grants Officer for six months and was responsible for developing and negotiating recurring Funding and Performance Agreements outlining Key Performance Indicators, minimum standards for recurrent funding contracts and the monitoring requirements for oversight of the NGO’s organisational performance and data collection.

This is a Ministerially appointed position by the NSW Minister for Community Services and the NSW Minister for Disability Services. This program was coordinated by the NSW Ombudsmen’s Office under the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993 (CS-CRAMA). This OCV role promotes the best interests of children and young people in out-of-home care and children, young people, and adults with a disability in care. This role advises Ministers and the Ombudsmen regarding the quality of care provided to residents. As an OCV, I visited services, promoted resident rights, identified issues raised by residents, provided information, and helped resolve issues of concern. I audited files, analysed plans on site and then reported on the circumstances and conduct of the service. I resolved issues at the local level, consulting all stakeholders, and, if required, escalated my concerns to the Ombudsmen’s office.

The NSPCC is the leading Child Protection children’s charity agency in the United Kingdom. As a full-time qualified Social Worker, I was employed as a Children’s Services Practitioner (CSP), offering counselling, advice, support and information to children and young people aged 9 – 18 years who lived, worked, or studied in Tower Hamlets. The centre is a purpose-built facility focusing on prevention, targeting disadvantaged, vulnerable, and at-risk young people, as well as offering post-abuse support, crisis management and counselling. My role specialised in working with young runaways, difficult-to-engage young people and those vulnerable to coercion and the sex trade.

As a qualified Social Worker Children's Services Practitioner, I confidently worked as part of a team and led streams of service provision, providing direct intensive 1:1 case management, crisis intervention, brief solution-focused counselling, and narrative therapy. I conducted comprehensive assessments and risk assessments for young runaways and young sex workers and advocated for children in statutory legal proceedings. I conducted Return Interviews for young runaways in a tri-borough partnership pilot with the police and missing persons unit. I planned, created, delivered, and evaluated Group Work Programs and Workshops in Schools on child protection and safety strategies and innovative pilot programs around resourcing and safety strategies for young people being coerced into sex work, Forced Marriage, and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in East London. I actively participated in the committee that created the bill in Parliament, making it a criminal act for all people participating in and aware of the practices of Forced Marriage & Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK. I was involved in creating systems and best practice working standards for service delivery provisions as this was a new, unique and first-of-its-kind preventative service in all of the UK. I also planned and monitored the running of an open-access Drop-In Centre for young people and facilitated a Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG), a youth consultation, advisory, and participation group. I trained, supported, and supervised staff, YPAG members and volunteers to become peer educators and mentors within the Drop-In Centre and other NSPCC Services. I provided Child Protection Train the Trainer sessions for local professionals and services that created opportunities for joint working, relationship building and satellite services to run information and education workshop-style sessions from our service. I created and delivered presentations and coffee morning information sessions to donor groups, internal departments, and voluntary agencies/professionals in the local area. I kept up-to-date computerised and hard copy files/case notes and monthly statistics and adhered to the NSPCC’s Principles Standards and Procedures (PSP), confidentiality, service policies and legislative frameworks.

Social Services Departments aim to improve the lives of people in the community by providing care, help and support to those most in need or experiencing difficulties with a statutory obligation to meet the needs of the most vulnerable or at risk in the community. At RBKC, I was employed as a Locum Social Worker at a main grade level, initially directed to work on the Duty and Assessment team but then moved to the Long-Term Team. In Brighton and Hove, I was employed as a Temporary full-time qualified Social Worker in a Long-Term Team.

I supported, supervised, and monitored Children in Need, on the Child Protection Register, Court Orders, Looked After Children, and those placed in various stages of the adoption process to promote and safeguard their welfare, health, and/or developmental needs in line with the Children Act 1989 and the Adoption Act 1976 legislation. I offered advice, information, assistance, support, andguidance to children and young people under the age of 18, their parents, carers, and families. I investigated initial referrals and conducted risk and parenting skills assessments to develop, manage, monitor, and review needs-led packages of care and wrote formal court reports recommending appropriate actions and safety plans. I successfully worked as a team member, participating in the office duty backup roster system, attending network, strategy, and professional meetings, Child Protection & Looked After Children Conferences and Reviews. I competently kept up-to-date written records, reports, and statistics on Lotus Notes, LACMON, Carefirst Systems & Microsoft Word and carried out my responsibilities with regard to the Equal Opportunities, Race Equality and Health and Safety Policies as well as the Confidentiality guidelines.

FRANS offers recreation, respite, and support for people with moderate to severe intellectual and physical disabilities and their families. After completing my first university placement, I was employed on a paid casual basis as a Carer, Team Leader and 1:1 Respite Carer on both the Adult and Teenage Teams. I co-facilitated group activities and outings and catered for 1:1 individual care respite and personal care needs.

Sherbrook provides crisis accommodation and support for young people aged 12 – 17 years for a maximum six-week stay. Sherbrook provided a stable, nurturing, empowering and secure environment for young people experiencing difficulties or crises. I was employed as a full-time Keyworker responsible for the provision of the day-to-day care of the young residents and their case management. My role was to act as an advocate, educator and, at times, mediator for young people in the residential service.