Karen Dixon
Sandgate,NSW
Summary
Experienced community professional with a strong background in child, youth, and family services, carer assessment, program development, policy development, quality and compliance, group facilitation, workplace training, and stakeholder engagement.
Passionate about social justice and dedicated to empowering individuals and families to drive positive change in communities. Recognised as a strong social services and development professional. Proactive and goal-oriented with exceptional time management and problem-solving abilities. Known for reliability and adaptability, with a quick capacity to learn and apply new skills.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Family Time Worker
The Canopy
09.2024 - Current
- https://thecanopy.org.au
- Family Time Worker- Provided change-over, transport and family time supervision for children and young people in a variety of care arrangements
- Conflict Management and Support - Managed dynamics, risk and facilitated parental support
- Professional Boundaries - built rapport with families while maintaining professional boundaries
- Report Writing - Provided detailed and targeted reports at the completion of each service
Family Group Conference Facilitator, Carer Assessor
Independent Family Support
06.2021 - Current
- Australian Family Group Conferencing and Assessments/Spirit Dreaming www.afgc.com.au
- Family Group Conference Facilitator – Accredited Family Group Conference facilitator, appointed to the DCJ Panel of FGC Facilitators providing conferences for DCJ and agency referrals
- Carer Assessments – Evaluated carers for Kinship, Foster Care, Guardianship Assessments to support applications for DCJ and NGO agencies
- Carer Training - Developed training package and delivered carer training for Kinship and Foster Carers for DCJ and NGO agencies and provided official reports and documentation to caseworkers for records
- Stakeholder Engagement– Liaised with caseworkers, managers and professionals about referrals and provided casework and supporting documentation when required by services
- Conference Deliveries – Developed and facilitated conference workshops at the 2022 and 2023 National Aboriginal Wellbeing Conference and supported delegates and management
- Cultural Competency – Developed relationships with First Nations families to empower and support families and communities
Program Development, Quality Coordinator
Big Brown House/Integrity4Life
01.2019 - 06.2021
- www.bigbrownhouse.com.au www.i4l.com.au
- Supervised Contact Worker- provided change-over, transport and family time supervision for children in a variety of care arrangements while managing dynamics, risk and facilitating parental support
- Provided detailed reports at the completion of each service
- Family Group Conferencing – Accredited Family Group Conference facilitator, appointed to the DCJ Panel of Facilitators
- Program Development – Formalised and enhanced existing programs to meet permanency outcomes, including preservation and restoration
- Program Evaluation and Client Inclusion - Developed methods for client feedback and evaluation to improve programs, practice and support continuous learning and improvement
- Stakeholder Engagement– Initiated, designed and implemented an engagement strategy in line with the organisational strategic direction
- Project Management – Managed, authored and collated two successful tenders for Department of Communities and Justice
- Policy Development - Policy development and registration with the Office of the Children's Guardian for Voluntary Out of Home Care and contributed to organisational policy review and development for Accreditation for Statutory Out of Home Care
- Management Team – Performed tasks required at this level, including management meetings, approvals of procedures and policies and strategic planning
- Quality and Compliance – Developed, monitored, actioned and continually improved organisational risk management systems including Incident Reporting, Complaints and Feedback, Risk Assessment and WHS
- IT Development – Collaborated with external providers to develop and improve IT systems within the organisation
- Internal Education and Training programs – Developed and facilitated internal training presentations including Learning Management System training modules for policy review, organisational systems and procedures
Community Facilitator NSW
CREATE Foundation
07.2016 - 12.2017
- Www.create.org.au
- Advocacy - Promoted CREATE's position on key issues through events and presentations
- Organised and facilitated youth public speaking events for sector workers and community members
- Event Organisation - Organised, promoted and conducted events, workshops and overnight camps with children and young people, carers and sector workers
- Program Delivery and Evaluation - Provided high quality program delivery for young people in the out-of-home care and disability cohort and ensured appropriate evaluative procedures undertaken
- Research and Consultation - Designed, led and authored several regional consultations with young people
- Stakeholder Engagement - Fostered reciprocal relationships with key stakeholders and CREATE representative at interagency working groups, meetings and sector events
- Contributed to knowledge distribution through newsletters and social media content for a varied audience
- Sector Professional Training - Facilitated workshops for caseworkers, support workers and carers and caseworker training incorporating the voices of children and young people in care
- Administration – Managed enquiries, database management of clients and stakeholders, record keeping, internal and external reporting, event and travel organisation, budgets, expense reconciliation and risk assessment
- Teamwork - Contributed to team strategic planning, managed own individual work plan and achieved all contractual and internal key performance indicators by mandated deadlines
Education
Master of Social Change & Development -
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
Newcastle, NSW01.2019
Bachelor of Social Science - Gender Studies
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
Newcastle, NSW01.2013
Skills
- Attention to detail
- Conflict resolution
- Data confidentiality
- Adaptability and flexibility
- Complex Problem-solving
Certification
- NSW Driver's License (Gold), 7780BX, 10/20/27
- NSW Working with Children Check, WWC013628OE, 08/02/26
- National Police Check Certificate, 9767333, 08/07/24, No Disclosable Court Outcomes
Professional Memberships
- Australian Community Workers Association (ACWA), Full Member, 2023
- Certified Family Group Conference Facilitator Practitioner Membership, 2019, Mediation Institute
- NSW Council of Social Services (NCOSS), 2020
Professional Training And Qualifications
- Certificate IV TAE40116 Training and Assessment, 2023, Forsythe's Training
- First Aid Certification - HLTAD012, HLTAD011, HLTAD010, HLTADD009, 2023, CBD College
- Panel of Family Group Conference Facilitators, 2020, Department of Communities and Justice
- Family Group Conferencing Certificate Training, 2020, Mediation Institute
- ACWA/CCWT Accredited Family Group Conference Facilitator Training, 2019, Spirit Dreaming Training & Education Solutions
- Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) Training and Refresher, 2019 - 2020, Big Brown House certified in-house training – Cornell University
Timeline
Family Time Worker
The Canopy
09.2024 - Current
Family Group Conference Facilitator, Carer Assessor
Independent Family Support
06.2021 - Current
Program Development, Quality Coordinator
Big Brown House/Integrity4Life
01.2019 - 06.2021
Community Facilitator NSW
CREATE Foundation
07.2016 - 12.2017
Master of Social Change & Development -
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
Bachelor of Social Science - Gender Studies
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
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