CareSouth Practice Framework

The CareSouth Practice Framework captures the foundations of our work with children, young people, families and people with disabilities. It brings together the key principles, approaches and understandings that help CareSouth to improve lives, every day. During the year, our Practice Framework was revised in a fresh, easy-read format, allowing us to better embed the person-centred, trauma-informed and safety-focused work we do.

The CareSouth Practice Framework was supported by the publication of a new Practice Manual for Out-of-Home Care, which provides guidance to best practice work for new practitioners, and supports reflective practice for all our practice professionals working with children and young people in foster care or residential OOHC.

Therapeutic Care Model

CareSouth works with children, young people, families and people with disabilities with a compassionate commitment to healing and growth. To promote best practice and to cement our Practice Framework, at the end of 2016, CareSouth developed, and later commenced rolling out, a new Therapeutic Care Model. This model was prepared for CareSouth Clinical Services in partnership with Knightlamp Consulting. It is based on principles of trauma-informed practice and on new developments in the fields of developmental psychology and neuroscience, as well as on previous work undertaken by the Department of Human Services in Victoria relating to Residential Care.

This year, our new Therapeutic Care Model was piloted and implemented through training and supervision with Residential Out-of-Home Care staff. All senior and operational managers also received Therapeutic Care Model training provided by Knightlamp. A working group consisting of Clinical Services staff, our Policy and Research Manager and Southern Region Program Manager will progress implementation of this model throughout the remainder of 2017.

Clinical Model

CareSouth started rolling out our newly-established clinical services model to support both our existing clients and to increase our scope to work with a greater range of clients. This process began in line with CareSouth’s NDIS roll-out so that we are able to deliver a range of fee for service offerings that weren’t previously funded.

Our new Multi-Disciplinary Clinical team includes four staff in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven; a senior clinical psychologist, senior nurse clinician and two provisional psychologists.  Plans are underway to expand the clinical services to other areas within our regional model including Southern and Western NSW.

We will also increase the types of service delivery provided to include Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy, in line with the needs of our NDIS clients. These services are currently supplied externally and we hope to be able to provide a multidisciplinary approach to therapeutic care in the future.

With the development of the clinical services the therapeutic framework for CareSouth has started being implemented across the organisation.  Staff have received training and an implementation committee with staff from across the agency are ensuring the skilled implementation of the framework across all aspects of the organisation.