Imagined Futures Annual Story

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2023 marked the 10th year anniversary of the Imagined Futures partnership.

It is a remarkable milestone given that, despite delivering on strategic priorities, most of its work sits outside of established funding pathways. Remarkably, four members of our Leadership Group have been on our journey since the beginning – Michael Piu, Leanne Hartill, Julie Mitchell, and Claire Heffernan. Many others have served for several years. Michael Piu, in his role as Chair, has made an especially significant contribution by embodying the qualities that underpin collaborative working and in doing so, leads by example.

The ongoing commitment of our members towards working beyond the scope of their individual agencies toward shared objectives is the foundation of the partnership’s success.

This Annual Story is a testament to the vision and shared commitment of them

 

Navigating Children’s Mental Health Services in the South West metro region

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The Imagined Futures Community of Practice delivered another impactful workshop today – this time aimed at building the capacity of service providers to navigate the service system to improve support for children experiencing mental ill-health and their families.

This collaborative effort brought together 40 people from 22 agencies spanning government, non-profit agencies, and private practice.

As the keynote speaker the Commissioner for Children and Young People the Hon. Jacqueline McGowan-Jones spoke with eloquence and passion about the need for young person’s voices to be heard, the urgency for action to address childhood poverty and trends such as the rapid increase in numbers of young people from multicultural communities requiring support.

Following the keynote address, participants engaged in roundtable Q and A sessions with local providers of support for families and children including:

  • Just Kids Health
  • South West Metro Parenting Network,
  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service,
  • Connecting Communities for Kids
  • Uniting WA’s Attach program and
  • Youthcare

This event is part of an ongoing series of workshops with each one responding to specific community needs, ensuring our efforts are timely and relevant.

The success of these events is a true reflection of the calibre and commitment of the Community of Practice members*, which is ably led by Sue Nickisson from Communicare.  The workshops are put together on an extremely small budget because each of the members’ contributions are largely in kind – for example the in this case the venue was provided by the City of Cockburn.  Each of the CoP members worked together to organize logistics and promote the event. Imagined Futures contributed to the catering costs through the Where is the Door? Project funding.

*Imagined Futures Community of Practice is comprised of Sue Nickkison, Communicare (Chair); Sakina Bindahneem, Fremantle Women’s Health Centre; Evie Devitt-Rix, City of Fremantle; Linda Walker, City of Cockburn; Kriz Brander, Library Connect (St Pat’s/ City of Fremantle) with backbone support from Karen Silverthorne, Imagined Futures.

 

Djeran Day

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Imagined Future’s Djeran Cultural Connections Day, was a special event connecting Aboriginal kids in care with family, community and culture. The event brought together 58 children in care and their families and carers and local service providers.

It was an emotional day, with some children meeting their siblings for the first time, but above all it was a chance for kids to be kids and celebrate their proud cultural heritage with dancing, art, games and more thanks to the Stephen Michael Foundation Ltd.

Thank you to Uncle Gerrard Shaw for the Welcome to Country, to Tim Kelly and his family for sharing Dreamtime stories and getting us up and dancing and to Neami National and the Department of Communities WA for making this wonderful initiative happen.

The Cultural Connections Days are an ongoing opportunity for Aboriginal children in care to connect to culture, family and community in the South West Metro region.

Understanding Family and Domestic Violence

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The Imagined Futures Community of Practice hosted a second workshop, Understanding Family and Domestic Violence, for frontline workers in the South West Metro region. This interactive training session, led by Communicare, focused on understanding the signs of abuse and practical strategies to safely support someone experiencing family and domestic violence.

The City of Fremantle provided the venue, with 28 participants attending, representing ten different organisations including local government and community agencies.
Some great feedback from participants:

“Amazing presentation, really informative!”

“Presenters were very knowledgeable. Thank you”

“The content of the presentation was engaging especially learning from other service providers and lived experience.”

This event was delivered through the Community of Practice, which is a group of local human services workers who come together to collaborate and address gaps in services in the South West Metro region. The Community of Practice events are generally low budget, with each of the members contributing in kind. Thanks to the City of Fremantle and Communicare for their contributions to this event and the Community of Practice for their commitment to providing training and networking opportunities for frontline workers.

*Imagined Futures Community of Practice is comprised of Sue Nickisson Nickkison, Communicare; Sakina B., Fremantle Women’s Health Centre Evie Devitt-Rix, City of Fremantle; Linda Walker, City of Cockburn; Krizanne Brander-Cuffe, Library Connect (St Pat’s/ City of Fremantle) with backbone support from Karen Silverthorne, Imagined Futures.

Imagined Futures sets its priorities for 2024

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The Imagined Futures Leadership Group recently came together to plan its work for the coming year.  The group not only agreed key focus areas, but also identified how the partnership can foster catalysts that will increase our collective impact across all the priority areas.

To read the Plan click here

 

Uniting to tackle homelessness: Launch of the South Metropolitan Regional Homelessness and Housing Plan

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Leaders from across the Southern Metropolitan corridor – spanning Fremantle down to Waroona – came together last Tuesday to launch a joint Homelessness and Housing Plan for the region.  Local partnership Imagined Futures[1] spearheaded the development of the plan.

As in other parts of the State and indeed the rest of Australia, the South Metropolitan region of WA is experiencing record low post-pandemic housing vacancy rates coupled with the challenges driven by increasing inflation and cost of living.

Speaking about the need for a regional plan Chair of the Imagined Futures partnership, Michael Piu said:

“A challenge of the size and complexity of homelessness is beyond the capacity of any single organization to solve.”

“This is precisely why a plan such as this one is needed to guide collective efforts; and why it is heartening to see such wide spread commitment to it. These are both necessary preconditions for achieving success – we all need to be singing from the same song sheet.”

It is fitting then that the Mayors of Cockburn and Fremantle, state parliamentary colleagues, public servants and leaders from the not-for-profit sector joined with Minister McGurk, who launched the plan, to demonstrate their commitment to working together to effectively address the challenge of homelessness.

During the launch Mr. Piu acknowledged the even greater array of people who contributed to the development of the plan.

He said “This plan reflects the expertise and knowledge of many people from all parts of the community. Their collective insights have resulted in an ambitious, yet achievable road map that will be a practical tool for aligning efforts and maximizing resources to benefit those most in need.”

“The launch of this Plan is an exciting milestone of course, but only the start of the journey. I look forward to the important work across communities in the South Metro region that will take the Plan forward.”

[1] Founded in 2014, Imagined Futures is a collective impact partnership auspiced by St Pat’s Community Support Centre. The partnership brings together human service agencies (government and not for profits), businesses, philanthropists, and community members to tackle complex social issues across the south west metropolitan region.

Photo  Lto R: Andrew Geddes, Regional Executive Director, Department of Communities, Michael Piu, Chair of Imagined Futures and CEO of St Patrick’s Community Support Centre, Gerrard Shaw, Local Elder and member of the Leadership Group, Hon Stephen Pratt, MLC, Member for South Metropolitan Region, Mrs. Magenta Marshall, MLA, Member for Rockingham, Hon. Klara Andric, MLC, Member for South Metropolitan Region, Mayor of Fremantle, Hannah Fitzhardinge, Mr. David Scaife, MLA, Member for Cockburn, Minister Simone McGurk MLA, Member for Fremantle, Mayor of Cockburn, Logan Howlett, Leigh Sinclair, Executive Officer, Imagined Futures, Allan Connelly, Co-Chair WA Alliance to End Homelessness

Building the capacity of front line workers to support people at risk of experiencing Family and Domestic Violence

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The Imagined Futures Community of Practice held its third networking/ capacity building event for human service providers in the South West Metro region today.  This time the group chose to focus on offering a workshop on Understanding Family Domestic Violence in line with the 16 Days in WA campaign’s theme – stopping family and domestic violence: play your part.

The workshop aimed to empower service providers and community workers to play their part by teaching them how to better identify and support clients at risk of family and domestic violence.

In a sad reflection of the increasing incidence and impact of FDV in our communities, registrations for the workshop filled fast soon reaching the 30-person cap, with another 20 people on the waiting list.

On the day 32 people came together from 18 different organisations representing commonwealth, state and local governments, and a wide range of community agencies.  It is heartening to think of the reach of this training with each attendee able to take back their new found knowledge to their organisations.

Brilliant! Loved it! More please!  – is one of several positive comments made about the day and sums up how timely, relevant, and well-pitched the session was.

The success of these events is a true reflection of the calibre and commitment of the Community of Practice members*, which is ably led by Sue Nickisson from Communicare.  The workshops are put together on an extremely small budget because each of the members’ contributions are largely in kind – for example the facilitation of the workshop and the venue costs. In this case generously provided by Communicare and the City of Melville respectively.  Each of the CoP members worked together to organize logistics and promote the event. Imagined Futures contributed to the catering costs through the Where is the Door? Project funding.  The St Pat’s Community Store donated the door prize – a self-care package which was won by the wonderful Shan Nicholas from the City of Cockburn.

*Imagined Futures Community of Practice is comprised of Sue Nickkison, Communicare; Sakina Bindahneem, Fremantle Women’s Health Centre; Evie Devitt-Rix, City of Fremantle; Sian Brown, City of Melville; Linda Walker, City of Cockburn; Kriz Brander, Library Connect (St Pat’s/ City of Fremantle) with backbone support from Karen Silverthorne, Imagined Futures.

Kambarang Connections Day for Aboriginal Children in Care

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Last Friday, Imagined Futures partners came together to host our fourth connecting Aboriginal children in care event.

The purpose of these events is to deepen connections to sources of enduring natural support – family and culture. To do this, a feature of these events is that they are held regularly so that connections can be built upon over time.

These events are part of a broader project that was conceived by Aboriginal Practice Leads and the Cultural Committee from the Fremantle District child protection office, @Department of Communities. Their staff are the heart of these days and the project leverages off their expertise and relationships with children, carers, and families.

The Imagined Futures partnership then provides an organising mechanism which brings the Department together with a wide range of stakeholders and community members. This enables everyone to identify opportunities to contribute their resources and knowledge toward achieving a coordinated approach to a common goal – enhanced connection to sources of strength for Aboriginal children in care – family, community, and culture.

This time around it was City of Cockburn’s turn to host. Their Len Packham facility provided a great combination of access to a sports oval while also being able to get some respite from the heat inside.

Stephen Michael Foundation Ltd. once again generously provided four wonderful staff to teach and play a range of traditional cultural games with the children. The staff are fabulous role models and the children loved playing the games, with many saying it was their favourite part of the day.

Neami National’s suicide prevention coordinators have been involved with this project since the beginning. Their support has ranged from providing funding for most of the first event, to ongoing provision of carers packs and contributions to the children’s goody bags, as well as being present at every event to help out.

Much respected local Elder and member of the Imagined Futures Leadership Group Dr Gerrard Shaw provided the Welcome to Country. And, once again All Good Grub put on a great lunch inspired by traditional Aboriginal flavours.

Students from The Studio School designed and printed the goody bags, a student from St Hilda’s sewed 30 bean bags to include, with another wonderful community member sewing the remaining 20. The State Library donated books. And, the event was part funded by philanthropic donations.

It takes many threads to weave a blanket!

Imagined Futures Annual Story 2022

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Imagined Futures is delighted to present its Annual Story 2022.

The impressive array of achievements delivered over the course of the year is a demonstration of the dedication of the Imagined Futures partners to collaborative working, even against the headwinds of demand in their primary sphere of work. Together, we have achieved so much throughout 2022, however it has been particularly gratifying to see the increasing connection with the broader community.

We often hear the aphorism that the answer to many of the challenges facing us require a “whole of community response”. It is hence reassuring that, in our place-based way, we are providing a mechanism as well as building the capacity of the community to engage constructively in addressing some of these challenges.

Investing in the business of relationships

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Imagined Futures Executive Officer, Leigh Sinclair, presented to the WACOSS conference on the importance of investing in the business of relationships as a way of tackling some of the toughest social challenges impacting our community.

In her presentation Leigh argued that creating conditions that allow relationships to flourish is a purposeful endeavour in and of itself. In recent times we have seen this knowledge begin to translate into practice. Funders are realising that if we are to move from an outdated transactional approach to a contemporary relational one then they must invest in mechanisms that drive this change. We have seen such an investment in relationships deliver dividends in the South West Metropolitan Region of Perth. In this community three of these mechanisms come together to focus their collective efforts on same geographic community. The Fremantle Rockingham Family Support Network (FRFSN), the Suicide Prevention Coordinator program (SPC) and the Imagined Futures District Leadership Group all have different but intersecting remits, yet they all have the business of relationships at their heart. Over the turbulent pandemic years, they have leveraged their relationships to unlock the strength that exists in the community. They have worked together to deliver several collaborative projects including: improving support for people experiencing depression, enhancing connections for Aboriginal children in care to their family, culture, and community, and testing innovative ways of connecting people new to seeking support to the right support at the right time. Their experiences are a heart-warming testament to the collective power of community to rally together to tackle the most complex of challenges.