LGBTIQ Equality Initiatives in Local Government Forum
City of Stonnington Presentation
Penny Pavlou, Manager Aged, Diversity, Health and Animal Management
The City of Stonnington Aged Services provides a comprehensive range of home and community based services aimed at supporting, maintaining and enhancing abilities and independence of people at home and in the community. We are one part of a very large organisation.
The "client centred approach" is the foundation of our work. Each client and their needs are determined on an individual basis and the necessary supports within our resources are provided. We do not provide a one size fits all method where clients are treated "the same". We treat everyone individually.
Four years ago, the City of Stonington’s Aged Services Department began working to develop inclusive services to meet the needs of older GLBTI residents of Stonnington.
In June 2012, we were one of the organisations that took part in the pilot of the Rainbow Tick audit. I am happy to say that we were successful and were recommended for the Rainbow Tick. But I will say that the process of us getting us there was not easy nor was it quick.
In 2007, as part of consultation and research for the development of the Stonnington Older Persons Strategy, Council conducted a street survey to determine service gaps and the needs of older people living within the municipality. Feedback from that survey indicated that we needed to develop our aged services to make them more accessible and responsive to older GLBTI people living within the municipality.
At this point we began to develop some further research that looked at our GLBTI community as well as determining the needs of older GLBTI people.
Our research led us to Val’s Cafe and staff began attending regularly, initially to gain some insight and direction to service provision for people in these communities.
Along with this we developed an Action Plan to help guide us through the development and implementation of our objectives. Our action plan is a fluid document that we add to as we need.
With the research under our belts and with some ideas regarding what we needed to do, including potential service gaps, we needed some direction. We had already identified that we needed to connect with some peak organisations, and as a result of attending Val’s Café, we did some internet research and made some calls to Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and discovered a number of initiatives, a wealth of information and knowledge, and that much needed direction.
Initially our contact was related to exploring options for staff training and development but it was timely with the inaugural How2 workshops and program commencing at that time. We considered our participation in the program and decided it seemed to provide the best way forward in exploring inclusive service provision.
Our broad aim was to make Stonnington Aged Services known and accessible to GLBTI older residents. We had initially identified a number of areas that we believed would help make our service accessible to GLBTI people. Those aims were:
- Staff training
- Service development
- Service promotion and marketing to the GLBTI community
- Meet service gaps.
The How2 program provided us with direction and a structured approach that we hoped would culminate in providing inclusive services to GLBTI people accessing Stonnington Aged Services, and thus meet our broad aims.
Some of the things we did:
- Conducting the Val’s Café audit of services to clarify existing practice
- The development of a Statement of Commitment for Aged Services
- A training program that provided staff with knowledge of GLBTI people and their needs, and skilling staff to work effectively with GLBTI clients
- A review of assessment processes, tools and care plans, and a roll out of any necessary changes or modification
- A communications strategy including the promotion of Stonnington Aged Services to the GLBTI community and our inclusive service provision, in GLBTI media and local papers
- Consultation strategy including inviting GLBTI people accessing HACC services to provide feedback to inform service planning
- An evaluation of the project
Consultation
Consultation was and still is an important component of our work in this area. Over a number of months, we spent time developing a survey and distributing it widely to residents and peak organisations. The aim of this was to get first hand information of the needs of our GLBTI community. This was a slow process that brought us a great deal of information and help us to understand the gaps in our service delivery, and formed an essential part in the development of our inclusive service practice that we hoped would engage GLBTI people in the community to access our services.
The consultation process also helped us build relationships with GLBTI peak bodies and local service providers. These relationships continue to develop and I can say that we now work together to meet that needs of GLBTI residents at a number of levels and from a number of directions.
The Rainbow Tick
Just a little bit about the Rainbow Tick.
Once we were aware of the Rainbow Tick, we were keen to be involved. In fact, I think that the Rainbow Tick was one of the strong drivers for us to make our services accessible and inclusive. It was like a carrot that we knew we had to have.
Participation in the How 2 Program helped guide and prepare us to undertake the audit. Attending the sessions was important and we found that there was much to learn from others participating. The mentoring, information and presentations provided by Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria at each session were very useful and insightful.
Once we had been selected to undertake the pilot, we realised that we had much work to do to prepare for the actual audit. This included:
- Our own self assessment against the six standards
- Preparation of documentation and processes.
- Further consultation
And the actual audittook place over one day. On this day staff and management were interviewed and our documentation was assessed. Clients and organisational partners had also been interviewed
And as I said previously, we were successful and recommended for the Rainbow Tick.
GLBTI inclusive practice is time consuming and requires commitment and resources. Despite this, it is well worth it. Stonnington’s Aged Services has a committed and caring workforce that has a new level of awareness, skill and understanding about GLBTI people that they can use in their work. And this can only benefit other community groups with which we work.
The support of our Divisional General Manager was essential in us achieving our objectives. She championed our project at the senior level of the organisation and supported us all the way. Because of our success, the organisation is now working with our Youth Services to undertake a similar process with GLBTI youth. We also have a number of our Community Services lined up to undertake the Rainbow Tick. We recently undertook a GLBTI Mental Health survey across the municipality and have been a regular participant at the Midsumma Carnival for the past 3 years.
For organisations beginning the journey to become GLBTI inclusive, the biggest piece of advice I can give is to be patient, committed and enthusiastic. There is much to learn and there is fun along the way. Use the resources around you especially those that come through Val’s Cafe. That was our starting point and we continue to work alongside the agencies that attend.
Thank you.