DCYSI

What happened week ended 23rd April 2010

The past week has been one dominated by staffing movements, recruitment and training.

Modern Awards-QCSEA Workshop 19/4/10 in Gladstone.

Cely Baillie & Margaret Hornagold attended a workshop in Gladstone run by the QCSEA regarding the Modern Awards.  Darumbal has been to workshops run by QCOSS, ASU and now QCSEA as well as seeking advice from QCCI on what the award modernisation and transitions mean for staff at Darumbal.  Darumbal as a respondent to the old SAC’s award transitioned to the ‘new SAC’s’ award from the 1 January 2010.  We can start to make some changes from 1 July 2010 with the transition taking place over the next 12 months.  We are waiting for the regulations to be announced that go with the Fair Work Act 2009 that will determine pay rates etc.  A Heads of Agreement has been negotiated between the ASU & the Australian Government to protect those pay rates introduced through the State legislation.  A federal pay equity case is being run now.

I will endeavour to keep staff and Board up to date on the new awards and what it means for Darumbal.

AVSM Workshop in Townsville

Krystal Beazley attended the AVSM workshop in Townsville from the 19-21 April 2010.  A lot of information was gathered to assist the Darumbal VSM program and Krystal gave a presentation of what we do in Rocky.  Other services were very interested in the Pie Run project that Krystal set up and will be introducing this into their communities.  Good on you Krystal!

Its welcome to the new VSM Youth Worker, Emma Harbin.  Emma has hit the ground running literally as she has been working on the Touch with young people with Kylie ODonnell from PCYC.

Constitutional Review-Taking It Back to Community Project

Darumbal is currently reviewing its Constitution and Geoff Higgins from Performance People is assisting us with this.  Geoff met with 2 Board members on the 22nd April 2010 to go over some key questions and outline how the community, members, staff and industry partners will be involved in reshaping our Constitution.  It is called ‘Taking It Back to Community’ to reflect where it came from and the importance of  the communities views and ideas.

Tony Jansen is taking on a new role

Tony Jansen has been the YSC at Darumbal for the past 9 years.  He will be taking a 6 month secondment to be the Acting Team Leader at Budaroo House, our Homelessness Service.  He will work with Lenore Blair, Dereck Hornung and other staff to get ready for the new Action Plans and strategies rolling out from the White Paper on Homelessness.  Tony started at Budaroo on the 22 April 2010.

Ms Rose Melton will be starting in the YSC position from the 29th April 2010 for 6 months.  Those of you who have had dealings with Glenmore High School will know Rose from there.  We look forward to welcoming Rose to the team.

Staff Training and sharing information on programs and work plans for 2010.

A successful staff awareness and information sharing day was held at Darumbal on the 23rd April 2010.  Staff were asked to present their work plans for this year and the information presented has enabled staff especially those new to the service to learn more about what each program does and just where workers go to when they are not in the office.  The Administration, Finance and IT sections also presented their work charts for the year.

Staff Team Building Lunches

Marissa Smith & Chrissie Roder have been busy planning different venues with cultural themes for staff to get out of the office and debrief and clear out the cobwebs over lunch.  The venue last month was the Punjabi in East Street and today it was the Crooked Cactus at the Saleyards Hotel.  This is a delightful spot and the decor, service and meals were very enjoyable.

Hang onto your somberos, hombres

Staff Training in Certificates and Diplomas in Youth Work, Mental Health, Alcohol & Drugs, Community Services

All staff are involved in getting their evidence together for an RPL exercise as well as answering the questions for the different accreditation that they are doing.  It will be another successful training result when staff complete the training and are qualified in another range of skills.