Family & Youth Support

The Family Support Service provides home and centre based services to families in nominated local government areas on the Lower North Shore and Northern Beaches. Services include group work, advocacy, casework, counselling, community development, referral and information. Assistance can be provided to increase parenting skills, manage family behaviours in a positive way, recognise strengths within families, obtain practical assistance and increase the potential for family reconciliation. 

The Manly Warringah Pittwater Youth Support Service provides an outreach mobile service offering transport, education, information and referral. It services the Northern Beaches (Manly, Warringah, Pittwater local government areas) on Friday and Saturday nights.

The program aims to reduce the risk of harm due to drug and/or alcohol abuse by removing young people from dangerous situations and taking them to safe locations.

Service staff also hold talks in local schools to raise awareness of the dangers of risk taking behaviour, and to encourage them to access the service if needed. 

Disability Services

Respite services aim to strengthen and maintain the primary care relationships between a frail older person or a younger person with a disability and their carers through the provision of flexible and responsive alternatives to the usual care arrangements. Respite services provide meaningful and positive activities and experiences for individuals with a disability.  

Flexible Respite is a service that offers a combination of own home, centre-based, host family and peer support respite and includes day outings and camping trips. Adults and children can access a range of respite care activities including:

·        In-home care at regular and planned times by paid staff. This can be varied according to need and circumstance.

·        Individual out-of-home care by paid staff for recreation activity e.g. taking the young person to the movies, etc.

·        Support with transport and participation in mainstream social activity.

·        Family Holidays – providing a carer to accompany the family.

·        Out of Home community activities including: integration into mainstream youth centre activities. 

A number of Flexible Respite packages are targeted at ageing parent carers who provide primary care to their son or daughter with a disability. These packages can be accessed by parent carers aged 65 and over, and Indigenous parent carers aged 45 and over. The service aims to provide a break for ageing parent carers, and meaningful and positive activities and experiences for individuals with a disability. 

Flexible Respite also assists young people with disabilities who are having difficulty accessing respite during before and after school care and vacation care times. The service addresses this gap through the provision of a mixture of out of home and in-home support in the following ways:

·        Supporting the integration of a young person with a disability on a one to one basis into mainstream youth programs.

·        Provision of a direct care worker in the home to offer respite to families in before and after school and school vacation times.

·        Offer of a direct care worker to provide out of home respite in vacation care periods in age appropriate integrated recreational activities. 

Employment Services

The Personal Support Programme (PSP) is designed to help people on Centrelink benefits who have personal issues that make it difficult for them to comply with Centrelink requirements to stay connected to the economic and social life of the community.

Some people in complex and difficult circumstances find it hard to get a job or benefit from employment assistance programmes. PSP is a bridge between short-term crisis services and employment assistance programmes like Job Network. 

Mediation/ Family Dispute Resolution

Family Dispute Resolution (FDR) assists separating and divorcing couples and their children. FDR is a specialist service provided as an alternative to litigation through the Family Court. FDR focuses on the resolution of the specific dispute or disputes in family relationships. This service provides a process by which the participants, together with the assistance of an impartial third person or persons, isolate disputed issues in order to develop a range of options, consider alternatives and reach a consensual settlement that will take into account the needs and interests of all parties concerned, including children. Mediation emphasises the parties’ own responsibilities for making decisions that affect their lives. This is a mobile service with outreach across the Diocese at any of Centacare’s Family Centres. 

Counselling

Family Relationships Counselling provides counselling to adults, young people, couples, and their children at all stages of the relationship cycle including pre-marriage, marriage (including de facto relationships), separation, divorce and remarriage. Counselling supports the target group to establish and maintain valued family relationships as well as counselling about the care, welfare and development of children of the relationship. 

Natural Family Planning

The Natural Fertility Service teaches the Sympto Thermal Method (STM) of Natural Family Planning. STM is a scientifically based Natural Fertility Method that is simple to learn and highly effective whether it is used to conceive a pregnancy or avoid a pregnancy. Natural Fertility Services can be accessed by:

·        Women with regular or irregular menstrual cycles.

·        Women breast feeding or weaning.

·        Couples having trouble conceiving.

·        Couples trying to avoid a pregnancy.

·        Peri-menopausal women. 

Aged Services

The Community Visitors Scheme provides links with the community for frail, isolated, aged persons in aged care homes in Manly, Warringah and Pittwater local government areas. Volunteers provide one on one visits to residents of Australian Government funded aged care homes whose quality of life would be improved by friendship and companionship.  

Parenting & Relationship Education

Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding & Study (FOCCUS™) is a self-diagnostic inventory designed to assist couples prepare for marriage and their lives together. It enables couples to earn more about themselves and their unique relationship and to identify and work through various issues before marriage.

This course provides individualised couple feedback on where each partner stands in regard to topic areas important to marriage. The program identifies and explores significant areas for discussion that are relevant to their relationship, in a safe and confidential environment. There are two private sessions, which are facilitated by an accredited FOCCUS™ relationship Educator.

 

The Partners For Life group course presents couples with the opportunity to explore their relationship and to grow in knowledge of themselves and their partners. Qualified Relationship Educators present various topics significant to marriage. Couples participate in exercises which enable them to relate the information to their own relationship. The course involves large group input, small group discussions and personal couple sharing. Course topics cover:

·        Expectations of marriage

·        The influence of the family of origin

·        The process of the relationship

·        Self - responsibility in the relationship

·        Effective communication skills

·        Conflict management strategies

·        Sexuality, intimacy, fertility awareness

What About the Kids (WATK) is a course designed to assist separating parents. This is a two session course for either separated mums or dads but not both partners of the same former relationship.  It provides information to assist participants in understanding and managing their emotions around separation (e.g. loss, grief, and anger). It also assists them understand their children’s feelings and provides information and how to help their children manage these feelings. Major course themes include effective communication, co-operative parenting, and how to avoid or minimise conflict. 

Hey Mum! and Hey Mum! for Separated Mums provides mothers with opportunities to consider and learn more about their role as mothers and how they can increase their parenting skills and relationships with their children.