Introducing the Community
UCSA Family Support and Strengthening Programs
UCSA deliver high quality, trauma-informed and best-practice family support and strengthening programs across the Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Far North, Mid North, and Yorke Peninsula regions.
LBI Foundation has provided the UCSA family support and strengthening programs capacity building support under the Care IMPACT strategy. The intent (or outcomes) and actions of this work is summarised below.
Intent ('What')
Build Wellbeing and Trauma Responsive Family Support Communities
As Made Practical Through the Following Co-Designed Outcomes
Practitioners
To embed a professional, relationship focused and intentional practice culture, where support workers and practitioners:
- Intentionally respond (rather than react) to the family’s individual needs in a growth- focused and trauma-responsive manner, as personalised to their readiness to change and grow.
- Grow family capacity through intentionally delivered support, side-by-side coaching and shared Growth Action Planning processes (founded upon readiness to grow and change).
- Work side-by-side with the care community, and empower all members to build a shared intent of support around families.
- Have access to best-practice resources, tools and professional development activities on intentionally applying the science of wellbeing, trauma and growth across family support and strengthening roles.
Families and Children
For children, adults and families to experience intentionally delivered relational and coaching experiences that grow:
- Feelings of safety and trust at all times.
- Their awareness of self, others, world and future (and the factors impacting on family functioning for adults).
- Foundational social-emotional learning, meta-cognitive, self-regulation, independence, parenting and life skills.
- The mindsets, beliefs and attitudes associated with resilient whole-of-life outcomes, and keeping themselves and others safe.
For adults to
- Intentionally respond (rather than react) to children’s needs (e.g., trauma, growth developmental) in a personalised manner.
- Grow child capacity through intentionally delivered caregiving and side-by-side coaching/support.
- Work side-by-side with the care community in shared intent.
- Have access to best-practice resources, tools and professional development activities on the science of wellbeing, trauma and growth, as related to their own self-care and parenting.
Actions ('How')
Positioning
The capacity building support has been personalised to the UCSA program context. The UCSA program draws upon other best-practice therapeutic components (e.g., Signs of Safety), and the IMPACT Program (and the intentional practice approach) is designed to strengthen and sit alongside this component.
The work also dovetails into UCSA whole-of-agency therapeutic approach titled: interACT. interACT is founded upon intentional practice, and the IMPACT Program is designed to make interACT practical and translatable across the family support programs, and for practitioners and families alike.
Summary Actions
- Entire capacity building initiative is founded upon the science, research and practice of intentional practice, as made practical for therapeutic residential care settings (see this research article).
- Implementation underpinned by the Care IMPACT capacity building strategy.
- LBI Foundation Community Lead: Ivan Raymond.
- Whole-of-staff team Foundational IMPACT Training, with the majority of support workers and practitioners accredited to the IMPACT Coach level.
- Clinically focused coaching and reflective practice (by a LBI psychologist), and founded upon a Growth Action Planning process.
- Specialist IMPACT modules and workshops on motivational interviewing, and intentionally working with families through the Stages of Change model and approach.
- Practitioners and families having access to a rolling cycle of IMPACT specialist workshops and professional development sessions (face-to-face and online) delivered by LBI (for online see upcoming events).
- Key embedding strategies: What-What-How reflective practice in staff supervision and internal planning processes, side-by-side Growth Action Planning with families founded upon a motivation to change framework, IMPACT resources and modules coached to families on a needs basis.
Commentary and Further Information
Local Quote
Emerging Program Impact
We started our LBI journey with our foster care program. We have used the IMPACT Program to empower our placement support workers to apply intentional coaching support to caregivers and families. It provides us with key tools, resources and methods to ensure that the care provided to children occurs in a trauma-responsive and personalised manner. The resources, tools and online modules provided allows us to meet our caregivers’ learning and development plan needs. This year we have expanded the IMPACT Program to our Strengthening Families, Intensive Family Services and Reunification programs. IMPACT empowers our case managers to provide intentional support and coaching in an evidence-based manner.
