Working together to create high quality community services

Our Profile www.cmcconsulting.net.au

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Contact details

Telephone: 0400 021 803

Email: cmc@cmcconsulting.net.au

Postal:

PO Box 7194

Beaumaris, VIC 3193

Web: www.cmcconsulting.net.au

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Contents

Contact details 1

Contents 2

Responding to local needs 4

Our services 8

Our team 18

With over twenty years’ experience in the community

sector we pride ourselves on delivering high quality,

personalised services and advice to our clients.

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Rural services and activities for young people

The issues experienced by young people can be magnified for their rural

counterparts who are often isolated by geography and disadvantaged by a lack of

available services. In addition, recreation options and safe spaces for young people

to hangout may be reduced in rural areas, which can be compounded by limited

resources. The investigation of these issues through the Bass Coast Youth Space

Study informed the development of a sustainable service model for youth services in

the Shire that reflected the diversity of young people’s needs, supported by a

partnership approach to assist in maximising the use of scarce resources.

Younger people with a disability

The Innovation and Development of Disability Services Project with the City of

Boroondara Health, Ageing and Disability Services Department was an important

opportunity to consider the operational implications of key national level disability

sector reform initiatives such as the Council of Australia Government 2010-2020

National Disability Strategy and the Productivity Commission reports into Caring for

Older Australians and Disability Care and Support. The outcomes of this

independent review provided an evidence base to inform planning to enable the

continued provision of high quality services tailored to the individual needs of

younger people with a disability and their families.

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Community services created in response to

local needs

Need a strategy to take you into the future?

Want the chance to explore innovation and best practice in service delivery?

Want the space to consider the needs of your community and other key stakeholders?

Ever wondered how to take advantage of key sector directions?

Ever thought about the role partnerships can play in strengthening services?

If you answer yes to any of these questions then

maybe our services are right for you

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Facility provision in the growth areas

The challenges faced by Councils in the growth corridors in meeting the needs of a

rapidly increasing population may be positively impacted by the timely provision of

well managed community facilities. A planned approach will ensure facilities are more

than just buildings, but part of the fabric of the community. We facilitated an

extensive consultation and research process to develop a governance framework for

the management of integrated community facilities in the City of Casey. In

partnership with a project management group comprised of state government,

council and community service organisations, we recommended community

engagement strategies, management standards and models for consideration in

existing community facilities and any planned or future facilities within Casey’s

growth areas.

Youth sector reform

Identification of processes for earlier and systematic intervention, as well as more

effective local planning and coordination for vulnerable young people was the key

focus of our work with Frankston City Council and Yarra Ranges Shire Council on

the Better Youth Services Pilots. These pilots were instrumental in informing local

sector planning and development; and provided evidence for the reform of state

youth policy and funding that evolved into Positive Pathways for Victoria’s Vulnerable

Young People and Brighter Futures: Working Together to Improve Services for

Young People, trialled in seven sub-regional local government areas across Victoria.

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Local Planning & Service Development

•A project plan to guide our work, support communication & ensure accountability

Facilitation

•A methodology that meets the needs & interests of participants

Consultation & Engagement

•A consultation strategy informed by the IAP2 spectrum of public participation

Evaluation & Review

•A positive process that supports reflection & review

• Policy & literature

review

• Demographic data

review

• Service profiling

• Report writing

• Identifying & responding

to local needs

• Collaborative approach

• Innovative techniques

• Action oriented &

outcome focussed

• Informed by adult

learning principles

• Engagement with a wide

variety of audiences

• Various mediums to

engage & influence

decision making

processes

• Participant directed

• Best practice models

• Engagement with hard to

reach stakeholders

• Key informant

interviews, both face-to-

face & telephone

• Focus groups & small

group discussion

• Survey design &

implementation,

including web-based

• Benchmarking &

comparative analysis

• Participatory action

research

• Team engagement

• Process, impact &

outcome measurement

• Evidence based

evaluation tools

• Narrative evaluation

• Documentation and

resource development

Strategies Action Plans Service Plans Funding Submissions

Training & Mentoring Resources Workshops & Meetings Partnerships

Serv

ices

Pro

cess

es

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mes

Working with our clients to consider key strategic questions important to the development of high quality

community services

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Whole of government approach to young people, education and

employment

Victoria established Regional Management Forums in 2005 as a key initiative for

governments to work together across complex and shared issues. Regional

Management Forums are now an established part of the landscape in each of

Victoria’s eight regions. We reviewed research and strategic initiatives to provide

the Southern Metropolitan Regional Management Forum with a better

understanding of the profile of young people aged 15–24 years as well as local,

state, federal initiatives related to employment and training for young people.

Through our research, we identified challenges and opportunities that could be

best addressed through a whole of government approach to deliver better skills

and employment opportunities for young people.

Catchment planning to improve outcomes for vulnerable children,

young people and their families

Catchment planning provides a means of identifying the most significant issues

that affect a target population, as well as the ways in which an integrated

approach can create the greatest impact. Development of the South East

Family Services Catchment Plan included the engagement of the members of

the local South East Family Services Alliance (that extends across the Cities of

Greater Dandenong, Cardinia and Casey), analysis of service usage data and

review of existing plans and strategies to focus effort, target priorities and use

service resources more effectively in supporting vulnerable children, young

people and their families in the Outer South catchment area.

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Our services

We facilitate a range of processes to support our clients to consider key

strategic questions important to the development of high quality community

services.

We can work with you to:

Develop an effective project plan that articulates an approach to achieve

essential deliverables.

Provide ongoing support and advice in regard to the planning and

implementation of your project.

Undertake a particular part of a project such as consultation and

engagement, research, data analysis or facilitation.

Facilitate a comprehensive project process commencing with project

planning right through to final report.

Provide training and mentoring for staff to lead projects or processes.

We have a range of services we can tailor to meet your

needs and budget

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Planning for the provision of youth services

Over the years we have had the opportunity to work on a wide range of youth

service development initiatives. Working with Brimbank City Council on the

Youth Services Benchmarking Project we used a comparative research process

to determine the viability of six diverse models of youth service provision in

local government. Our work with the City of Monash to develop an Action

Plan for Young People represented a new direction for youth services through

an integrated whole of Council approach for working with young people and

their families.

Understanding the middle years and child to adolescent transitions

The middle years are recognised as a period where young people aged 10 to 14

years may experience difficulties in social and emotional development that can

have a subsequent impact upon the individual’s progress. We worked with the

City of Port Phillip Youth Services on a research project to provide strategic

insight into the middle years and child to adolescent transitions to consolidate

Council’s understanding of needs, issues and opportunities associated with this

cohort, as well as informing future planning and investment opportunities.

Working on a middle years research project with the City of Yarra presents a

valuable opportunity to build on the learning that emerged through our

research for the City of Port Phillip to increase Councils’ understanding in this

area in order to establish an integrated policy and service response.

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Local planning and service development

Planning processes such as analysis of contemporary best practice and

literature; policy and demographic data review; consultation and engagement;

and service profiling can be used to identify service model options relevant to

local needs.

Key strengths:

Highly developed research and analytical skills.

Data collection, interpretation and analysis.

Extensive experience in identifying and responding to community needs

including children, families, young people and older people.

Report writing for a wide range of audiences.

Practical understanding of the specific needs of particular groups such as

culturally diverse communities, those with mental health issues, users of

drugs and alcohol, people with disabilities, public housing communities, and

carers.

A detailed project plan guides our work, supports

communication and ensures accountability

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Sharing learning and good practice

The opportunity to deliver a series of Good Practice Forums for Reconnect

providers across Australia, on behalf of the Federal Government Department

of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, provided a

unique insight into community-based early intervention services to assist young

people aged 12 to 18 years who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and

their families. The development of a Good Practice Principles Induction Booklet

and Good Practice Principles flashcards for future reference and consolidation

of learning was also part of this work.

Annual team planning

Creating a constructive space where teams have the opportunity to work

together encourages shared ownership of outcomes. We utilised a mix of

structure and self-direction to facilitate a planning day with Yarra Ranges Shire

Council Youth Services where the team had the opportunity to identify issues

they wanted to action through their annual service delivery plan.

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Facilitation

Careful consideration of objectives and desired outcomes enables the design of

a methodology that meets the needs and interests of participants. Combined

with many years’ experience in a range of facilitation techniques, our approach

will ensure an action focussed and meaningful experience for all.

Key strengths:

Large and small group meetings, forums, workshops, planning days and

focus groups with internal and external stakeholders.

Innovative facilitation and engagement methodologies informed by adult

learning principles.

Highly skilled in bringing diverse groups together to play an active role in

planning for services and for local communities.

High level communication and presentation skills.

Ability to engage with a wide variety of audiences using various mediums

to engage an audience and influence decision making

processes.

Experienced in the development of resource

materials and training as key strategies in building

sector capacity.

Effective workshops, planning sessions and meetings are

determined by the quality of preparation

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Engaging hard to reach stakeholders

Building on existing work and mechanisms to manage the delicate balance

between capturing the different and equally important perspectives across the

community and ensuring not to over consult key stakeholders is essential to

project success. This was put into practice with Monash City Council and the

Universal Access to Early Childhood Education Planning Project for which we

facilitated an extensive consultation process to inform planning for the national

requirement of access to 15 hours of early childhood education by 2013. An

essential component of this project was the engagement of hard to reach

stakeholders. To support this we undertook preliminary consultation with

stakeholders to inform the development of a comprehensive consultation strategy.

Through this process we asked stakeholders if, how, where and when they

wanted to participate in the consultation process.

Ageing well

The ageing population presents great challenges for the delivery of services.

People are waiting much later to access services and often bring higher

expectations around the way services are provided. This was an important

consideration in work undertaken in partnership with the City of Port Phillip

Ageing and Diversity Department to develop a five year service development

plan to guide the provision of social support programs within the municipality.

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Consultation and engagement

Fundamental to our work is the engagement and participation of all key

stakeholders in ways and at times that are appropriate. We utilise the IAP2

spectrum of public participation to develop consultation strategies that enable

people to become involved in decision-making processes that have relevance to

them by seeking opinions, listening and being transparent about our process.

Key strengths:

Participant directed processes that draw on the principles of best practice

models such as Open Space Technology and World Café.

Strategies to support engagement with hard to reach stakeholders.

Key informant interviews, both face-to-face and telephone.

Focus groups and small group discussion.

Survey design and implementation, including web-based.

To achieve genuine and meaningful change, those involved

in a project must be invested and able to take ownership of

the outcomes

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Culturally diverse communities

Working in partnership with the City of Greater Dandenong Youth Services on

the evaluation of the CALD Youth Inclusion Project provided a unique

opportunity to spend three years exploring action research as a service

improvement approach. This longitudinal study provided a rare and valuable

opportunity to work with local service providers to create better outcomes for

CALD young people and their families in a community with over 150 countries

represented, comprising more than 50% of the total population; the largest

proportion of refugee and other humanitarian entrants in Victoria; principally a

lower socio-economic and working class population. A series of capacity

building workshops scheduled over the life of the project and the development

of a variety of resource materials supported the evaluation process.

Responding to changing demographics

The evaluation of service delivery against the relevant program standards was

the aim of the City of Knox Maternal and Child Health Program Standards

Analysis Project. This short term review involved the development and analysis

of a comprehensive client survey instrument with outcomes informing the

identification of continuous improvement strategies for the Maternal and Child

Health service in line with Knox’s changing demographic needs.

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Evaluation and review

The opportunity to identify key learning through a process of reflection and

review is essential to maintaining the provision of high quality services that best

meet the diversity of community needs both now and into the future.

Key strengths:

Benchmarking and comparative analysis.

Participatory action research.

Team engagement.

Development of evaluation tools such as data collection templates.

Process, impact and outcome measurement.

Use of evidenced based partnership evaluation tools such as A Guide to

Evaluating Your Partnership Using a Network Mapping Approach,

developed by the Victorian State Government and the Partnership Analysis

Tool developed by VicHealth.

Narrative evaluation including the use of case studies and storytelling.

Documentation and resource development.

Action research best reflects the community development

principles and practice we strive to enact in all aspects of

our work

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Utilising local sector leaders

As part of the Yarra Ranges Shire Council Better Youth Services Pilot, we

delivered a consultation plan to identify opportunities and challenges associated

with supporting vulnerable young people through the development of a more

coordinated approach to the provision of early intervention services. A series

of focus groups were followed by a workshop support collaborative action

planning. Project steering committee members were supported by cmc to act

as discussion leaders at the workshop so as to build ownership of the local

issues and project direction. Inviting participants to choose how and where

they contributed promoted individual responsibility, while building the capacity

of the service sector to identify, develop and implement local responses. This

played an important part in establishing a partnership approach and the

development of meaningful and practical recommendations.

Closing the Gap

The current period is a dynamic one for Indigenous affairs at a national, state

and local level requiring coordinated action by governments and agencies in

partnership with local Indigenous communities. We were privileged to facilitate

a regional planning session for the Department of Human Services to plan for

the achievement of Victorian Indigenous Affairs Framework and community

planning outcomes in the Southern Metropolitan Region.

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Our team

cmc Community Services Planning and Development is a partnership between

Lisa Gallagher and Caz McLean. Lisa and Caz are accomplished professionals

with complementary skills and experience gained over many years delivering a

diverse range of planning, facilitation and engagement processes.

Qualifications & experience

Master of Health Science

(Health Promotion and Health Education)

Master of Social Science

(Policy and Human

Services)

Over 20 year's community

sector experience

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Working with vulnerable communities

As part of an independent review of the Brimbank Family Day Care Scheme we

analysed the implications of early childhood sector reform in relation to high

levels of cultural diversity, the needs of families and children from birth to

school age, and issues associated with high levels of socio-economic

disadvantage. Our key focus for the review was the development of strategies

to maintain the provision of high quality services aligned with the unique

character and diversity of the community.

Professional Mentoring to build team capacity

We have had the opportunity to consolidate our role in the provision of

professional mentoring in both facilitation techniques and partnership

development processes. Through the provision of mentoring support, we are

working with the City of Port Phillip Family Youth and Children’s Department

to facilitate the establishment of a whole of Council partnership for the

development of early years action plan. The mentoring process has allowed us

to share knowledge and explore learning with key personal regarding the

process required to support effective partnerships. The focus of our approach

is modelling the project management processes required to support the

implementation and monitoring of the whole of Council early years action plan,

as well as providing expert advice in regards to facilitation techniques.