Cracking the Rental Market
Embarking on the journey to secure a rental property can be overwhelming. That's why we’ve curated a Rental Information Pack, drawing upon our extensive experience in social work, specifically assisting vulnerable persons in obtaining housing.
This comprehensive toolkit goes beyond the basics, incorporating practical tools like a budgeting tool and a house viewing checklist. It's tailored to empower individuals with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions while staying within their financial means.
The Rental Information Pack delves into the intricacies of your rights and responsibilities, equipping you with the insights needed to navigate the complexities of signing a lease. Leveraging my social work background, the pack addresses not just the theoretical aspects but also provides real-world advice on handling maintenance and repairs, ensuring individuals are prepared for any challenges that may arise.
Moreover, the pack extends its support beyond the initial stages, offering guidance on setting up utilities, sourcing budget-friendly furniture, and providing a roadmap for what to do when things go wrong. Your journey to a secure and stable rental experience starts here – with knowledge, confidence, and a toolkit designed with your needs in mind.
Download your Rental Information Pack here.
Whilst this information pack is developed for Melbourne based residents. The tools within it are transferable to other states and territories.
Support Behind the Wheel
Having the ability to drive opens numerous doors to employment opportunities and greatly enhances daily living. I recently had the opportunity to connect with Courtenay Rufus from CRUDE Ultimate Driving Education, where we discussed how Courtenay's approach to safe driving can be of immense help to individuals dealing with anxiety or concerns about getting behind the wheel.
Before launching CRUDE, Courtenay worked as a disability support worker, gaining extensive experience in working with individuals facing complex mental health challenges and disabilities. Courtenay adopts a holistic, therapeutic, and practical approach to assist individuals in setting both short-term and long-term driving goals. Courtenay’s unique approach involves addressing behavior management, imparting knowledge, and building skills through a comprehensive driver education program.
Courtenay emphasizes a critical point: passing the VicRoads drive test is just the beginning, and it doesn't prepare new drivers for the challenges they may encounter on the road. This is where CRUDE's Advanced Driver Course steps in, providing a holistic approach to driver education that prepares individuals to become advanced and highly competent drivers. The course focuses on changing behavior, increasing knowledge, developing awareness, and promoting safe driving practices.
The Advanced Driver Course comprises three essential elements: Theory, Simulation, and Practical Training, which collectively span around 6 hours, blending direct instruction with interactive workshops on basic vehicle maintenance, tire changing, and simulations. The course can be customized to meet individual needs and schedules. Participants who complete the course receive a 45-minute practical driving lesson voucher to further enhance their driving skills.
If you organise training within a TAFE, secondary school and/or University setting you'll be pleased to know that the Advanced Driver Course aligns with your commitment to providing holistic education through co-curricular and wellbeing programs. This course serves as a valuable addition to your educational offerings, aiming to educate, coach, and instruct students in all aspects of safe and responsible vehicle operation. It supports the Victorian School Curriculum General Capabilities, fostering Critical and Creative Thinking, Person and Social Capability, and Self-Awareness and Management. In addition to the Advanced Driver Course, Courtenay offers on-road practical driving lessons that focus on holistic and defensive driver training, ensuring that every driver understands more than just the basics of operating a vehicle. Courtenay reported that he's available to help community programs, schools, associations and university's Australia wide.
Courtenay highlighted that he recently had the wonderful opportunity to deliver 3 theory components of his Advanced Driver course to the Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre (CLNC). CLNC provides workshops and more to those experiencing economic and social disadvantage in the Carlton community here in Melbourne. Courtenay stated that this experience was an excellent opportunity to assist people with language barriers to understand the complexities of road law, driver awareness, observation, and vehicle dynamics and physics. Courtenay reported that the feedback from participants was highly positive, and most have contacted him to have practical lessons to reinforce everything they learnt in the Advanced Driver course.
To witness the course in action, you can watch a video of the "Ready Set Drive" program with Deaf Children Australia, which incorporated the Advanced Driver Course: Click here.
For more information about this exceptional program, you can locate CRUDE's website here.
A Marauders map of services in Australia: Unveiling the Power of Infoxchange Service Seeker
Harry Potter fans know what I’m talking about. Are you grappling to locate the necessary services and support you require? Or perhaps, as a community worker or practitioner, you're on the hunt for a comprehensive directory to aid your clients effectively? Enter Infoxchange Service Seeker, a beacon of assistance that’s poised to revolutionise the way you locate essential resources.
During my recent engagement with a Jobs Victoria program (much bigger than Hogwarts), encompassing diverse towns and communities across Victoria, Infoxchange Service Seeker emerged as a game-changer in linking individuals with localised services. Utilising this directory, I located regional LGBTQIA support for an individual who was navigating a gender transition. Similarly, it guided me to a women’s crisis refuge for a woman caught in the clutches of severe domestic violence. I can’t emphasise enough how great this online resource is.
In today's landscape, it's intriguing to note the attempts by programs, services, and councils to reinvent a wheel that already exists—the Infoxchange Service Seeker wheel. Powering the more recognisable Ask Izzy service directory, Infoxchange Service Seeker holds the mantle as Australia's most extensive electronic directory for health, welfare, and community services. It serves as an invaluable resource encompassing diverse classifications, including but not limited to aged, counselling, disability, drug & alcohol, education & training, employment, family, financial, health, housing, law, multicultural, recreation, and youth.
So, how does this resourceful tool function?
Step 1: Click on the link provided here.
Step 2: Utilize the search bar to input your town, area, or postcode alongside your desired support or service. For instance:
Example 1: Ballarat Homelessness
Example 2: Gold Coast domestic violence
Example 3: Adelaide drug and alcohol
Alternatively, explore the "Advanced Search" option beside the search bar for a refined outcome by answering additional queries.
Step 3: Peruse the list of services and opt for the one that resonates most with your requirements.
While the effectiveness of this platform is undeniable, it remains relatively undiscovered and underutilised.
If your service or program isn’t enlisted, seize the opportunity to connect directly with Infoxchange Service Seeker. The process of adding your program is seamless—locate the "+ Add service" option situated on the right-hand side of the search bar and follow the prompts from there.
I wholeheartedly advocate for incorporating this link into your program toolkit, as its potential to streamline your efforts and enhance accessibility is unparalleled.
I wish to clarify that this post is an independent endorsement of the remarkable Infoxchange Service Seeker. It's a gem I chanced upon, harnessed regularly, and believe can make an instrumental difference in navigating today’s challenges. I honestly wish I could wave a wand for this to be a part of every services toolkit, but instead I’ll holster my wand and encourage you the reader to share this resource with your networks.
Navigating Mental Health Care Plans
Hypothetical scenario
Footballer- I’ve been feeling pretty shit recently and I don’t know what to do.
Coach- What’s been going on? Is there anything I can do to help?
Footballer- Nah. It’s just work and a few other things.
Coach- Happy to lend an ear if you want to chat. If you’ve been feeling like this for a while have you considered speaking to your GP (General Practitioner)? They might complete a mental health care plan with you?
Footballer- What’s that?
Mental Health care plans can make a massive impact to your wellbeing. A mental health care plan can help you to:
Identify early warning signs.
Identify support needs.
Work through your challenges.
Develop your support networks. Think of a health wolf pack, crew or team.
Improve relationships.
What is a mental health care plan?
A mental health care plan is a support plan for someone who is experiencing mental health challenges. You can access a mental health care plan through your Local GP. The GP will ask you a series of questions. These questions are usually as follows:
Problems you’re experiencing.
Social History.
Family history of mental illness.
Relevant physical and mental examination. Behaviour, mood, thinking, perception, insight, speech, anxiety symptoms, appetite, sleep, judgement, motivation, energy and more.
Risk assessment. Do you have suicidal ideation or suicide intent. Risk to others.
Family/Key Supports.
Problem/Diagnosis- Goals- Action/Tasks.
Action Plan.
Patient consent.
What might a mental health care plan include:
A referral to an expert, like a psychologist, social worker or psychiatrist.
The types of mental health care that can support you.
Strategies to improve and maintain your mental health and wellbeing.
If you obtain a mental health care plan through your Local GP, the Government will subsidise the cost of up to 10 sessions with a mental health expert in a calendar year. You can get that through the Medicare rebate.
What is the Mental Health Care Plan process
First, book an appointment with your GP. If you don’t have a regular GP, you can locate one here. When you book, tell them you want to talk about a mental health care plan. The GP will set enough time to go through the above questions.
Your doctor will ask you to fill out a questionnaire or ask you the questions above.
A lot of GPs will ask you to come back for another appointment before they decide whether a mental health care plan is the right thing for you.
In some situations, your GP might refer you to a psychiatrist or a psychologist. What’s the difference between a psychiatrist and psychologist? You can find that out here.
Alright, I’ve been to the GP. What support can I get?
Well, you will have access to someone or a network of professionals to help you find strategies to navigate your challenges. Most common types of support you may be able to get with a mental health care plan include:
1 to 1 session with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or social worker.
Group psychologist sessions
Your doctor can/should provide you with a list of professional experts in your area. If you have a mental health care plan, the Medicare rebate mentioned earlier covers you for a certain amount of the value of your session. However, if your psychologist charges more, you’ll need to pay the difference. If you are a concession holder, student or have a health care card then you may be eligible for cheaper sessions with your psychologist.
It’s important to note that you can’t get a referral for all 10 sessions for the year in one go. Your plan will cover you for six initial sessions. Once they have concluded or are coming to an end, you can go back to your doctor for a review. You and your GP will review your plan and they will determine if it would be helpful to have further sessions.
Your doctor should tell you what costs (if any) are involved when you agree to make a mental health treatment plan. If you are unsure, ask your doctor what fees will be involved.
What should I do before my GP appointment?
Before your GP appointment I highly recommend the following:
Journal/ Captains Log/ Self-Assess- Day, Time and what you’ve experienced. What may have triggered these feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
Develop a list of what areas you would like help or support with. Social, emotional, physical, and mental.
Providing the above to your GP will help them guide their questions.
Support without the wait time
The following practices don’t have an astronomical (2-6 months) wait time and they provide a range of support depending on your needs. These practices are listed below.
Melbourne & Daylesford- Centre Self Collective.
North Queensland- Active Health Psychology
Southeast Queensland- Hey Mate Project
Southeast Queensland- Healthy Habits & Education
Whilst the scenario at the beginning is hypothetical. To have a more professionalised approach with a range of resources and tools up your sleeve, please consider Mental Health First Aid training. You can book this through the following link right….here.