At ACSO, one of the things that further drives our passion for our work is hearing some of the incredible stories from clients and participants we work with. We love hearing about ACSO team members going above and beyond, and we want to celebrate it – because learning from one another’s successes only makes our programs and our team stronger as a whole.
ReStart team member Logan, based in Victoria, shared his team’s story of working with a client who went through the ReStart program earlier this year. Before he was incarcerated, the Restart client was experiencing homelessness and having issues with alcohol and substance abuse.
“He was in a difficult situation having lost connection to his family, and lacking support with housing, mental health, alcohol and drugs, and community connectedness. In his words, he’d ‘had his whole life turned upside down’.”
To help him with reintegration and building support personal support networks, the Forensic Case Work (FCW) team worked collaboratively with the participant to identify his transitional goals and support needs that required the greatest attention, so he could begin his journey with a step forward in the right direction. They also made sure to identify the barriers he might come up against, so he felt prepared to overcome these obstacles.
The FCW team assisted the participants with day-to-day activities as he reintegrated into his local community, and supported him as he moved through the ReStart program and other supports, ensuring he stayed engaged.
The importance of self-motivation
One of the major goals for many programs at ACSO is not only to support people as they grow and experience transitional periods in life, but also teach them different ways that they can support themselves in the long-term.
Much of the time, a person’s determination to make changes to their life in order to support themselves is what makes all the difference.
In the case of this participant, Logan humbly notes that he was really determined to make change for himself, and that’s what made their team’s work with him so successful.
“We listened to the participant, and could see his motivation for change. FCW used this to remind the participant to keep striving for success as we guided him on the pathway to future support, even after the program had been completed.”
Logan says the participant was self-driven to make a change in his life. “ReStart was able to connect the participant with supports — however, it was his own motivation that set him up to succeed.”
Setting up long-term goals
Now, the participant has stable accommodation, and is on a waitlist for a men’s behaviour change program. He is in Voluntary AOD counselling, and is working with his employment services provider to find work. He’s also regularly going to the gym, as he finds it’s really beneficial to his physical and mental health and wellbeing.
“It would be fantastic to see him reunified with his children, and have stable employment and private housing,” says Logan.
ACSO delivers a diverse range of programs to support people at risk of entering or who have already entered the justice system. These services span the entire justice continuum from prevention to rehabilitation, and our teams are dedicated to helping to break the cycle of people repeatedly entering the system.
The ReStart program supports people who are leaving prison after serving a short sentence, to support them with reintegrating into their community. The aim is to reduce the high number of people who are incarcerated with short sentences.
You can learn more about ReStart and ACSO’s diverse range programs supporting people on our website: www.acso.org.au/our-programs
