Community Services
The key functions of the Outreach Support Team are to provide support and assistance to those most in need in our community, those experiencing homelessness or housing crisis, mental health issues and those with a disability wanting to remain in their own homes.
What we can offer:
The OST exists to assist with a range of issues. They may include assistance to obtain or maintain independent housing, and other housing issues as a result of:
- Family Violence
- Relationship Issues
- Gambling and other addictions
- Mental health issues
- Intellectual/physical disability
- Employment and training needs
- Living Skills/Personal Development Skills
- Clarify a problem
- Identify options and
- Develop plans to approach difficult issues in a constructive manner
This program is funded though individual care packages from the Department of Human Services (DHS) and is aimed at offering a high level of accommodation based support for individuals of high risk to homelessness and within our community without appropriate support.
LMHS provides individual accommodation based support for clients with complex support needs. We provide 1:1 support to assist with the activities of daily living for our clients within a “homeless” environment. Our goal is to provide a welcome, safe and friendly lifestyle from which we can encourage active community participation and positive personal development with our clients.
Hidden HeartacheLoddon Mallee Housing Services continued their collaboration with Lead On in 2006 with their Hidden Heartache writing competition. The competition is open to local secondary school students and incorporates educative resources being distributed to the schools to inform students of the social issues surrounding homelessness.
The competition is designed to challenge the generalisations and assumptions espoused in mass media with regards to homelessness and to have students consider the systemic factors and issues that perpetuate disadvantage in our community. Students were informed of the different definitions of homelessness (primary, secondary and tertiary) and the many and varied causes of homelessness.
Whilst Government policies, media driven assertions and general social attitudes continue to stereotype the causes of homelessness as being perpetuated by flaws that are innate individual traits , students were asked to consider the systemic disadvantage that continues to bring into sharp relief the disparity of opportunity that many in our community face.
Loddon Mallee Housing Services look forward to continuing their close association with Lead On as young people are seen to be credible and a legitimate medium for the dissemination of socially aware and informed views on the issue surrounding disadvantage and homelessness in out community.
For more information please contact:
Deanne - 5444 9009
deannep@lmhs.com.au
Loddon Mallee Housing Services support the re-establishing of the Big Issue in the Bendigo area through the partnership with the Big Issue by offering a support worker to implement the return of street vendor opportunities to people in the Bendigo area.
In June 2005 Loddon Mallee Housing Services’ Outreach Support Team met with George Halkias (Big Issue Victorian Regional Development Co-ordinator) to discuss a partnership that would work towards the goal of re-establishing the Big Issue in Bendigo. Loddon Mallee Housing Services recognised parallels between the two organisations values and strong social ethic. These parallels include a belief that disadvantage is perpetuated systemically and therefore solutions to the disadvantage faced by people call for innovative and creative solutions.
It was at this juncture that Loddon Mallee Housing Services and the Big Issue agreed to collaborate in order to create opportunities for people in the Bendigo area to become vendors of the Big Issue. Self determined working hours and the flexibility that this offers ensures that people can take advantage of the opportunity to interact with the broader community (rather then continuing to experience social isolation) whilst managing the complexities of their daily life. Subsequently this gives people the chance to manage the variables that negate peoples choices or options in challenging their disadvantage, such as family commitments, disabilities, physical and mental health issues and the plethora of social and systemic hurdles that are inherent in the lives of those experiencing unemployment, homelessness or social exclusion. Loddon Mallee Housing Services has established their first Big Issue vendor and is looking to support 2 more vendors in the near future.
For more information please contact:
Kerrily - 5444 9024
kerrilys@lmhs.com.au
