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Annual Report 2005 - 2006

President's Report

Another year with another list of impressive achievements including an improved and more stable financial position, increased housing stocks to meet an ever increasing demand for accommodation support, clear evidence of a lowered breach rate in our client base and an innovative and unique health service initiative providing free vaccinations to women visitors to prisons. More information on these and other impressive results are detailed in this report.
We continue to achieve and in many cases exceed the requirements of the government programs we are funded to run. A quick calculation shows that by providing such services and assisting people to not to return to prison we are saving the government millions of dollars a year. Over and above the monetary benefits are the obvious and more valuable social savings through having our clients becoming active and contributing members of the community again.
Outcare has earned its reputation with government and other funding bodies as the leading crime prevention agency in Western Australia. It continues to lead by example through the innovative and collaborative approaches it takes to meet the ever increasing demand for its services. However, there comes a point when no further efficiencies can be achieved unless additional funding is provided. I believe that we are at that point
with the accommodation and addictions service areas. The challenge for the Board over the next 12 months will be to identify and secure the additional resources needed to effectively address this issue.
Whilst our reputation is well known within the crime prevention sector there is a need to extend beyond this network and into the community, something which has always been a challenge for the organisation. The development of the new corporate logo and the establishment of a marketing and fundraising committee has however provided a solid platform for moving forward. Already we have been able to secure some funding for a specific project called “Keeping Kids out of Crime”.
The forthcoming year will no doubt present more challenges and I believe with your continued support and that of our funding bodies our programs and services will continue to provide life changing opportunities.

Peter (Chook) Henson
PRESIDENT

Executive Director’s Report 2005 - 2006

In last years report I stated that the organisation had a very good year and that it was in perhaps the best position it had been for many years, so it feels good to be able to reiterate that statement again. Not withstanding some resourcing level issues which I will talk to later, from an operational and financial perspective we are in a very sound and stable place. There is funding security in most of the services we provide, we believe our relationship with all our stakeholders and funding bodies is very good and that most importantly, the level and quality of our service provision is high.
An increased focus on our image, marketing and public visibility has occurred in the last 12 months, some of which will be immediately obvious in terms of the new Logo and the new look and style of our annual report. This is the visible tip of a large amount of work, as most of our material which is directed to clients, colleagues and potential supporters has had, or will have, a makeover. A marketing and fundraising committee has been active alongside these developments and we are currently beginning delivering a project called “Keeping Kids out of Crime” which has been promoted and for which funding has been sought for over the last seven or so months. A golf day is planned for early 2007.

The primary purpose of such work is to make Outcare and its objectives more widely known and accepted in the community, to increase active community support and to allow us to offer a wider range of crime prevention services, particularly in the area of primary prevention, working with youth, single parent families and other high risk groups.

The major areas of ongoing concern in client services are still those I have raised in the past:
Firstly there is the issue of welfare and generalist support of released offenders. We still do not deal with this group as effectively as we like as our service contracts are not geared towards this purpose. Many offend and return to prison when they do not effectively deal with choices and decision making and the emergencies that arise as a result of that lack of skills.
Secondly the level of resources allowed for our accommodation service provision is well below the level it seriously needs to be and we need two additional staff in client support and maintenance. As I said in recent correspondence to Government; ”Over the last 40 plus years Outcare has been the driver and mainstay in this area of service provision. In this time we have achieved a reputation for providing quality services to a most problematic target group that other organisations have significant difficulties in servicing. However, we remain the most under resourced organisation per bed offered to clients, by a very significant margin.”
Outcare is funded between 60 to 80% less than other agencies per bed and has to continually rely on volunteer support, something which is in short supply these days. Without the support of Lotterywest, this service could not operate.

The unmet demand for addictions services from Outcare remains unabated, and some inroads have been made on this issue. Outcare has secured funding from the Department of Corrective services and the Drug and Alcohol Office for a 0.5 position to supplement this area in the 2006 - 2007 year. Both these agencies are looking at what future involvement and resource increases are needed to address justice related addictions counselling needs and corrections and non government providers working together. We hope to see a further rise in resources being allocated to this area in a years time.

ACCOMMODATION
Three new properties were acquired during the year and our work has expanded with the State Forensic Mental Health partnership with another property to come on line.
Sixty accommodation clients were supported in employment and training needs and 33 undertook addictions counselling. The accommodation service is a good example of holistic throughcare where a suite of services is available and these two figures show the advantages and benefits of having a variety of different service areas provided by the one agency. By working in closely with re-entry support staff, the eviction rate has been lowered.
Maintaining the standard of the housing and supporting changes to the service model was significantly supported by Lotterywest, without whose help we could not keep the service fully operational.
A long term strategic plan was developed by the service and central to this is acquiring the additional resources I referred to earlier. The number of volunteers offering support has dropped significantly as a result of the bouyant economy. Given the size of the program now and the forward offers being made to us, we need more full time staff.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES
The Community Re-entry
Coordination programme
The Community Re-entry Coordination program has performed very well this last year and with a current breach rate of 22.4% the program well and truly pays for itself. It is estimated that at current intervention rates, approximately 5 million dollars is saved in prison costs alone, so this is around a 7 fold return on the investment in the program.

The staff in this service also contribute significantly to our holistic throughcare model of intervention- linking strongly into other Outcare services.

SJOG Womens Program
This project continues to be run in partnership with the St John of God Foundation and we appreciate their continued involvement with this work.
This year specified and increased accommodation stock has been set aside for women’s needs.
There have been some notable successes in this service, for example a client attending university and another in fulltime employment with Telstra.

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING SERVICES
Jobstart job placement service
Jobstart now has a dedicated fulltime job placement consultant who has established a database of employers willing to lodge vacancies with Outcare. In the last 12 months 121 employers have placed vacancies with Jobstart and 79 clients have been placed into employment.
Employment Directions Network (EDN) Service
The EDN service has grown in the last 12 months both in its pre and post prison service delivery. Employability support in job search career counselling, information on government agencies etc was provided to serving prisoners participating in formal training and education.
The service has provided professional development to staff from other EDN metro sites on assisting clients with outstanding fines and infringements.
We have also been working in partnership with Department of Corrective Services to develop a best practice model aimed at working with prisoners who have been participating in training and education prior to release and linking them with external employment and training opportunities
Fee for service
The service continues to work with Job Network providers and other government agencies to provide assistance to their clients who have outstanding fines and infringements or need assistance with extraordinary drivers licence applications.
Life-skills information sessions
The sessions operate one day per week for four weeks and covers various aspects of accommodation, government agencies, communication with children/spouse and in the workplace, life coping skills, employment (looking for work, career guidance, resumes, interview skills)

FAMILY SUPPORT CENTRES
The Family Support centres, as per usual, have had an increase in the numbers of visitors to the centres, consistent with the rising numbers in the prison population. The numbers make it impossible for all to get intensive support, however many are provided with support which enables them to solve issues and get on with their lives in a more positive manner.
Of the 161,547 visitor contacts, a large proportion were given information to assist them with the visiting processes or problems encountered when a family member is incarcerated. Many were provided with emotional support and many took advantage of our advocacy and referral services.
Childcare is an important part of our work and many used our childcare services. We find that many of the children’s lives have been severely affected by their father or mother entering prison and the centre’s childcare areas offers a safe, welcoming environment, specifically designed to cater for their needs.
Strong support and assistance from the Department of Corrective Services has played an important role in maintaining the service delivery and we need to acknowledge the Superintendents and their teams for their involvement.
Also to be acknowledged are all the churches and community groups who generously provide us with Christmas presents every year. It can never be emphasized enough how much this means to all the children and families who receive them.

HEALTH SERVICES
The health focus we are now promoting is a relatively new public direction and philosophy for the organisation. It took on a life when we obtained federal funds for addiction counselling some years ago and more recently was given a boost when we obtained funding for the Blood Borne Virus and Brief Intervention Services. I see a strong role for Outcare in this field, coupled with a focus on positive recreational pursuits. As an adjunct to our other services I would like to see a recreation officer and a no or low cost gym being made available to our clients, particularly those with addictions issues. We need to promote healthy lifestyles and offer the means to achieve that to our client base.
Blood Borne Virus service
This year the BBV service introduced an innovated new direction by offering free vaccinations to women visitors. Prisons are a high risk environment for blood borne viruses and prisoner’s families are then exposed to that risk. The delivery of these vaccinations on a prison site is probably unique in Australia and is now seen as a process worth repeating in other sites. Although only running for the latter half of the year on a very part time basis, many women have registered and completed the course of injections. Work is underway to secure longer term funding for this initiative.
Addictions Program
The addictions program is in great demand, as previously reported in successive annual reports, and this year we were offered some additional funding for 0.5 of a position, with an undertaking by the Drug and Alcohol Office and the Department of Corrective Service to review the resources allocated to the justice area and its clients. Hopefully this should see further resources come into the area funding. We have appointed an additional staff member to work primarily with women clients.
We have also begun a long term strategy for developing a residential treatment facility for ex-offenders when exiting prison who need support and treatment for their addictions or substance abuse.
Brief Intervention Service
BIS is a pre release support and information service in the remand prison. It is now no longer a pilot program and has been funded into the future. The major change here is that it now incorporates modules on anger management.

YOUTH SERVICES
Reconnect Program and Aboriginal Intensive Youth Program
Although funded by different Federal Government Departments, both the services have almost identical objectives and work with young people exiting the juvenile detention centres. They both are relatively unique services in solely targeting this client base.
The majority of the target group face multi-issue barriers that are required to be overcome before they can access education, employment and training options. Because of this and unlike many other metropolitan Reconnect services we do not place a 3 month time limit on how long we can work with a client. 
The Aboriginal Intensive Youth service was funded by the Department of community development to conduct a series of camps for young at-risk Aboriginal youth and these have progressed well with good outcomes.
All the services are operating well. They all meet a wide range of serious needs and add significant value to our client’s lives, however it is an unfortunate fact that the demand for these services continues to rise and the organisation must annually attempt to match resources with that demand or find alternative sources of support.
In closing I would like to reiterate that despite a lack with resource levels in some areas as previously mentioned, the organisation is in good shape and for this I would like to thank the Board, staff, volunteers and supporters for their continued and much appreciated efforts over the last year.

Peter Sirr
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER