MacKillop Family Services welcomed Gareth Ward MP, the Minister for Family and Community Services, to its Goulburn office on Wednesday Goulburn3 March to meet its Functional Family Therapy-Child Welfare (FFT-CW) team.
FFT-CW is a home-based treatment model that works with families to increase the safety of children and support families to stay together. It is an integrated approach incorporating theory, clinical practice and evidence-based research.
During his visit, the Minister met with staff and with clients to hear their stories of how participating in FFT-CW has helped them develop parenting skills, better engage with community services such as allied health and establish a safe, stable, and supportive home environment.
Jude Ekerick, MacKillop’s State Director for NSW and ACT said it was a fantastic opportunity for the Minister to find out how the program is supporting the local community.
“There are families in this region who are experiencing a range of issues including family violence, drug and alcohol abuse and parenting struggles including mental health issues. MacKillop’s FFT-CW program provides family therapy with a focus on behaviour change for the whole family. Our staff support families by spending time with them to identify strengths and needs in order to determine how they would most benefit from the program. They visit homes regularly and connect families with other services where this is appropriate.
“FFT-CW has had a significant impact in the community and data coming in shows that entries to care in Southern NSW have decreased by over 50 per cent!
“We were also delighted to introduce Minister Ward to some of the people from the local community who have been part of FFT-CW. The Minister learned how people have developed their parenting skills and how families in danger of breakdown have been supported to grow stronger and provide safer family environments,” added Jude.
FFT-CW is provided for families with children aged from birth through to 17 years and is available by referral through the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.
