J2SI: Working towards culturally safe and responsive services

Sacred Heart Mission acknowledges that rates of homelessness, disadvantage and social exclusion are unacceptably higher in First Nations communities. We also understand that in order to deliver services and programs that are culturally safe and welcoming it is important to work alongside and be guided by First Nations bodies.

The consortium actively engages in the implementation of the Victorian Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Framework, Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort. Ensuring policies and practices, workplaces and services are culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to ensure we are welcoming, inclusive and informed by the strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultures.

The consortium has also partnered with Indigenous workers, employed by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) including Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Limited, Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative, Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative and Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation.

Together, we are working hand-in-hand to ensure our policies, practices, workplaces and services are culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are well supported.

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J2SI is an innovative and evidence-backed Housing First program that takes a relationship-based approach, provides long-term support and works from the premise that if people can sustain their housing, they have a solid foundation to improving other areas in their lives. It features three years of intensive support that wraps services around the person and places their needs at the centre of service delivery.