CJSN makes a novel partnership
with Nova
CJSN volunteer numbers were boosted
by 20 at one training session recently when Janene Cootes
and new CJSN educator, Vissa Chandrasekaram delivered
training to staff members of Nova Employment. Nova offers
specialist job seeking assistance and post placement
support to young people who have an Intellectual
Disability.
Martin Wren CEO of Nova attended a
CJSN orientation session and as a result arranged for
interested staff to undergo training and be able to
provide up to 16 hours of support per year during their
working hours.
Employees benefit from the
professional development opportunity and CJSN clients
benefit from having experienced volunteers to support
them at court or during Police interviews. A number of
the staff who participated in the CJSN training, work
from Nova’s regional offices and will be able to
provide support in their area.
This partnership with Nova is a
significant and generous step for a employer to make and
the CJSN hopes it may inspire other workplaces to
consider the benefits of allowing even one or two staff
to provide support as part of their work
practice..
Comings and
Goings
The CJSN team said a sad goodbye to
Project Manager Anne Stringer in November who decided to
make a ‘sea change’ to the central
coast.
In the meantime Southern NSW
Regional Coordinator Judy Harper will step in as Acting
Project Manager until the position is filled in the new
year.
Other changes see former CJSN
Educator Janene Cootes job sharing a Co-Regional
Coordinator role for the Sydney region with Jane Thomson
and Visakesa Chandrasekeram (Vissa) taking over the CJSN
educator role. Vissa and Jane come to the CJSN with heaps
of experience and we welcome them to the team.
Becoming a CJSN
Volunteer
Len Wilson from Newcastle recently
retired as a store manager at David Jones and while he
was looking forward to filling his time with entertaining
guests at home and indulging his love for travelling,
particularly local travel, he knew that he also wanted to
do something to help other people.
He decided to become a volunteer.
Len went to see the Hunter Volunteer Office who put him
in touch with Kylie Gersbach, the Regional Coordinator at
the Hunter Criminal Justice Support Network
(CJSN).
Len was soon attending Court
Support training and making plans to complete Police
Interview training. He found he was keen to support
someone from the Police interview right through to any
court proceedings.
Working in management and human
resources, Len was used to dealing face to face with
people on a daily basis and found these skills useful for
volunteer work, though he feels his people skills have
developed in new directions as a result of the CJSN
training.
Len admits he hadn’t had much
contact with people with an intellectual disability
before becoming a CJSN volunteer and agrees the CJSN
training program has given him some valuable insights.
‘Lay people on the street don’t know enough
about the barriers faced by people with an intellectual
disability’ admitting he hadn’t thought much
about this himself before volunteering with CJSN, but
asserts that it is a ‘very real’
issue.
When asked what advice he would
give to someone considering becoming a CJSN volunteer he
says ‘If you have a genuine interest in caring for
others CJSN is a good place to start’.
CJSN in the Hunter
The CJSN Hunter office has been
very busy for Regional Coordinator Kylie Gersbach,
organising training sessions for CJSN police interview
volunteers resulting in 14 graduates and seeking
expressions of interest from disability services for
possible training with CJSN, resulting in a huge
response. Two Tafe students on a 3-4 week placement were
able to help Kylie during November.
In September Kylie joined other
IDRS staff in Dubbo to attend the IDEAS Expo. Kylie and
Peter McGhee (IDRS’s Principal Solicitor) ran a very
well attended workshop about people with intellectual
disability and the criminal justice system. Kylie also
managed to distribute 60 information packages about CJSN
at the Expo.
Support for CJSN from the police in
the Hunter has been overwhelming. Sessions aimed at
training the police about CJSN have commenced at Waratah,
Maitland and Cessnock police stations.
CJSN has been encouraged by the
positive feedback given on all police supports in the
Hunter.
A special thanks from CJSN to the
police Educational Development Officer (EDO) who
volunteered to spend his day off work doing a
presentation for CJSN police support training.
Another source of support for CJSN
in the Hunter has been the Department of Juvenile
Justice’s Youth Justice Conferencing scheme. CJSN is
grateful for the training that Youth Justice Conferencing
has offered to our Hunter volunteers.
CJSN embraces Illawarra and the
Shoalhaven
Judy Harper, CJSN’s Regional
Coordinator for the Southern Region, has been
energetically establishing the CJSN network in Illawarra
and the Shoalhaven.
Without any promotion or publicity
there have been 3 police call outs overnight in the
Illawarra since the CJSN 1300 phone line went into 24
hour mode in mid August. CJSN has also attended 12 court
supports in September and October at Wollongong and Port
Kembla courts.
A new group of volunteers based in
Nowra have completed training and are ready to provide
support to people with an intellectual disability
attending Nowra Police Station. At present there are,18
trained volunteers in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven
areas.
In addition to coordinating support
work and training CJSN volunteers in Southern NSW, Judy
has recently conducted two police training workshops at
Wollongong Police Station, managed a stall at the
Disabilities Expo in Wollongong where 40 information
packages about CJSN were distributed, and ran two
training sessions for people with an intellectual
disability about their rights and how to access the CJSN
service.
CJSN is pleased at the positive
feedback that Judy has received about our service from
the Wollongong Court User Forum, and as mentioned on page
one, we are also pleased she has taken on the position of
Acting CJSN Project Manager.
CJSN in
Action
CJSN supported a client at
Wollongong Court in September who had been served with an
AVO notice by the police over a weekend. The client had
no accommodation and was not initially provided with a
support person. He didn’t understand the contents of
the AVO, and was arrested 4 hours after the AVO was
served on him.
The client then spent two days in
custody, bail being refused. He informed various people
that he had an intellectual disability to no avail, until
he spoke to the Mental Health Liaison nurse at Wollongong
Court, who contacted CJSN.
Judy Harper, Regional Coordinator
for the South, spoke to the client and canvassed some
accommodation options for him. She briefed the Legal Aid
solicitor acting for the client, about the client’s
level of intellectual disability.
The result of the client’s
court proceedings was that he was granted bail. The last
time CJSN heard from the client, he had been provided
with accommodation and was doing well.
CJSN After Hours
Lawyers
Recruitment and training of
volunteer lawyers to provide legal advice after hours via
CJSN’s 1300 line is well underway. CJSN thanks the
Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales and the
Lawyers Reform Association for their assistance in
promoting the volunteer lawyers service to the legal
community.
The first training seminar for
volunteer lawyers took place on the 16 November and
provided the lawyers who attended with background
information about the of the CJSN service, the operation
of the 1300 line and training about communicating,
working and providing advice to people with an
in-tellectual disability.
The provision of legal advice is
essential for people with an intellectual disability
being interviewed by Police about a serious offence. CJSN
support workers can only attend a serious offence
interview if the client has legal
representation.
Without legal advice in such cases,
CJSN support workers will be required to withdraw from
providing support. If you are a lawyer with criminal law
experience and would like to be part of CJSN’s on
call roster please fill in the form below and fax, email
or post it to IDRS.
IDRS
CJSN Volunteer
Fax to: 02 9318
2887
Mail to: 2C 199 Regent St, Redfern, NSW
2016
I am interested
in
- Keeping in
touch with the CJSN
- Finding out
about coming a CJSN Volunteer
- I am a
Solicitor and I am interested in assisting the
CJSN
Name:
.........................................................
Address:
.......................................................
...................................
Post Code ................
Phone: (w)
..................... (h)
..........................
(mob)
.........................................................
email:
..........................................................
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