City of ideas
Christchurch’s social services have found the opportunity and will to work in new ways as the city rebuilds.
“What we are seeing across the entire social sector – across non-government and government agencies – is a huge willingness to try new things and work in far more joined-up ways than ever seemed possible,” says Ministry of Social Development Regional Commissioner Sue Rissman. “Before, we allowed our silos to get in the way of that. But it is happening now, and it is incredibly exciting.”
Sue likens the emergence of new ideas and approaches to flowers blooming in the broken city.
Much of the innovation emerged from necessity, as the earthquake’s destruction impelled social services to do whatever it took, often without their buildings and resources, to carry out their work and respond quickly to people’s needs.
Often it meant getting out on the road; moving services away from unusable offices and buildings, and into communities of greatest need; being mobile and responsive to people’s new needs; joining with other service lines and agencies; using each other’s strengths; sharing resources and sharing clients across organisations.
“We don’t want to lose this,” says Sue. “We have been given licence to look for new solutions and do things differently here. Our city is broken and we have to fix it, and that brokenness has created a whole different approach.”
The Governor-General, Lieutenant General The Right Honorable Sir Jerry Mateparae, recently visited Christchurch communities, social service organisations and the Ministry of Social Development at Papanui to acknowledge their role in Christchurch’s recovery.
Sir Jerry says while buildings can be rebuilt, the important thing to focus on is people. He talked about the connections between people who are part of different communities, workplaces and organisations, saying it was wonderful to see passionate and inspiring people and organisations coming together to provide services vital to communities and people in need.
“Canterbury represents a group of resourceful people who have come through adversity, tragedy and destruction, and are showing the rest of us what community really means.”
A marae for all people
The working day starts with a song and a prayer for the social workers, councillors, police, probation and court staff at Nga Hau E Wha National Marae.
“It’s a very human, linked-up environment in a way that working in big building full of government agencies is not,” says Child, Youth and Family site manager Kendra Beri.
When the Sydenham CYF office was destroyed in the February quake, she was keen to move her team of social workers to the marae, in the heart of the eastern suburbs devastated in the earthquake.
“It was an opportunity to be closer to the community, more accessible to our east side families who are dealing with great hardship, and to work more closely with the Māori community – a real priority given our need to actively reduce the number of Māori children in care.”
Alongside the social workers, Relationship Services counsellors, probation staff, police and a team of earthquake support co-ordinators work from a large hall near the main building. They share this with Nga Maata Waka, the Māori social service, health and education organisation which manages the marae.
Outside, the car parks are full. Portacoms and caravans surround the two meeting houses and marae buildings. In the smaller meeting house, the Christchurch Children’s Health Camp Te Puna Whairoa has found a new home after its buildings were destroyed.
Inside the main meeting house a District Court has been set up. The atmosphere in the beautiful building is calm. In the dock, a defendant chooses to remove his shoes, as is customary in a meeting house. The judge’s chamber is an orange and brown caravan parked next to the meeting house.
Marae manager Linda Ngata, who also leads a team of 10 earthquake support co-ordinators based at the marae, says she loves the changes.
“It has been nothing but positive. It’s a national marae, a marae for every New Zealander, and it is thriving and full of people, the way it should be.
“Having all these government agencies in here, we have gained more from these relationships – all of us – than we ever thought we would.”
Kendra Beri says agencies are learning from each other, teaming up and trying new ways of working. For example, Child, Youth and Family (CYF) social workers and Children’s Health Camp staff are trialling joint visits to families. Kendra hopes the trial could be the beginning of getting community agencies involved earlier when CYF responds to reports of abuse.
Child, Youth and Family regional director Kelly Anderson says the future may see “CYF linked much more closely with communities and partnered with other agencies who are working with our families.”
Work and Income regional contracts manager Na Katae has been working at the marae for several months on an internship to sharpen up the organisation’s reporting processes.
As a funder, he says spending time in the non-government sector has been an invaluable eye-opener.
Norm Dewes is the chief executive of Te Runanga o Nga Maata Waka, the Mäori education, health and social services organisation that manages the marae. He would like to see a cluster of social service agencies based permanently at the marae that owns 14 acres of land and has a social housing project underway.
“Whatever is happening here, it is certainly working. We have a real opportunity to lead the way, and to be an incubator for new ways of doing things.”
Social support at school
The school dental clinic at Linwood North Primary still has that unique smell, but the knock and wait sign, the dreaded chair and the gleaming instruments are all gone.
Instead there are comfy chairs, a coffee table, a kettle and mugs, a computer, a noticeboard and information on everything from Red Cross grants and earthquake insurance to a community sausage sizzle. Through an adjoining door is the school social worker.
And, because it is Wednesday, local resident and grandmother Margaret Astall is there too. She’s one of a team of volunteers taking turns to welcome people to Linwood North’s new social service hub. She’s a friendly local face, a listening ear and someone to point people in the right direction for the help they need.
The little school-based social service hub is the first step in a new way to support and revitalise the community. It is backed by the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education, the Canterbury District Health Board’s Community and Public Health and Te Puna Whaiora, as well as the school.
North Linwood is an area with many low income families and houses damaged by the earthquakes. The school has seen a 25 per cent drop in the roll since the February quake.
“We’re an area with no real focal point for our community, other than the school,” says principal Sandra Smith, who often finds herself helping parents who come to her with problems that have little to do with school.
“My vision has always been that our school hall could be a community centre, with social services to wrap around our families. Because how awesome would it be to work with other professionals, in the school setting, for our families?”
Inside the new social services hub, Margaret says that following the earthquake, gatherings around the water truck at the school created a sense of community that buoyed people up. “I was almost upset when the water came back on,” she says.
Now she is bubbling with enthusiasm to continue that sense of community. Volunteering means she has learned to use a computer and the Internet. That week, she discovered a local bicycle mechanic offering a free bike-fixing workshop for kids and had organised a community sausage sizzle alongside the workshop to raise awareness of the hub.
In the background, looking a little bit like proud parents, are John Henderson and Richard Wisnesky. John is the Christchurch-based general manager of the Ministry of Social Development’s New Christchurch Service Strategy. Richard is a school board member and health promoter for the Canterbury District Health Board. Both have been instrumental in supporting the school and volunteers setting up the hub.
“That’s been our role, to be there in the background, to set up the connections and the personal relationships with agencies, to walk alongside the community and get this to the point where people make their own decisions,” says Richard.
“Child, Youth and Family, the earthquake recovery agencies, Work and Income – they are all linked up so that from here we can connect people up with them, or get them on the phone.”
Looking ahead, Sandra Smith says regrowth in the community will be a matter of small steps. “We need to get this going strong on a volunteer basis, get the community connected up and inspire people to give back. And in time I hope we’ll get funding for a co-ordinator to lead the work and take it further.
“The earthquake has been so traumatic, but I think we will find in years to come that good has come out of it.”
Joining forces against family violence
Christchurch shook, and keeps shaking, family violence services and agencies are joining forces to deal with a different type of aftershock.
“The international evidence on natural disasters told us we’d experience an increase in family violence,” says Christchurch Women’s Refuge chief executive Nicola Woodward. “With the complexity of issues facing families, it’s not surprising; people are down, conflict escalates and this is increasingly leading to violence. And where family violence was already present, it is getting more severe.”
Christchurch Women’s Refuge is one of a group of family violence agencies taking steps to share premises and work more closely together. Several lost their buildings in the earthquake and have been working from temporary premises across the city.
The group includes Women’s Refuges, offender services, Barnardos, non-government family violence programme providers, Police, the Ministry of Social Development including Child, Youth and Family, Justice, Corrections, the Canterbury District Health Board and Canterbury University.
The group, which meets weekly, is committed to developing a joined-up family violence crisis response team that works with whole families.
Relationship Services area manager Moira Underdown says the team aims to respond earlier, be easier to access, and work based on research and evidence. The team would take referrals from many government and community agencies and services.
“We want people and families to be able to get what they need in one easy step – an assessment, a safety plan and the right help.
“We want to move away from services for women in one corner, and services for men in another. Family violence is about families, and that requires services for men, women, children and families.”
Nicola Woodward says the current family violence crisis response system focuses exclusively on women and children.
“Ironically, because men are not supported at the point of crisis, women and children are likely to remain vulnerable. It is important for women and children to be safe, but the reality is that many women choose not to leave the relationship. So men need to be supported to take responsibility for their behaviour, for the good of their current and future relationships.”
“We’re looking at a holistic, family-centred, integrated response that supports a range of family needs at the same time. It has to be as simple and easy to use as right now it’s very complex”
Daryl Gregory heads He Waka Tapu, an organisation which works with men around family violence. He says a collaborative approach has been a long time coming “but we have the chance to put aside our old ways of working and be creative and courageous about how we get people, including men, to the right services within the first 24 hours.”
That would involve a whole new way of working, from the police and courts to funding and frontline support agencies. “If we stay isolated, nothing will change.”
The development of a co-located family violence response team could also lead to a centre for family violence prevention, a base for centralised administration, IT, research, training and workforce development.
John Henderson, manager of the New Christchurch Service Strategy, says non-government and government agencies are looking at the big picture and working closely to find a solution. “And that is wonderful to see.”
One-on-one support
It was a freezing day when an old man opened the front door of his badly damaged Christchurch house to Lynne Gibbon’s knock. Snow was on the way and inside the house was as chilly as outside. He’d turned on the heater for Lynne’s visit, but the antiquated appliance barely managed a glow.
Lynne is a registered nurse who has worked for Age Concern Canterbury for the past six years. Now, her expertise with the elderly is a strong addition to a new team of earthquake support co-ordinators, funded by MSD’s Family and Community Services, and managed by a collective of government and community organisations. Around 60 skilled social service workers have been recruited from about 15 different government and non-government agencies to help people and families directly affected by the earthquakes.
The earthquake support co-ordinators are assigned to work one-on-one with those who need help, especially those with damaged homes. They are highly mobile. They meet with people in their homes, help people work out their recovery plan, connect them to the right services and help with meetings between their clients and the experts.
In the old man’s house in Avondale, Lynne Gibbons could see obvious damage. But at least he had power and water. She noted the ruined footpaths. It would be difficult for him to walk anywhere. She checked he was getting everything he needed, including company and financial help. Lynne also kept an ear open for signs of abuse or neglect.
“The elderly are vulnerable and, like family violence, elder abuse and neglect is prevalent. These are negatives that we have to look out for in our work.”
They also discussed the government offer for his house and plans for a new home. But as they sat shivering at the table, it was clear that the most pressing need was warmth. Lynne thought of the heaters packed in her car, donated to help people in damaged homes get through winter.
“When I left him he was sitting in front of the glowing heater, gazing at it as if it were a television. It was lovely.”
The Earthquake Support Service was initially set up to support people who were forced to relocate after the September quake. Now, people who need help are assigned their own co-ordinator via the 0800 support line, social service organisations, the Avondale Earthquake Assistance Centre and the Canterbury Earthquake Temporary Accommodation Service.
Although part of the new team, the co-ordinators stay linked with the organisations they came from. Age Concern is now based in its chief executive’s three-bedroom townhouse, so Lynne’s car is also her office. There she has her laptop, cell phone, email, GPS and resources for clients. Sometimes she stops in at the national marae and does her computer work. Other times she uses libraries, a cafe or works from home.
Two Christchurch Women’s Refuge staff earthquake support co-ordinators.
“They are part of both teams now,” says Women’s Refuge chief executive Nicola Woodward. “As a result, we’ve started to connect with vulnerable women and children who might not have come to our attention until things had got worse. The fact that our co-ordinators link our services with these families means we can offer support to stop conflict escalating into serious violence.”
The co-ordinators meet weekly to discuss cases, learn the latest developments that will affect Christchurch’s quake-hit households and plan for coming issues.
At Nga Hau e Wha National Marae in the eastern suburbs, Linda Ngata manages a sub-team of 10 earthquake support co-ordinators. “The issues are different now from a few months ago and the wealth of knowledge and skills they have acquired is phenomenal.”
Linda says the team and their organisations are making the most of their different areas of expertise, teaching and calling upon each other. Looking ahead, she says she can see potential for an NGO collective that shares knowledge and resources. “There’s a new level of trust and co-operation that no amount of money can buy. And it’s wonderful.”
Taking it into homes
Support for older people has moved out of the office and into the living room, and Christchurch’s Senior Services is keen to keep it like that.
“Our staff are on the road almost all the time now, home visiting,” says Senior Services manager Jenny Close. “We contact anyone who has not recently been into see us, those who request it, and anyone who is referred to us.”
“Pre-earthquake, you had to be virtually bedridden to get a home visit. The focus is much more on people than paperwork now, and we definitely want to carry on this way of working.
“We’ve gone out to all our partner agencies – the District Health Board, the council, Presbyterian Support, Age Concern – had staff-to-staff meetings and formed a network of people we know personally. If any of our clients need help, we get on the phone to someone we know.
“They call on us too, especially the DHB, where we are working much more closely with the hospital social workers to make sure people have everything in place before they leave hospital, and getting family involved too.”
Outreach teams are visiting outlying areas such as Akaroa and Darfield, holding seminars for elderly people and home visits for those who request it. The next outreach trips would include other agencies, to create mini expos focused on elderly people.
Staff are also visiting local GPs and rest homes, and attending Grey Power meetings to make sure they know what support their patients or members can get.
Making it work
“It’s as if everything was thrown into the air and now we have to chance to influence how it lands,” says Work and Income’s Canterbury regional labour market manager Jo Aldridge.
“Things happened at such a pace after the earthquake, we just had to make it work, focusing on results and not labouring over processes. We’re less attached to old ways of doing things, more flexible and resilient.”
Within three days of the earthquake the whole labour market team moved into a rugby clubroom, working only with cell phones and job vacancies posted on a noticeboard. The team is now together in a semi-industrial building in Halswell.
Jo says the team is more innovative and action-oriented than it ever was.
The team has designed a new matching system, Base 6.3, which has changed the information needed from clients and reduced the time spent loading information from 30 minutes to five minutes.
“It has not compromised our placement rates at all – in fact they have increased.”
Jobs for a Local is a new subsidy to support Canterbury employers to take on local people. It is for any working-age client and has a simple payment structure to minimise the amount of paper work for both employers and the labour market team. “In three months we placed 238 people through Jobs for a Local – more than double the amount predicted.”
Joint work and relationships, which would normally have taken a long time, formed quickly out of necessity after the earthquake. Jo points to the Recover Canterbury partnership which formed in March between the Canterbury Development Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Social Development and other government agencies. Recover Canterbury supports Canterbury businesses affected by the earthquakes.
“That work could have taken years to progress, but then there was 22 February and we just had to make it happen.”
The labour market team is also seizing opportunities to support industries and employers involved with the rebuild of Christchurch. The team has set up a three-day pre-trade training course so that clients go to employers with a basic grounding in the industry.
The team has also given a pair of steel-capped boots to one of its work brokers, Michael Woodgate, and assigned him full-time to Hawkins Construction. He sits in on meetings and helps the sub-contractors and engineers with their workforce needs.
Jo says the new systems, more mobility, flexibility and teamwork have helped to double – and at times triple – the job weekly placements. “It’s not unusual for us to place 60 a week,” she says.
Experiencing the earthquake has created a new closeness in the team. “I think staff are empowered to make changes, and that is all part of change being driven from the frontline.
“I don’t think we will ever revert to the old ways – there won’t be the same office set ups, processes or even the same thinking or approach to things.”
Linked up and looking ahead
Rebuilding Christchurch’s social services will not be about reconstructing buildings and putting people back in them.
Strong new links have been forged between community and government agencies, including Social Development, Health, Education, Internal Affairs, Inland Revenue and non-government organisations.
Those relationships hold the key to the way social services will reach people in the future.
“As our understanding deepens, we are seeing dozens of touch points between our clients and ways we can work together,” says Ministry of Social Development regional commissioner Sue Rissman.
John Henderson is the Ministry’s Christchurch-based general manager of the New Christchurch Service Strategy.
He says that out of the tragedy of the earthquake has emerged the opportunity for the wider social sector to create better ways to support families and communities.
“We are taking the initiative, moving beyond our traditional boundaries and forming networks that will wrap around people and families in their own communities,” says John.
Sue Rissman says that means learning about each community, and gathering partners who can deliver what is needed in new versions of Community Link facilities, based in communities, where multiple social sector agencies work together.
“What we need in Shirley won’t be the same as what is needed in New Brighton. Our new Community Links may all look quite different from each other.”
In addition, specialist services will link up to support specific groups, creating a dedicated Employers’ Link and a Youth Link. Child, Youth and Family project manager Chris Pickering is developing several interagency youth-focused initiatives in Christchurch. “There is a real appetite across the sector to do things differently. Over the next few months we will see some very interesting things emerging.”
Outreach services, such as the social service hub at Linwood North School, could support communities where there was a unique need.
“We’ve needed to become a lot more mobile and responsive and we want to stay like that,” says Sue.
Mobile services with technology to enable staff to work on the move mean support can reach people and communities who need it, and services can respond easily to changing needs.
“It’s not about bricks and mortar, but working alongside other services, being flexible and responsive and delivering whatever will help people succeed in their lives.”
