Helping Hand gets care leaver accreditation
After leading the development of education programs on caring for Forgotten Australians, Helping Hand has received specialisation verification at three homes.
Helping Hand has joined Wintringham aged care in Victoria and Uniting NSW.ACT as an accredited service provider for Forgotten Australians. The accreditation applies to three of its homes – Copperhouse Court and Yeltana in Whyalla and Parafield Gardens.
The not-for-profit is the first to receive the specialisation verification accreditation in South Australia after helping to lead a trauma-aware care education program on how to better support Forgotten Australians, who are also known as care leavers.
Around half a million Australians experienced out-of-home care between the 1930s and 1989, including:
- people from the Stolen Generations
- child migrants from the United Kingdom and Malta
- children who were housed in church or state-run orphanages
- people who spent time in prison
- people who had lengthy stays in healthcare environments.
Care leavers may experience challenges upon re-entering a care environment as an older adult, including but not limited to feelings of isolation and of being unwanted, fear of not being believed about events or experiences and concerns about staff turnaround due to the need to repeat their stories multiple times.
Providers must meet four out of the eight criteria in the specialisation verification framework to claim specialisation in the care of older people from one or more special needs groups.
Helping Hand executive manager of strategy and engagement Samantha Giorgatzis said they were “incredibly proud” to be the first aged care provider in South Australia to achieve the verification and commended the commitment of staff.
“This work is transformational for staff, and for the ways that people deliver truly individualised and trauma-aware care, and it ensures that Forgotten Australians and care leavers have increasing choice when it comes to accessing aged care services,” she said.
Helping Hand has been engaged in awareness building and processes of cultural change to embed trauma-aware care for several years, training over 6,000 people across Australia through its the Real Care The Second Time Around Forgotten Australians Project – funded by the Commonwealth Government.
The provider also offers access to free training modules and the Real Care Toolkit via its website.
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