Our Stories
Partnering with Community - Better Together
By Dianne Priest
COACH seeks to partner with a wide variety of community groups and agencies to ensure the gaps are filled for families doing life tough in our Hervey Bay Region. As part of my networking role, I have the privilege of attending collective information and development meetings where like-minded entities and individuals gather to share their ideas and glean more information to pass on to families in their care.
There is so much on offer. So much. Yet for some families and individuals in our community struggling with poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, trauma, grief and loss to name a few, access to the veritable smorgasbord of services and agencies available becomes a point of great overwhelming difficulty.
Simple and complex issues, that in our best moments can be quickly resolved for most of us, become huge roadblocks for the vulnerable. That’s where our COACH mentors kick in. We are the sit down, have a cuppa and let’s talk through what the issues are kind of people. We help them determine what they want to tackle first. Not the whole, start with one thing. Keep it real, keep it clear, keep it achievable. Next, we pool our collective local knowledge (often the Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre) to find out who can help, and from there the mentor guides and walks alongside until the network of support is accessible and working well for the vulnerable family or individual.
You see, it’s not our job to run around fixing everything for a vulnerable person; our role is to listen, to pose helpful questions, to help them decide what is most important and provide a supportive pathway to the agencies that can help.
That’s what we did this week for one vulnerable family who struggled with approaching their child’s school to talk through some challenging issues. It’s important to recognise the barriers, recognise the fears, the doubts and helplessness; those internal and often physical roadblocks to accessing the help and support they want and need. They find that they are not alone, as their mentor walks gently alongside until they grow in confidence and capacity. Their mentor stays until they find their deep reserve of courage to take bigger and bigger steps towards healing and help.
Our mentors faithfully demonstrate that life is done better together.
Contact Di Priest to see how you can become a mentor with COACH.
COACH seeks to partner with a wide variety of community groups and agencies to ensure the gaps are filled for families doing life tough in our Hervey Bay Region. As part of my networking role, I have the privilege of attending collective information and development meetings where like-minded entities and individuals gather to share their ideas and glean more information to pass on to families in their care.
There is so much on offer. So much. Yet for some families and individuals in our community struggling with poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, trauma, grief and loss to name a few, access to the veritable smorgasbord of services and agencies available becomes a point of great overwhelming difficulty.
Simple and complex issues, that in our best moments can be quickly resolved for most of us, become huge roadblocks for the vulnerable. That’s where our COACH mentors kick in. We are the sit down, have a cuppa and let’s talk through what the issues are kind of people. We help them determine what they want to tackle first. Not the whole, start with one thing. Keep it real, keep it clear, keep it achievable. Next, we pool our collective local knowledge (often the Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre) to find out who can help, and from there the mentor guides and walks alongside until the network of support is accessible and working well for the vulnerable family or individual.
You see, it’s not our job to run around fixing everything for a vulnerable person; our role is to listen, to pose helpful questions, to help them decide what is most important and provide a supportive pathway to the agencies that can help.
That’s what we did this week for one vulnerable family who struggled with approaching their child’s school to talk through some challenging issues. It’s important to recognise the barriers, recognise the fears, the doubts and helplessness; those internal and often physical roadblocks to accessing the help and support they want and need. They find that they are not alone, as their mentor walks gently alongside until they grow in confidence and capacity. Their mentor stays until they find their deep reserve of courage to take bigger and bigger steps towards healing and help.
Our mentors faithfully demonstrate that life is done better together.
Contact Di Priest to see how you can become a mentor with COACH.
Posted in Our Stories