Community Resources

What is Carer Gateway?

Carer Gateway is an Australian Government program providing free services and support for carers.

If you care for a family member or friend with disability, a medical condition, mental illness, or who is frail due to age, then Carer Gateway can help you.

The Australian Government works with a range of health and carer organisations across Australia, known as Carer Gateway service providers, to deliver services to carers no matter where they live in Australia.

Carer Gateway provides many services to support carers in their caring role, including:

• in-person and online peer support groups
• tailored support packages to help with accessing planned respite, transport services, and more
• in-person and phone counselling
• in-person and online self-guided coaching
• online skills courses to support your wellbeing and understanding of legal responsibilities relating to the caring role
• access to emergency respite if you suddenly find you can’t provide care, for example if you become ill or injured.

https://www.carergateway.gov.au/ 

https://parentingscience.com/

BSL Support for Carers: including Carer Brokerage Fund

Respite services, Carer Support Groups, Carer Empowerment supports

9782 9322 or supportforcarers@bsl.org,au

To apply for support, email supportforcarers@bsl.org.au with the following details-

Carer and client- Name/Home Address/phone /DOB and add your request.

Carer support funding is available to any carer in Victoria however we are based in the Southeast.

Our program aims to:

·       Meet short-term higher-level needs,

·       Provide top up services not available through the standard service system.

A Carer supported by our program may care for a partner, family member, friend, or anyone else requiring support. We welcome carers from diverse cultural, socio-economic, and age backgrounds, including those under 18 years of age. Carers do not need to live with the person they are supporting. However, individuals employed as paid carers are not eligible for this program.

Our support services include:

·       In-home respite care for loved ones and overnight respite care for individuals over 65

·       Goods and equipment to aid carers in their responsibilities.

·       Wellbeing services including counselling, psychology, gym or swim centre access, and massage therapy.

·       Social support groups, carers’ groups, and outings

·       Short-term holidays

·       Shopping & Food support

LanguageLoop has stood at the forefront of multilingual language service in Australia for nearly half a century, bridging communication gaps in over 190 languages. Their mission is to connect diverse communities through their specialised knowledge in various forms of interpreting and translation services. From on-site interpretation to telephone and video conference interpreting, they're dedicated to facilitating seamless communication across multicultural landscapes. At LanguageLoop, they have a team of over 3,600 professional interpreters and translators. Each member holds prestigious accreditation from the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), ensuring the highest standards of service quality and expertise. 

Their services include: 

• On-site Interpretation Solutions, providing in-person language support across industries. 

• Telephone Interpreting Services, offering real-time interpretation and language support over the phone, 24/7/365. 

• Video Conference: Interpreting and facilitating multilingual communication in virtual meetings. 

• Translation Projects, handling large-scale translation needs with precision. 

• Multilingual Information Lines, offering accessible information across languages. 

• Training that allows your teams to communicate across cultures and work effectively with language professionals.

Check it out: https://languageloop.com.au/ 

Mental Health & Wellbeing Connect - Free for family, carers and supporters

The Connect Centre: At the Connect Centre, we offer support to you; the family, carers supporters and kin of people with mental health challenges and/or substance use challenges. The connect centre has been co-designed and is staffed by people with lived or living experience as a family member or carer of someone with mental health and/or substance use challenges.

The Connect Centre is a collaboration between Better Health Network, the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) and Berry Street's Take Two Program.

Locations - 

Mornington Peninsula (rotating monthly on Thursdays), Kindred Clubhouse, Hastings, Seawinds Community Hub - Capel Sound. Also have locations in Dandenong, Bentleigh, Pakenham and South Melbourne.

Supports - 

Phone support, Drop-in sites, one-to-one peer support, group programs, education sessions, therapeutic support - including family work, cultural support, access to information and resources, practical and financial support.

Family and Therapeutic Services: aims to support individual and family wellbeing which may look like:

-Family consultation with two or more members of a family group to identify and support family needs, set goals and problem solve.

-One-to-one support to help process experiences and promote wellbeing.

-Age appropriate support for children and young people.

-Group based education and support

-Further referral if required.

Who can receive support?

Family and therapeutic services are available to anyone who identifies as a family member (including chosen families and extended kinship networks), caregiver or supporter of a person with mental health and/ore substance use challenges. VACCA is available to provide Aboriginal community and carers of Aboriginal community with cultural advice and support

Contact:

Phone: 9066 1500

Email: connectcentre@bhn.org.au

Web: https://bhn.org.au/

Carer Pathway to Financial Counselling

Supported by: Carers VIC Australia, Financial Counselling Victoria Inc & Victoria State Government.

As a Carer, it can be hard to attend to your own needs. Sometimes money doesn't stretch far enough and the caring role can be unpredictable.

The new Carer Pathway is exclusively for carers, giving you easy access to financial counselling through the National Debt Helpline.

Build your financial capability

-one-on-one learning/support

-Group Learning

-Self-paced online learning

-Do it yourself resources

https://goodshep.org.au/services/financialcapability/

A free, non-judgmental and confidential service for people to build money management skills, knowledge and confidence and offers both one-one-one consultations and group workshops

Location: Melbourne, inner south, western and south eastern suburbs

Eligibility (must be one or more of the following) - Receiving a Commonwealth allowance or payment, a newly arrived migrant, non-citizen or refugee, a woman experiencing family violence

Web: https://goodshep.org.au/services/financialcapability/

Financial Empowerment & Resilience Network (FERN) - Brotherhood of St Laurence:

Runs 90-minute digital workshops on a range of different topics, including banking basics, superannuation, creating financial goals and using credit wisely. These workshops help participants to develop practical skills for their own financial wellbeing. FERN is for anyone who would like to build their financial skills and confidence.

Web:https://bsl.org.au/services/saving-and-managing-money/fern/

HACC Program:

For people under 65 who need assistance to live safely and maintain social and community connections please contact HACC PYP https://www.health.vic.gov.au/home-and-community-care/hacc-program-for-younger-people to find an assessor near you to assist.

Also contact Peninsula Health by filling out this https://www.peninsulahealth.org.au/wp-content/uploads/ACCESS-Referral-Form-2023.pdf 

or call 1300 665 781 Mon to Fri 8.30am to 4.30pm. This is a free or low cost service.

Patients can self-refer to many https://www.peninsulahealth.org.au/services/access-referrals/  and https://www.peninsulahealth.org.au/services/community-health-services/

We will be in contact to see how we can help.

Ask Izzy is a website that connects people in need with housing, a meal, money help, family violence support, counselling and much more.

It is free and anonymous, with thousands of services listed across Australia.

There can be so many hurdles to finding the right local support services for your clients – out of date info, technology that’s hard to use, maybe even paper based records!

With Ask Izzy, you can find thousands of support services across Australia right at your fingertips. Visit https://about.askizzy.org.au/ to start your search.