Our Program Values:
- Confidentiality
- Respect
- Cultural wisdom
- Dependability
- Integrity
The Gumaguy Way
What is Gumaguy?
Ngunya Gumaguy is a service aimed at reducing the risk to families, where children and young people have been identified by Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) assessment as being at risk of being removed from the family home. Families can only be referred to the program through DCJ
Our Goal
The goal is to support our families to link and maintain connection to Community, family and services, resources and develop further skills to help keep children at home with their family.
How We Work with Families
Our family workers walk alongside of families, between 9 months to two (2) years, providing support for parenting skill development, advocacy, in home parenting, referrals to other Agencies, access to essential services, or other goals (identified by the families), in a culturally connected manner.
Our workers can spend between 5 and 10 hours per week with the family, listening, understanding, linking and guiding the family toward outcomes which keep the children safe and reduce risk.
We work with the families to achieve goals set by the referring Community Services caseworker. Our worker will often work with the family to negotiate with the Department of Community and Justice to ensure that goals are achievable and realistic, and that they are culturally and practically safe for the family.
The goals that get set by the family and DCJ form the base of our work with the family and become the focus of our reports and the measures of change.
Ngunya Gumaguy workers do need to report regularly about progress to DCJ, DCJ will assess throughout the time any changes the family make and they will measure risk and safety concerns. Our workers will be available to support our families through these assessments.
All Ngunya Jarjum employees are mandatory reporters (including the Gumaguy team) and as such, if children are at immediate risk of significant harm, we do need to report to DCJ. A responsibility for all community people – we do not want children to be at risk.
Our staff can work through the real issues for our families such as:
- Disconnection from family and Community
- Bad past events – and how it affects the ability to be a family now (trauma)
- Domestic and family Violence
- Grief and loss
- Drug and/or Alcohol problems that get in the way of caring for children
- Money worries/budgeting and planning
- Mental Illness
- Communication problems in families (such as parent-adolescent/s)
- Family routines
- Health and wellbeing plans
Or anything else…..
Gumaguy Technical Skills
- Ga’ana (deep and meaningful listening)
- Behavioural Skills (behaviour management techniques and functional behaviour analysis)
- Teaching Skills including role modelling and direct teaching
- Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)
- Motivational interviewing
- Behavioural interviewing
- Creative and cultural healing concepts
- Safety Plans
- Behavioural Checklists
- Family meetings / Conferences with extended family members