ARROS

Phone: (07) 3266 3788
Email: arros@communityliving.org.au

ARROS works with:

• Young people with intellectual and/or cognitive disability who have experienced complex circumstances, including, homelessness or risk of homelessness, interaction with youth justice and/or the criminal justice system, out of home care, poor mental health or substance use issues.
• Parents with intellectual and/or cognitive disability
• People who would like to access therapeutic counselling. Anyone can access this service; the focus is to support people with intellectual disability and/or young people at risk.

The people we support often have a history of trauma and social disadvantage which can result in complex behaviours that isolate them further from society. This can impact their access to mainstream and specialist supports as well as their ability to maintain relationships that provide informal support. Information about the support we offer is detailed here, however, if you would like to talk through support options, or make a referral, please call ARROS on 32663788.

The ARROS team currently has three programs of support:

1. Outreach support: Individual, holistic support for young people with a cognitive disability
   
2. ARROS PLACE: Peer-Led Advocacy and Community Engagement. Support for young people with an intellectual disability and an experience of child safety or youth justice, to develop a peer-led support group, focusing on building skills for employment, relationships and speaking up.
   
3. Counselling and Parenting Support:
   • Accredited Mental Health Social workers provide counselling to address mental health concerns and enhance wellbeing.
   • Disability Specific Parent Educators support parents with intellectual and/or cognitive disability to develop parenting skills, knowledge, and capacity. Social workers are trained Circle of Security practitioners and their work is guided by the parents they support. We will work in collaboration with other systems and networks in a parents life, such as their family, partners, supporters and Child Safety.

Eligibility

To find out more about any of our programs, contact us on 3266 3788 or arros@communityliving.org.au

Outreach Support

ARROS provides holistic outreach support to young people with an intellectual or cognitive disability who are at risk of homelessness. We have been working in this space for over a decade and have adapted our service provision to respond effectively to young people on the fringe. Our aim is to support people to find:

• places to live
• spaces to belong
• roles for meaning
• a community that welcomes and includes

Outreach supports can be funded through Transition and Post Care Support funding, or through a young person’s NDIS plan. There are five key elements to our approach that have proved effective in responding to the complex needs of this population. They are as follows:

1. Pro-active outreach increases connection with young people who are transient, and/or experiencing dislocation due to crisis. For these young people, their disability can reduce their ability to navigate the complexities of their circumstances. Assertive and pro-active outreach is vital to establish and maintain relationships with this population.
   
   
2. Skilled workers who can build and hold relationships with the young people. In our work we focus on the importance of meaningful relationships between workers and young people. We are committed to establishing relationships even though the young person may initially be non-responsive, hanging in through times of chaos and crisis, being non-judgmental, providing support in the face of challenging behaviours, seeing the strengths and gifts that young people possess and supporting them to express those gifts. Our workers are supported by training and ongoing supervision.
   
   
3. Flexibility is essential to provide support that is responsive to the stated and unstated needs of these young people. This involves shifting from supporting a young person with established plans to providing responsive support in a time of crisis.
   
   
4. Willingness to engage with a young person’s networks is key in understanding what supports already exist and what people contribute to further risk. ARROS workers require the ability and commitment to work with these relationships, to hold and enhance those aspects that support the young person and to assist young people to promote safety in relationships that increase risk.
   
   
5. Holistic responses that support young people to find somewhere safe to live, someone to call on, something meaningful to do and places to feel accepted. The work includes facilitating links and positive relationships with service providers and can involve undertaking advocacy on the person’s behalf to ensure they have access to services in health, housing and other systems.

ARROS PLACE

ARROS PLACE is a two-year project (finishing December 2022) supporting young people to identify and start working towards their goals around employment, community participation, and advocacy. We use a holistic approach by way of continuing to support primary support networks identified by the young people we work with. 

We work with participants in small groups to support them to: 

• Develop and maintain a peer led support/learning group — where young people lead activities focused on building skills for employment, micro-business and community contribution.
• Develop skills to speak up and advocate for change. Participants will be supported to talk about their experiences, understand their rights, and speak up about the systems and social issues that have impacted their lives and the lives of their peers. 

This project is funded through the Department of Social Services’ Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) grant. Please note that participants do not require NDIS plans to participate in ARROS PLACE.

Counselling

ARROS can provide counselling services to people under NDIS or Medicare arrangements. The team has particular expertise with counselling support to people with intellectual disability, mental health challenges and complex life circumstances including trauma. We can also offer counselling to Japanese and Mandarin speaking people.

Our Accredited Mental Health Social Workers can meet with you at a place where you feel most comfortable – this might be in out office at Nundah, your home, or out in the community. This can be discussed during your initial meeting.

To make a referral please email arros@communityliving.org.au or call ARROS on 3266 3788.

Disability Specific Parenting Education and Support

ARROS offers specialised parenting support for parents with intellectual and/or cognitive disability that focuses on enhancing parenting skills and knowledge. This support is person centred and collaborative and aims to achieve the best possible outcomes for the parent and their child/children. The parents we support have diverse situations; they may see their children for distinct time frames in consultation with Child Safety, they may have informal/formal shared or kinship care arrangements or may have their children in their care, either part time or fulltime. Social workers are trained in Circle of Security and utilise this as one of the methods to engage with and support parents.