Casework services provided to clients

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Executive summary

Figure 13 displays a breakdown of the types of services provided direct to clients by the MOS Projects. Individual counselling accounted for just over half of MOS Projects' services (54.4%), followed by assessments (23.4%), and group counselling (20.3%).

Local organisations and community members stressed the need for counselling and support services for children to occur within the context of the family, and of community.

"...It can be hard to get the families involved, but it's what gives the strength. It would be good to work with families. They need the support..." (Strong Woman, community)
Others spoke of the benefits of group work with children, and that involving children in groups can enable more general discussion about issues such as protective behaviours and appropriate ways of communicating. The experience has been that children are hearing and learning the same information as their peers, and that they tend to open up more and be able to take action for themselves.

Engaging and supporting the child within the context of the family, community and the child's peers aligns with the principles of the MOS Plus suite of services.

Figure 14 shows the variation in the casework service mode, responsive to the need and/or characteristics of the families and communities.

As with the overall results, the majority of direct client casework services provided in Top End were counselling sessions, with the only notable difference being a somewhat higher proportion of individual sessions (63.5% compared with 54.4%), and fewer group sessions (13.5% compared with 20.3%).

While the majority of client casework services provided in Central Australia were counselling sessions, they were slightly more likely to be group sessions when compared to the overall results (34.1% compared with 20.3%). Central Australia also had a slightly lower proportion of assessments only compared with the overall results (15.9% compared with 23.4%) (see Figure 15).

The breakdown of casework services provided direct to clients in Katherine was somewhat different to those overall and those in other Regions. In Katherine there was a lower proportion of group counselling sessions (7.9% compared with 20.3%), and a notably higher proportion of assessments (39.7% compared with 23.4%) Katherine also accounted for all of the consultancy services provided by MOS Projects (3.2%) (see Figure 16).

In Barkly, approximately three-quarters of the casework services provided direct to clients were group counselling sessions (73.7% compared with 23.4% overall), while there were relatively few individual sessions (7.9% compared with 54.4%). As data will show later in this discussion, a relatively high proportion of community education sessions were conducted in Barkly perhaps further indicating in part, that the MOS service response is being tailored to community need (see Figure 17).
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Figure 13: Types of casework services provided direct to clients, as a percentage of total client services

Text version of Figure 13

Types of casework services provided direct to clients, as a percentage of total client services:

Counselling individual - 54.4% (N = 228)
Assessment only - 23.4% (N = 98)
Counselling group - 20.3% (N = 85)
Camp attendance - 0.7% (N = 3)
Consultancy service - 0.5% (N = 2)
Other - 0.7% (N = 3)

Figure 14: Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Top End

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Text version of Figure 14

Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Top End:

Counselling individual - 63.5% (N = 174)
Assessment only - 21.5% (N = 59)
Counselling group - 13.5% (N = 37)
Camp attendance - 1.1% (N = 3)
Other - 0.4% (N = 1)

Figure 15: Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Central Australia

Text version of Figure 15

Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Central Australia:

Counselling individual - 47.7% (N = 21)
Counselling group - 34.1% (N = 15)
Assessment only - 15.9% (N = 7)
Other - 2.3% (N = 1)

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Figure 16: Types of casework services provided direct to clients by Region - Katherine

Text version of Figure 16

Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Katherine:

Counselling individual - 47.6% (N = 30)
Assessment only - 39.7% (N = 25)
Counselling group - 7.9% (N = 5)
Consultancy service - 3.2% (N = 2)
Other - 1.6% (N = 1)

Figure 17: Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Barkly

Text version of Figure 17

Types of casework services provided direct to clients by region - Barkly:

Counselling group - 73.7% (N = 28)
Assessment only - 18.4% (N = 7)
Counselling individual - 7.9% (N = 3)

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