Catholic Social Services: Reflecting on the past year

Catholic Social Services February 2014 Lesley Hooper  Welcome to 2014. The new year gives an opportunity to reflect on the past year at Catholic Social Services. As usual 2013 was…

Catholic Social Services

February 2014

Lesley Hooper

 Welcome to 2014. The new year gives an opportunity to reflect on the past year at Catholic Social Services. As usual 2013 was a busy year as Catholic Social Services worked with the many who have faced crises in their lives. We have been there to support them as they have built resilience to face the future.

Over the last year we have reflected on our vision of ‘All people live in communities characterised by charity’ and what this means for us at CSS. In the work that we do we recognise that material poverty, psychological wellbeing, and relationship breakdown are affecting many in our community and impacting on their ability to access services.

In 2013 we have continued to have an open door policy to welcome people who are reaching out for help as they struggle to deal with issues around family violence, relationships and parenting, material needs and housing, changes in family structures, work and locations, grief and loss anxiety, and depression.

We have continued to see the effect of violence within families. Our counsellors and social workers have worked alongside individuals who have come to recognise the impact of their violence on their families and have worked on making changes in their lives. This work has often involved supporting other members of the family in dealing with the violence and bringing about positive changes.

CSS social workers have supported people facing problems with housing by being with them and advocating for them with Housing New Zealand and the city council. They have been there for people who have faced health issues when their families are not able to look after them. Catholic Social Services has worked to ensure clients have all the support services they need to be able to return home. Our social workers have worked with many children in some of the local primary schools who have faced issues such as grief and loss, family separation, bullying and anger management.

In 2013, 400 individuals and families and whanau have accessed the services at CSS. We are one of a few social service agencies who provide a low-cost counselling service.

The clients we work with would not have been able to access counselling services elsewhere. Our commitment to being there for the most vulnerable in the community is our way of living our vision. We could not do this without the dedication of a team of social workers and counsellors, supported by our receptionist administrator and, of course, the support of all our funders.