From the frontline Kerri Griffin-Karasawa

Program coordinator | h2h Program South

how did you come to work at hhS?

I am usually based in St Kilda. I recently moved to the Bellarine Peninsula to care for my parents. My mother moved into residential care and when she had settled in I then had capacity to return to paid work. I looked for employment in Geelong and I came across HHS, specifically the H2H program. I applied for and was lucky to be offered this job with Haven Home Safe. I have decades of experience working with vulnerable people excluded from society. HHS and the H2H program provides a much needed service for the same client base and enables me to use my skills and experience in both tenancy and support.

It is the first time, in my lifetime to see such significant State Government investment in homelessness. I believe that the H2H program, properly supported, is successful and innovative with the potential to make a big and real difference to people in their lives. I did my research of HHS - being a new brand to me - I felt it was a good fit. Everything is new for me, a new organisation, a new program, a new team, new office, new experiences but I love new things and am really enjoying being part of the team.

What does 'showing up’ mean for you?

I think it means always being present. Whether that's physically, mentally or emotionally. I think its resilience and creativity combined. It's continuing to explore every single option, to be creative in solving a problem.

Showing up means maintaining a commitment to excellence, fairness and care through the good times and challenging times, and even during a global health crisis like COVID-19. how does hhS show up?

The strongest thing for me is that there is a common goal. Everyone is here with different perspectives but we all work towards a common goal. What does that look like as an organisation? It means exploring different ways of support. Pushing for more ways to help people. Collaboration, Building partnerships, building houses. Growing.

The way HHS is growing is really exciting. They have housing stock and the foundation of serving communities for a long time, but the vision is forward-thinking.

What has stayed with you this year?

I have a really eclectic team and they make me laugh every day. They do really great work. In our team we have a diverse age range, it's multicultural and it has wonderful energy. I firmly believe this program works if the staff are properly supported and given a lot of flexibility. I guess what stays with me, is that even though we work with a lot of challenging situations, mental health and drug and alcohol issues, we as a team and our clients still manage to find moments of joy and humour. What I have noticed is that because of COVID-19, staff have had to connect with clients weekly on the phone. We can’t underestimate the impact of that supportive call each week. Many people don’t have anyone calling them to ask if they’re okay. The simplicity of those phone calls has been underestimated.

What has stayed with me this year is the resilience of our clients and wider community , and the hope that we will all come out of the crisis with a greater sense of care and concern for each other and for vulnerable members of our community.