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Shift Lab: finding new ways of doing and thinking
Anglicare WA’s In-house Innovation team – otherwise known as ShiftLab – investigates promising ideas and transforms hem into demonstration projects.
Our projects aim to shift the focus from reaction (to crisis) to a response (to root causes), and in doing so, support social change.
Horizon Scan
Each year the ShiftLab team undertakes a Horizon Scan across a range of sources to identify the emerging themes and drivers and to understand the potential implications of these themes for our sector and for the people we work to support.
Examples of our work
Sunshine Project
The Sunshine Project was a two-year action research project run in partnership with Ruah Community Services. The project arose as a result of the findings of the 100 Families Project. Sunshine Project explored different approaches to enable families facing complex challenges to get unstuck and grow their good life, even in the midst of hard times. Working closely with six families in the Kwinana/Rockingham region, as well as a range of local organisations, we co-designed and tested several prototypes comprising different elements of support.
These prototypes included a range of in-home supports provided by a Families Coach, social prescribing healing/growth experiences, investment in items/opportunities to support the good life, experiments in food security and supply chains; equipment loan kits for rent inspections, family camping kit and more.
Hopscotch
The Hopscotch project explored ways to smooth the employability pathway for parents of young children who face barriers to accessing the workforce. Partnering with the Dudley Park Child and Parent Centre in Mandurah and Community Skills WA, the team prototyped a new approach, leveraging the existing trusted relationship between parents and the CPC, and access to an onsite creche, to run a personal development, formal training and work placement program with a cohort of parents. 100% completion rate by participants, along with growth in confidence, direction and progression through to employment and further training highlight the opportunity to leverage Child and Parent Centres to value-add pathways for parents who access their services.
JobHive
Working in partnership with The Empowering Youth Initiative, The JobHive project spanned 2 years working with young people experiencing homelessness to understand their journey navigating the world of work. From this research, we created the JobHive Toolkit, which provides the tools, the conversation starters and the opportunities for young people to uncover and amplify their own strengths and abilities; set motivating employment-related goals; create a positive and practical vision of work; write fantastic resumes and cover letters; and future proof their careers.
The physical toolkit has been widely distributed throughout organisations in WA working with young people. You can access the free downloadable resources and watch video guides on the website.
Friend in Need
Friend in Need, born as a Covid response, is a community wellbeing initiative which helps people help each other. It includes workshops, online resources and a free app. It provides light touch support to prevent unnecessary entry into the service system, guiding individuals to appropriate assistance if needed. Acknowledging friends and family as first responders, the initiative strengthens natural support networks and empowers the community.
The program was developed through human-centred design and significant sector collaboration. It was informed by earlier exploratory work to understand the root causes of financial difficulties, which pointed to a strong connection between financial, emotional and relationship challenges. Friend in Need consequently takes a holistic approach to wellbeing.
Homestretch
We are enormously proud to have had the opportunity to lead the Home Stretch WA trial with WA Department of Communities and Yorganop Aboriginal Corporation. This was a unique opportunity to design, develop and test a model for an extension of out-of-home care for young people aged 18-21. The Home Stretch WA Trial has now been scaled across Western Australia.
The initiative involved collaboration with many stakeholders, including young people, carers and community service organisations. It provided an exemplar of the benefits of youth participation in governance and decision making, a commitment to power sharing with the community services sector, and an ongoing dialogue between young people as service users and the future systems that will support them.
Foyer Broome
The national and international success of Foyer Youth Housing projects in aiding homeless youth inspired a consortium of Anglicare WA, Foundation Housing, and Nirrumbuk Aboriginal Corporation to propose a Foyer development in Broome, Western Australia.
Recognising the need for adaptation to the Kimberley context, Innovation Unit collaborated with the consortium for a 5-month co-design process, engaging a diverse 10-person team and over 100 participants to explore and tailor a Foyer model responsive to the specific needs of young Aboriginal people.
Headspace Pilbara
In 2017, Anglicare WA was commissioned to co-design and plan an innovative headspace service in the Pilbara. This service was intended to ‘flip the headspace model inside out’ by using outreach and technological solutions to provide meaningful mental health solutions to young people across the Pilbara region.
As part of this process, we conducted a thorough environmental scan which contextualised demographic information on the region and synthesised insights and information obtained through community research and consultation. These insights, along with extensive literature review into service model approaches to youth mental health issues in regional areas, were used to formulate the most suitable approach to the delivery of a headspace service for the Pilbara.
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