Gwen Hamers

Experience

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  Dept. of Judicial Institutions, The Netherlands

  Sept 2009 - Jan 2010

  Social Worker – Student Internship

  Responsibilities: • Conduct Social Worker introduction meetings with new prisoners.• Provide supportive counselling to prisoners who request support or for who custodial/health staff have identified a need.• Multidisciplinary case planning.• Support prisoners at the end of their sentence with re-integration into the community.

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  Dept. of Child Protection, South Australia

  Feb 2010 - Jun 2010

  Social Worker - Student Internship

  Responsibilities: • Answering child protection queries from members of the public by phone.• Supervision of parent-child visits where the child is in care.• Register queries from youth and refer to the appropriate organisations/institutions.• Mentor of a 15-year-old female in care.

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  Stichting Prisma (Ploegstraat Breda)

  Jul 2011 - Apr 2013

  Social Worker

  Prisma is a large disability service provider in the South of Holland, providing care to people of all ages and all disabilities. During my time with Prisma I worked in a group home with young adults with mild intellectual disability and mental health challenges and an apartment complex with adults of all ages with mild, moderate and severe disabilities and complex behavioural needs.Responsibilities:• Collaboratively create yearly goal plans with each client.• Provide counselling on client-specific challenges.• Support clients with daily living tasks such as planning for and cooking a meal, cleaning living spaces and bathrooms, personal hygiene, etcetera. • Work day shifts, night shifts and sleep shifts (from 1PM to 10AM the following day).• Conducting risk and needs assessments to identify behavioural risk factors, including ongoing and acute suicide ideation and self-harm + creating risk action & behaviour support plans as a tool for both client and formal and informal supports.• Multidisciplinary case planning; liaising with biological family, legal guardians and trustees, police, public and private psychologists and psychiatrists, employers, and more. • Keep detailed and accurate case notes.Achievements:• Supporting a 21-year-old transgender client through the emotional turmoil that is part of transitioning. • Guiding an 18-year-old client through the process of becoming a father. • Completion of a ‘sexuality counselling’ course and training colleagues on the subject. Show less

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  Key Assets - The Children's Services Provider (Australia)

  Sept 2015 - Mar 2021

  Social Worker Disabilities / Specialist Support Coordinator

  * Maternity Leave from July/2018 – February/2019Responsibilities:• Specialist Support Coordinator: Support foster carers and biological families in navigating the NDIS, coordinating their services and linking them in with both professional and community supports. This includes advocating for their needs with NDIS, requesting early plan reviews, work closely together with NDIS Complex Care planners and link in with formal advocacy agencies where necessary.• Conducting risk and needs assessments to identify behavioural risk factors, including ongoing and acute suicide ideation and self-harm + creating risk action & behaviour support plans as a tool for both client and formal and informal supports.• Multidisciplinary case planning; liaising with the Office of the Public Advocate, Public Trustee, WA Police, hospital inpatient mental health units, public and private psychologists and psychiatrists, lawyers, Intellectual Disability Diversion Program, employers, support workers, biological family, Dept. of Child Protection, Dept. of Housing, and more. • Create a space for supported family reunion after relationships have been impacted by childhood trauma and/or Dept. of Child Protection intervention. • Respond to referrals and attend initial home visits for clients that are interested in receiving service from Key Assets and fully support their transition into the service.• Provide clinical reports to the State Administrative Tribunal.• After-hours on-call duty for both the Foster Care and Disability Service.• Continuously improve service provision in collaboration with the Disability Practice Leader through our Disability Access and Inclusion Plan (DAIP), feedback from clients and carers, ongoing training and monthly clinical supervision. • Organise and attend frequent ‘camps into woman/manhood’ and ‘young adult advisory boards’.• Active member of the WA NDS Access and Inclusion Sub-Committee & the Social Work Disability Practice Group (Sept 2015 – June 2018). Show less

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  Gwen H - Independent Social Worker

  Feb 2019 - Dec 2021

  Independent Social Worker

  Independent Social Worker, providing Specialist Support Coordination through a contract with Valued Lives, and Foster Carer Assessments through a contract with Key Assets WA and Life Without Barriers.

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  Hamers Edge

  Aug 2021 - now

  Founder | Snr Social Worker

  Providing holistic support to the neurodivergent community in Perth.www.hamersedge.com.au