Featured projects
Homelessness and Housing
CHC has extensive experience in research, program and service (re)design and development and policy reform activities relating to homelessness in the Northern Territory. Examples include:an exploration to the lived experience of homelessness in Darwin, and as a cultural group, how this population understood health and addressed their health needs;a study that explored the role of transactional sex in everyday life for Indigenous women experiencing homelessness;a study that examined the prevalence of trauma among people living rough in Darwin and the challenges and implications for service delivery;reviews of Tenancy Support Programs;the design of program in Darwin which addresses the health impacts of being highly stigmatised on people living rough in and around Darwin through a two-pronged approach: by providing practical support to homeless people to engage in society, and; by challenging the assumptions and practices of mainstream organisations and communities that inadvertently stigmatise homeless populations and negatively impact on their health; andresearch and consultation with the Specialist Homelessness Services sector on policy reforms relating to quality standards and an outcomes framework for reporting.
Justice re-investment
CHC has undertaken several evaluations of justice initiatives. Examples include:the Northern Territory Governments Elders Visiting Program, which aimed to: improve the health and wellbeing of inmates by maintaining a cultural connection to kin and country while incarcerated; facilitate the successful reintegration of inmates on release; and prevent re-offending and reduce recidivism rates;a program that supported women pre- and post-release from prison through psycho-social education and support and intensive case management, particularly once released from prison; andjustice re-investment initiatives in a remote Aboriginal community including an Alternative to Custody service and a Community Justice Group. These initiatives intersect with a Community Court, where offenders with a guilty plea had been referred for sentencing. Members of the Community Justice Group have an important role to play in the Court processes, including preparing and providing a detailed Aboriginal Experience Report to the judge. (This project is ongoing).
Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence
CHC has evaluated many domestic, family and sexual violence services, including associated outreach services, across the Northern Territory in urban, regional, remote and very remote settings. Informed by ethical considerations, evaluations applied a strengths-based and trauma-informed mixed-method approach to examine the services’ structures, operational models and approaches to governance to identify strengths and gaps and make recommendations for service enhancement. Through meaningful engagement, the safety needs of community members were explored. Emphasis was placed on building the capacity of service staff through the promotion of reflective practices and critical thinking. Similarly, the evaluations facilitated collaboration between stakeholders that interacted with services by moving towards a shared understanding of issues and finding solutions to operational and other challenges. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through multiple methods and service elements were considered alongside: the operational context; contractual obligations; documented industry best practice; and applicable Northern Territory Government policies and strategies.
Socio-economic Analyses and Community Development
CHC has completed comprehensive base-line socio-economic studies for Aboriginal populations in Northern Australia that have captured and analysed quantitative and qualitative data on a range of social and economic domains, such as health, education, employment and training, income, social participation and cultural engagement, housing, business development and aspirations. With an established base-line for these domains and a documented methodology to repeat the study in the future, communities can determine whether existing programs and services are having the desired impact and where resources should be (re)invested to address the community priorities. In addition to coordinating post-graduate studies in community development and management, CHC has worked on a range of environmental health and health promotion projects in South East Asia and the Western Pacific. Examples include: researching, designing and developing implementation guidelines for the World Health Organization’s (WHO's) Healthy Marketplace Program; train the trainer in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (a risk reduction approach to food safety); the evaluation of health promotion initiatives; and the mentoring of WHO fellows.