Client: Department of Social Service (DSS)
Partners: Portable
Co-Executed Services:
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Visual Identity and Ecosystem Development: Crafted a consistent visual design for the animations and interactive modules, ensuring a cohesive, emotionally resonant aesthetic that amplified the storytelling’s impact.
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Interactive Content Creation: Produced animations and videos that blended historical context with personal narratives, creating an immersive learning experience.
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Behavioural Insights and Analytics Integration: Incorporated feedback loops and analytics to evaluate engagement and effectiveness, allowing iterative improvements to optimise both the content’s emotional impact and practical application.
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Collaborative Learning Design: Worked with subject matter experts, aged care stakeholders, and DSS representatives to ensure the resources met the specific needs of care workers while respecting the lived experiences of individuals impacted by forced adoptions.
Trauma-informed training on forced adoption in Australia
Develop a trauma-informed, interactive training program to help aged care professionals provide empathetic, historically informed support to individuals impacted by forced adoption. The program needed to balance historical education with practical caregiving strategies, ensuring aged care workers felt equipped to handle sensitive conversations with confidence and care.
Client Benefit
The Forced Adoption Training Program equips aged care professionals with a deep understanding of the emotional and historical significance of forced adoption, fostering sensitivity and respect in caregiving. By providing clear, practical strategies, the program bridges the gap between awareness and real-world application, ensuring professionals feel confident and prepared to support those affected. Developed in collaboration with DSS, sector experts, and lived experience advocates, the training is meaningful, effective, and widely adoptable, setting a new standard for trauma-informed care in aged care settings.
Project Results
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Significant increase in confidence and engagement with trauma-informed practices.
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Fostered a culture of acknowledgment and care, ensuring individuals affected by forced adoption receive empathy, respect, and recognition.
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Established a best-practice model for future trauma-informed training initiatives across social work, aged care, and community services.
Quotes from the Client
"The timeline was extremely tight and the pressure was immense but the quality of the product is amazing. It’s such a sensitive and complex topic and every one of you nailed it. We’re so grateful."
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Megan Larder, Department of Social Services
Quotes from User testing
Lived Experience Advocate, Mother, and Adoptee:
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“You're touching on something really important for us to heal…it's not lost on us this span of time…we will have people who are mothers entering into aged care and we will also soon, if not already, have forced adoptees entering into aged care in that era as well.”
Meals on Wheels Coordinator:
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“My initial thought was gosh that was good. I felt like I was connected to the clients and that I understood their difficulties.”
Occupational Therapist after testing the modules:
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“I think this may come across the wrong way, and I don't intend it to, but it is an interesting topic. So apart from having the desire to learn more about it and integrate that into the care that I give to my patients, it also is really important for me to consolidate my learning.”
