CareSouth’s Shoalhaven Youth Support Service (SYSS) has celebrated its success in achieving accreditation with the Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES). SYSS provides early intervention outreach, accommodation and casework support to homeless youth across the Shoalhaven.

The ASES praised the work being done by the service, recognising the improved efficiencies and work processes that had been put in place and commending the team for creating a workplace culture where staff feel empowered and involved.

Accreditation reflects service excellence for homeless youth

ASES project officer Joe Labbozzetta says reaching ASES accreditation standards was “a culmination of hard work and dedication by the people within your services to create a quality organisation.” He went on to commend the organisation as a whole for its commitment to “quality and continuous system improvement”.

SYSS is the only dedicated youth homelessness service in the Shoalhaven, and the ASES accreditation puts it at the forefront of service provision for homeless young people.

“It’s very rewarding to achieve the ASES accreditation in such glowing terms,” says SYSS Team Leader Tony Briggs. “I would like to say a very big thank you to CareSouth’s Practice Improvement and Quality (PIQ) team for assisting the SYSS program to achieve this milestone. The work that needs to be done to achieve ASES starts a long time before the accreditor arrives.”

The team shared with ASES the work they are doing to support young people in developing living skills like cooking, cleaning, budgeting and self-care to help them build the skills and independence needed to break the homelessness cycle. Staff also provide pathways for young people to complete education, training and find employment.

Tony says a key focus for SYSS in meeting accreditation standards included ongoing reviews and updates of practice guidelines, constantly improving service delivery and ensuring all work practices reflected CareSouth’s policies and guidelines.

“CareSouth training, reflective practice with the clinical team, and new reporting methods and data collection using REGGIE means continual improvement is the norm at SYSS,” says Tony. “Meeting accreditation required all internal CareSouth services to reach the ASES standards, not just SYSS. So thank you to Payroll, People and Culture, IT, Finance, Maintenance, Marketing and Stakeholder Engagement, Customer Care and the Clinical Team.”