Last week’s Festival of Ideas was the culmination of more than three years of hard work by the Special Projects team, led by Suzy Goldsmith. During this time, the team has worked on a wide array of projects, including those that focused on young carers (between the ages of 14-25), older Victorians (including those from a CALD background, those who are unpaid carers, and those who had been bushfire affected), small business owners, and people experiencing mental health challenges.
We have loved working together, and the festival itself was both a moment of recognition of all we’ve achieved and a fitting send-off. It also marks the beginning of a new era for the projects work and resources. We have developed a suite of outreach activities and webpages as a way of giving our work an extended life. We hope that all interested professionals, including our members, those who attended the festival, and those who have read about our work, continue the work we have begun by using the resources we have developed to engage and assist their clients and communities.
But, for now, the Special Projects team says ‘hooroo’ –
It’s hard to distil my last two and a bit years in the Special Projects team into a single paragraph – the work has often been so varied and fast-paced (sometimes frenzied!) that it feels almost impossible to capture!
There’s a lot of satisfaction in looking back on the last few years and seeing what has been achieved. In this time, we’ve developed and updated the Small Business e-Learning Series (Mark 2 and Mark 3), piloted a Carer Pathway to financial counselling, and produced myriad factsheets and resources, including a Financial Conversation Guide for support workers, Quick Guides (accompanied by videos translated into 10 languages) that provide accessible and practical information about financial services, and a guide to financial capability programs for community members.
More recently, we have focused our energy on finding ways to give our work a life beyond our team’s involvement at FCVic – this has led to the development of our Libraries Outreach program, FCVic’s Prospectus, ‘How to host a financial counselling clinic’, and last week’s Festival of Ideas – Priceless, the unpaid contribution.
For me, the highlights of our work were always the more experimental – and sometimes downright wacky! – ways we tried to convey information and engage our audience, like the Julie and the Debt Monster stories and audiobook (and crochet pattern!), and the Money Explorer online interactive game.
It’s been a pleasure to have worked with the Special Projects team, and to have had the opportunity to create, explore and experiment in the pursuit of innovative and dynamic solutions.
– Bella Walker
The recent Festival of Ideas showcased the range of resources and programs we have been working on over 2022-2023. Working with key community organisations demonstrated that we had a common goal – to reach disadvantaged groups where they are. Programs such as Older and Wiser – Standing Strong and Warm Safe Homes, and resources such as the Quick Guides, were presented and keenly welcomed by participants.
Our work on Money Explorer was especially challenging: both to understand the needs of young carers in our community, and to co-design a creative tool to build their financial capability. It was rewarding to see the final ‘rocket launch’ at the festival, and to finally deliver this to both the carer sector and the wider financial counselling community. I hope you enjoy traveling in the Moneyverse too.
My hope is that financial counsellors will be encouraged to conduct outreach programs to reach diverse groups in need, and freely use the resources the Special Projects team have created for them.
– Robyn Angus
In my seven months working in Suzy’s team, I have played a role in developing resources for both younger and older Victorian carers. It was a real highlight to see Money Explorer, a collaboration between FCVic and Little Dreamers, being launched publicly at last week’s festival. It was a great pleasure to work on this project, writing the content for the money- and life-related topics (each represented in the ‘Moneyverse’ by a planet, asteroid, satellite or astronaut) in a way that would entice the explorer, provoke thought, and link them to trusted resources for further learning. We hope that Money Explorer will be made available in libraries so it can be used as a valuable learning tool.
I have also assisted with organising Pathways for Carers activities, which link financial counsellors to local community carer walks. We have received overwhelming positive feedback from organisers and community members who have attended. They have really benefitted from hearing about the work financial counsellors do, and how financial counselling can assist with money concerns that carers have.
– Julia Monsbourgh
I have been fortunate to be part of the FCVic Special Projects team for the last 15 months. My role involved connecting mental health and wellbeing services with local financial counsellors and, more recently, connecting services that have contact with hidden carers to financial counselling assistance. The experience highlight for me was when we ran information sessions for these services: the local financial counsellors involved demonstrated their professionalism, knowledge and experience in the way they responded to questions and provided case examples. This encouraged the attending mental health workers to consider referring clients with financial concerns to these financial counsellors. We hope this project has strengthened the relationship between local agencies for the benefit of community members.
– Julie Watson
The small business team at FCVic promoted financial counselling through reference groups, the small business fraternity and the wider community. This has increased awareness of how small business owners and the general community can be assisted by financial counselling. The webinars, tutorials, learning modules, factsheets and other learning resources have ensured that financial counsellors now have the confidence and skills to provide assistance to small business owners, who we know are one of the most disadvantaged groups in our society.
– Sandra Blake and Geoff Browne
Being able to work on a program to build the sector’s small business engagement and knowledge base was extremely challenging – but also very rewarding. The support of the FCVic team, especially Sandra Blake and Suzy, our multi-faceted project spearhead, among other long-standing and venerable financial counsellors made it doable. It is a testament to the sector that change can be wrangled and surmounted. What a ride! Thank you all for your time, patience and support.
– Helen Brady
I only joined for the tail end of the Special Projects team’s journey; however, those two months were filled with movement, energy, and vision. It was a thrill to see ideas and imaginings gain a tangible shape, thanks to the handiwork of all team members. Although it often felt like the Festival of Ideas deadline was looming over us like a watchful hawk (or should I say, tawny owl), I believe the event was the perfect endpoint and helped bring significant efficiency and pride to the team.
It was very satisfying to see all the resources that had been envisioned, written and produced by my peers displayed on the FCVic sharing table. These resources offer much-needed advice and guidance for professionals, who will take these skills into many different contexts to help many different people.
Thanks to Suzy for bringing together so many ideas and people!
– Veronica Ferrie
What an amazing team! We have had fun, delight and frantic effort all at once – but always helping and carrying each other along. For me, I have enjoyed deploying my inner sniffer dog – searching all the while for half-open doors, new connections and fruitful opportunities. The Festival brought all of that together – we had partnered or worked with pretty much every organisation in the room! So thank you FCVic for providing us with such a worthwhile sector to strengthen and extend in partnership with others. Our work was all about bridges – making them stronger, and ensuring they were well-placed.
– Dr Suzy Goldsmith