Centre for Social Impact UWA

Entrenched Disadvantage

100 Families WA 

Published: 2019-2023
Authors: Ami Seivwright, Paul Flatau, Zoe Callis, Carol Orr, Shawn Phillips, Susan Young, Colleen Fisher and Maria Harries

A 4-year collective action research project with a vision to address the issue of entrenched disadvantage or hardship, as experienced by families living in Western Australia.

Bankwest Foundation Social Impact Research Series 

Authors: Paul Flatau, Kaylene Zaretsky, Sarah Adams, Alexander Horton, Jessica Smith, Chris Mason, Jo Barraket, Ami Sweivwright, Sharine Bath, Roger Simnett, Ilro Lee, Claire Stokes, Aurora Elmes and Zoe Callis

The Bankwest Foundation partnered with the Centre for Social Impact at The University of Western Australia (CSI UWA) to undertake a five-year research program supporting development and growth in the social enterprise sector in Western Australia.

Children & Young People

Looking Through an Aboriginal Lens: Results of the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny Project (100 Families Western Australia)

Published: November 2023
Authors: Associate Professor Tuguy Esgin, Dr David O'Shaughnessy, Dr Leanne Lester, Professor Paul Flatau and Glenda Kickett

Extending from the 100 Families WA project, the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny (Noongar for “Our People Yarning”) project reports on the experience of Aboriginal entrenched disadvantage in Perth and the major lessons that should be drawn by the community sector on ending entrenched disadvantage in Perth.

The overarching goal of the 100 Families WA project is to develop an ongoing evidence base on poverty, entrenched disadvantage, and social exclusion in Western Australia that will be used by the policy and practice community.

Understanding the Social Impact of Safeguarding Services for Children and Young People

Published: May 2023
Authors: Yasmine Hooper, Renee Gardiner and Dr Mariana Atkins

The Centre for Social Impact UWA conducted an impact evaluation of the Australian Childhood Foundation's Safeguarding Services. This research project was grounded in qualitative methods and involved collaborating with organisations that have partnered with the Foundation to enhance their capacity and foster a supportive environment for the well-being and safety of children and young people who engage in their services.

The findings from the report demonstrated that the Foundation and its partners are actively contributing to shaping the narrative of safeguarding practices and their impact across Australia. These insights are leading the way towards a deeper understanding of the best approaches to establish a robust and enduring culture of safeguarding within organisations.

Mentoring 2 Work Project Evaluation

Published: June 2022
Authors: Dr Mariana Atkins, Zoe Callis, Lisette Kaleveld and Dr Ami Seivwright

The Mentoring 2 Work (M2W) Project was designed to assist unemployed young people in WA find work through one-on-one mentoring support, with a focus on career exploration, job-readiness and finding a job. Researchers from Centre for Social Impact UWA evaluated the project across four reports.

Evaluation Report: Career Readiness for Young Parents

Published: June 2022
Authors: Duc Dau and Mariana Atkins

The Career Readiness for Young Parents (CRFYP) program seeks to empower young parents to address barriers to their employment and gain critical skills for future work. The Centre for Social Impact UWA assessed the program, finding that participants experience a high degree of satisfaction.

The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia

Couchsurfing Students: The Yarra Ranges Youth Homelessness Prevention Project

Going the Distance: Making Mental Health Support Work Better for Regional Communities

Published: June 2023
Authors: Lisette Kaleveld, Emma Crane and Yasmine Hooper

Despite their resilience and strengths, regional communities in WA and around Australia have the greatest need for mental health support. Inadequate services, insufficient funding and difficulty in accessing support need to be urgently addressed.

The Western Australian Association for Mental Health (WAAMH) has engaged the Centre for Social Impact UWA to better understand what is different about living in regional areas that leads to poorer mental health and difficulties accessing support, and what further support is needed to improve the lives and wellbeing of people living in those communities.

This report highlights challenges that are common to rural communities as well as the needs that are unique to individual places. Participants reported the need for tailored, community specific services – be they community services that address the social determinants of mental health, peer support groups, education programs or treatment services.

Mental Health Deep Dive

Published: October 2021
Authors: Lisette Kaleveld, Yasmine Hooper, Kelly Clark, Rachael Dufour, Aleksandra Olekalns and Aurora Elmes

The Mental Health Deep Dive examines how mental health and wellbeing is faring in Australia, finding that current funding models for youth mental health services have untapped potential in improving issues such as staff burnout, high costs and disrupted service provision to young people in need.

Increasing and Improving Community Mental Health Supports in Western Australia

Published: November 2020
Authors: Lisette Kaleveld, Catherine Bock and Ami Seivwright

The Centre for Social Impact UWA's 'Increasing and Improving Community Mental Health Supports in Western Australia' presents six models of innovative community mental health support that considers the needs of priority cohorts who are less likely to access support.

Door-to-Door for Mental Health: A Summary Report

Published: February 2023
Authors: Lisette Kaleveld and Yasmine Hooper

The largest ever door knock delving into the mental health of households across the country has revealed the true extent of our national crisis, with nearly half of people reporting being in distress and more than one-third saying they need more support – but many encountering barriers to receiving help.

The ACDC (Assisting Communities through Direct Connection) project, run by Community Mental Health Australia (CMHA) and funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services, knocked on about 37,500 doors across the country to kickstart conversations about mental health and encourage people to access support services.

Evaluation of the project by the Centre for Social Impact UWA shows that 49.4% of respondents reported being in moderate to very high distress, and 36.7% of respondents said they needed more support.

An Oasis of Integration in Our Country: Evaluation of the Multicultural Enterprise Development Project

Published: April 2022
Authors: Mariana Atkins, Duc Dau and Alina Evans

A joint initiative of the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre and Multicultural Futures
The Multicultural Enterprise Development Project is a joint initiative of the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre Inc. (MMRC) in partnership with Multicultural Futures Inc. (MF) and is funded by the Commonwealth Government under the Department of Social Services - Try, Test and Learn Tranche 2. The project aims to deliver enterprise development support to refugees, humanitarian entrants and people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Metropolitan Perth through two programs: a Collective Enterprise Incubator Program; and an Individual Enterprise Accelerator Program.

The funding of Western Australian homelessness services

Published: May 2022
Authors: Paul Flatau, Leanne Lester, Zoe Callis and Michael Kyron

The Funding of Western Australian Homelessness Services report is a comprehensive overview of the funding of homelessness services in Western Australia, based on focus groups with homelessness service managers and analysis of 73 services.

Homelessness Deep Dive

Published: February 2022
Authors: Paul Flatau, Leanne Lester, Ami Seivwright, Renee Teal, Jessica Dobrovic, Shannen Vallesi, Chris Hartley and Zoe Callis

The 'Ending Homelessness in Australia: An Evidence and Policy Deep Dive' assesses the current evidence base on the state of homelessness in Australia and its key drivers, and sets out an evidence-informed policy and practice agenda towards ending homelessness in Australia.

Service Innovation Deep Dive 

Published: November 2021
Authors: Ami Seivwright, Ariella Meltzer, Meera Varadharajan, Perri Campbell, Mariana Atkins, Lisette Kaleveld and Erin Wilson

Acknowledging the significant impact of COVID-19 on community services, a team of Centre for Social impact researchers from UWA, Swinburne and UNSW sought to understand the ways in which organisations in the aged care, disability, and emergency relief sectors innovated during COVID-19.

Mental Health Deep Dive

Building Back Better: Pulse of the For-Purpose Sector

Published: 2020-2021
Authors: Kristy Muir, Gemma Carey, Megan Weier, Graham Brown, Jo Barraket, Joanne Qian and Paul Flatau

Australia has never kept track of its for-purpose sector on a national level, over time, and we want to understand the stressors, the impacts of policy changes, and the challenges for the sector through our Pulse of the For-Purpose Sector research program.

Zero Project: Housing First Coordination for WA

Published: 2017-2022
Authors: Shannen Vallesi, Lisa Wood, Angela Gazey, Craig Cumming, Kaylene Zarekzy, Elise Irwin, Nicholas Wood, Paul Flatau, Leanne Lester, Darja Kragt, Mathew Tuson, Nuala Chapple, Jake Smith, Donna Quinn and Jake Turvey

The Centre for Social Impact UWA was a key research partner on the Zero Project. Led by Ruah Community Services, the project adopts a ‘Housing First’ model and an Advance to Zero methodology.

What are the health, social and economic benefits of providing public housing and support to formerly homeless people? 

Published: July 2016
Authors: Lisa Wood, Paul Flatau, Kaylene Zaretsky, Sarah Foster, Shannen Vallesi and Darja Miscenko

The National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) was introduced in 2009 as a joint Commonwealth/State and Territory initiative designed to address homelessness in Australia, and our research program examines five NPAH programs in WA.

Evaluation of a Regional Family Domestic Violence Service

In progress
Authors: Dr Leanne Lester

This research evaluates a phone counselling services for those affected by family domestic violence in WA’s regional communities. People living in regional, rural, and remote areas who experience family and domestic violence face specific issues related to their location and the cultural and social characteristics of living in small communities.

Our partner DVassist provides much needed counselling services for those affected by family domestic violence in WA’s regional communities. The evaluation showed over a 20-month period, DVassist recorded over 2,500 calls with the majority of calls focused on counselling.

Natural Disaster Financial Recovery Support Project

In progress
Authors: Mariana Atkins, Paul Flatau, Leanne Lester, Emma Crane and Syarif Abdul-Wahed

The Financial Counsellors Association of Western Australia (FCAWA) has engaged the Centre for Social Impact at The University of Western Australia to develop a Natural Disaster Financial Recovery Framework and evaluate a suite of supports for financial counsellors.

Evaluation of Centrecare’s entrypoint outreach program: Supporting families facing homelessness 

Published: September 2023
Authors: Paul Flatau, David O'Shaughnessy, Leanne Lester, Lisette Kaleveld and Reuben Lester

CSI UWA was engaged to evaluate Centrecare’s Entrypoint Outreach Program (EPO) — A preventative early intervention pilot funded by Lotterywest designed to stop homelessness before it occurs by diverting families and individuals away from homelessness (often in the rental housing market).

The brief intervention (2–6 weeks) targeted families who were newly homeless or were at immediate risk of homelessness in a very tight rental market.

‘We can see future possibilities now’: An evaluation of Bridging the Gap’s PLAN project

Published: May 2023
Authors: Mariana Atkins, Emma Crane and Syarif Abdul-Wahed

In 2020 Bridging the Gap (BTG) identified a significant gap in services for parents experiencing domestic violence, homelessness or housing instability, unemployment, mental health issues and financial hardship in areas of the Peel region (WA). To address this, the Parents, Learning, Advancing, Nurturing (PLAN) project was created to assist vulnerable parents aged 18-64, offering holistic, high-touch case management with both practical and relational aspects of support that transcended traditional service boundaries.

Funded by Lotterywest and evaluated by the Centre for Social Impact UWA team from October 2021 to June 2023, the PLAN project gives targeted support through a bespoke suite of activities.

Evaluating the Aspire Social Impact bond

Published: August 2022
Authors: Veronica Coram, Leanne Lester, Selina Tually, Michale Kyron, Kelly McKinley, Paul Flatau and Ian Goodwin-Smith

The Centre for Social Impact Flinders and UWA conducted an evaluation of the Aspire Social Impact Bond in Adelaide - a program which delivers intensive wraparound support over a three-year period to help people secure housing, while addressing other issues in their lives.

Mentoring 2 Work Project Evaluation

Published: June 2022
Authors: Dr Mariana Atkins, Zoe Callis, Lisette Kaleveld and Dr Ami Seivwright

The Mentoring 2 Work (M2W) Project was designed to assist unemployed young people in WA find work through one-on-one mentoring support, with a focus on career exploration, job-readiness and finding a job. Researchers from Centre for Social Impact UWA evaluated the project across four reports.

Evaluation Report: Career Readiness for Young Parents

Published: June 2022
Authors: Duc Dau and Mariana Atkins

The Career Readiness for Young Parents (CRFYP) program seeks to empower young parents to address barriers to their employment and gain critical skills for future work. The Centre for Social Impact UWA assessed the program, finding that participants experience a high degree of satisfaction.

An Oasis of Integration in Our Country: Evaluation of the Multicultural Enterprise Development Project

Published: April 2022
Authors: Mariana Atkins, Duc Dau and Alina Evans

The Multicultural Enterprise Development Project is a joint initiative of the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre Inc. (MMRC) in partnership with Multicultural Futures Inc. (MF) and is funded by the Commonwealth Government under the Department of Social Services - Try, Test and Learn Tranche 2. The project aims to deliver enterprise development support to refugees, humanitarian entrants and people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Metropolitan Perth through two programs: a Collective Enterprise Incubator Program; and an Individual Enterprise Accelerator Program.

Homelessness Deep Dive

Service Innovation Deep Dive

Published: November 2021
Authors: Ami Seivwright, Ariella Meltzer, Meera Varadharajan, Perri Campbell, Mariana Atkins, Lisette Kaleveld and Erin Wilson

Acknowledging the significant impact of COVID-19 on community services, a team of Centre for Social impact researchers from UWA, Swinburne and UNSW sought to understand the ways in which organisations in the aged care, disability, and emergency relief sectors innovated during COVID-19.

Mental Health Deep Dive

Published: October 2021
Authors: Lisette Kaleveld, Yasmine Hooper, Kelly Clark, Rachael Dufour, Aleksandra Olekalns and Aurora Elmes

The Mental Health Deep Dive examines how mental health and wellbeing is faring in Australia, finding that current funding models for youth mental health services have untapped potential in improving issues such as staff burnout, high costs and disrupted service provision to young people in need.

Zonta House Impact Report – Family and Domestic Violence

Published: May 2021
Authors: Leanne Lester, Ami Seivwright, Paul Flatau, Emma Crane, Kiara Minto and Zoe Callis

The Centre for Social Impact UWA prepared a research report for Perth-based Zonta House Refuge Association to measure the impact of their services and programs available for women experiencing family and domestic violence.

Journey to Social Inclusion Evaluation

Published: August 2020
Authors: Paul Flatau, Ami Seivwright, Zoe Callis, Monica Thielking, Jessica Mackelprang, Kathryn Taylor, Louise La Sala, Bronte McLeod and Jude Spiers

A randomised controlled trial to assess a modified homelessness intervention (J2SI Mark II)

The journey to social inclusion intervention project (J2SI) currently being undertaken by Sacred Heart Mission in Melbourne aims to break the cycle of chronic-long term homelessness and improve housing and health outcomes of those experiencing homelessness in Melbourne. They are achieving this by providing intensive trauma-informed case management over a three-year period. The CSI UWA is engaged in a randomised controlled trial impact evaluation of the difference the J2SI intervention is having across a broad range of domains (e.g. health, education, housing, social inclusion). Linked administrative data will also be used to evaluate the changes in outcomes as a result of the intervention and assess the cost-effectiveness of the service.

Zero Project: Housing First Coordination for WA 

Published: 2017-2022
Authors: Shannen Vallesi, Lisa Wood, Angela Gazey, Craig Cumming, Kaylene Zarekzy, Elise Irwin, Nicholas Wood, Paul Flatau, Leanne Lester, Darja Kragt, Mathew Tuson, Nuala Chapple, Jake Smith, Donna Quinn and Jake Turvey

The Centre for Social Impact UWA was a key research partner on the Zero Project. Led by Ruah Community Services, the project adopts a ‘Housing First’ model and an Advance to Zero methodology.