Campbelltown-based SSI staff partnered with MacArthur Diversity Services Initiative (MDSI) in November, to take a group refugee and asylum seeker clients on a day trip to beautiful Fitzroy Falls in the Southern Highlands.
The excursion was a chance for SSI and MDSI case managers to engage with the men outside the office environment, to give them an opportunity to meet others in similar situations, and to enhance their wellbeing through a fun and novel experience.
Twelve clients took the hour-long bus trip with staff, then went bushwalking to the east-rim lookout to view the falls and on to the west-rim lookout to view the gullies. A National Parks ranger was on hand to provide information about the local fauna and flora.
Food for a barbecue lunch was kindly donated by Campbelltown businesses, El Sadik Supermarket Grocers and Campbelltown Meatex, and drinks were provided by McDonald’s Woodbine.
“Clients really enjoyed the day,” SSI case manager Lisa Keith said. “They appreciated the interaction with each other, making friendships with people from other cultural backgrounds. And it allowed case managers to engage in conversations and with clients – about their journeys, their families – and also laugh together.”
“We are now in the planning stages of a beach fishing trip and a day with the North Wollongong Surf Life Savers,” she added.
December 4, 2014