SSI is one of the leading service providers in the employment sector. Our state and federal funded programs are designed to work in partnership with employers to help find the right candidate to fulfil business needs.

Our team will help your organisation to plan and recruit for the future. With access to quality talent, and support to build a diverse workforce and inclusive culture, we will co-design a workforce development model together.

Our 3,000 plus candidates offer a diverse range of skills and qualifications across a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, abilities, and life stages, allowing employers to embrace workplace diversity whilst providing important community support.

As a registered social enterprise, we work with corporate and nonprofit organisations to bring employers skilled individuals from CALD, refugee, and migrant backgrounds. Find out more by getting in touch with our team below:

Address: Level 2/45 – 47 Scott Street, Liverpool NSW 2170

P: 02 9600 3100 or 0481 484 111
E: employment@ssi.org.au

Women very often have a deep understanding of the issues that face children and families in their communities. But cultural and economic barriers can stand in the way of them making themselves heard.

Our CALD Women’s Advisory Group in the City of Logan, south of Brisbane, provides a forum for women from diverse backgrounds to come together to discuss issues and challenges within their community and to look for viable solutions. As a united front, they increase their chances of being heard by decision makers and government.

When families can’t access the health services they need, children often suffer the most. The Child Health Pathway project aims to support vulnerable children by empowering their families to navigate the health system successfully.

Funded through the Brisbane South Primary Health Network (BS-PHN) and delivered in partnership with The Salvation Army, the project supports the families of children who attend the Logan Community Hubs. A key focus is on families from CALD backgrounds or with communication difficulties.

In 2016, we heard the voices of the community and introduced a Gateway community space for locals to drop in and receive information, advice or referral.

The Gateway continues to coordinate from an integrated response model, whereby local services outreach from the centre and collaborate on strategies around local community issues. We facilitate a number of internal programs for improving the economic and social participation of newly arrived communities. The SSI Gateway can be booked to run events and other community-focused work.

There are several large training rooms and small interview rooms available to hire via our external booking process.

To find out more about what’s on at SSI Gateway or to enquire about booking space for your next event/workshop/meeting, please either drop in, email or phone us.

SSI Gateway is located at 91 Wembley Road, Logan Central, QLD 

E: acsl.gatewayofficer@ssi.org.au
P: 07 3412 8222
Monday – Friday 8.30am – 4.30pm

Peer-to-peer support groups are a powerful way to connect people with disability to information that can greatly improve their lives. They also play an important role in bringing the disability community together to advocate for themselves and others.

The best part about these groups? Anyone can start one. With the right tools and resources, you can create a safe space for people with lived experience of disability to connect with each other, access advice, learn skills and become more independent.

Read on to find out how to form a peer-to-peer support group in your community and what free resources and training SSI now offers for community organisations to upskill and run their own groups.

For more information on the Multicultural Peer Network, email community@ssi.org.au.

In 2020, SSI created a successful model for running disability support groups in multicultural communities across NSW called the Multicultural Peer Network (MPN).

The MPN was a collection of impactful, peer-led support groups which promoted independence among people with lived experience of disability from multicultural communities, as well their carers and families.

The program was funded through the Department of Social Services (DSS).

During the MPN program, SSI found tailoring disability support groups to different cultures, languages and interests had a vastly positive impact on people with disability in these spaces.

With a focus on guiding participants on advocacy and helping them gain new skills, 84% of participants agreed they were more knowledgeable about their rights and 85% felt they had new skills to help them achieve their goals.

With the resources from the MPN program now publicly available, community leaders and organisations can be empowered to start their own peer groups.

View the NEW Training Manual – a new, free interactive way to learn how to run peer led support groups.

In this video, hear from the MPN Program coordinator Susie who gives an overview of the two facilitator guides and how best to use them in discussion groups.

Facilitator training

SSI offers free facilitator training for community organisations and individuals interested in starting their own community peer groups deepening their facilitator skills.

To learn more about the resources on this webpage, facilitator training or other ways SSI supports community organisations, email community@ssi.org.au.

Facilitator guides

These facilitator guides are designed for community organisations to use as a handbook for workshop facilitation and to gain valuable skills in facilitating group discussions.

Book 1: The MPN Model provides an overview of the practice model for engaging with people of CALD backgrounds and disability, including an in-depth explanation of the key principles of the model, their outcomes, and capacity building in utilising this model. View the NEW Training Manual – a new, free interactive way to learn how to run peer-led support groups.

Book 2: This guide is a compilation of resources that can be used by peer facilitators to run a peer group, including how to help people learn about self-advocacy, circles of support, volunteering, and employment.

SSI disability support services

For more information about SSI’s disability support services in NSW, please visit our Local Area Coordination services page or email ssilac@ndis.gov.au.

Settling refugees in regional towns and cities benefits newcomers and local communities alike. The refugees enjoy a more relaxed introduction to Australia and make important social, cultural and economic contributions to their host communities. 

SSI provides regional settlement services in Coffs Harbour, Newcastle and Armidale. Working under the Commonwealth’s Humanitarian Settlement Program, staff engage refugees, humanitarian entrants and local stakeholders to ensure successful, long-term settlement outcomes. 

People living with disability have an enormous capacity to contribute to the community through work. Our Diversi-Ready program provides training and supports to employers in the retail, hospitality and aged care industries to build their confidence and capability to recruit and retain people with disability in their workforces.

Funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services’ Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) program, Diversi-Ready supports greater inclusion and accommodation of people with disabilities at the workplace. We have co-designed the program with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people with disabilities and have collaborated with industry bodies, employers, disability peak organisations and multicultural peak bodies and organisations.

About the Health Impact Project 

The first few years of an individual’s life are critical to their long-term health and wellbeing. The Health Impact Project (HIP) provides an innovative place-based approach to supporting CALD children 0-8 years to achieve optimum health, wellbeing and developmental outcomes. HIP strives to remove complex barriers so that CALD families can successfully access a wide range of health promotion and early intervention activities at Community Hubs Logan. Our approach ensures holistic and planned interventions with effective coordination of resources and complementary services that are unintrusive, practical and directed by participants​​.

Key health promotion and early intervention activities include:

• Child health nurse outreach
• Oral health service outreach
• Speech therapy
• Music therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Kids gross motor programs
• Cultural cooking and nutrition classes
• Gentle exercise and stretching
• Dance classes
• School readiness workshops
• Developmental workshops
• Water safety programs
• Tailored parenting programs
• Referrals to relevant support services

We deliver these services in partnership with 5 local school-based hubs – Woodridge SS, Woodridge North SS, Marsden SS, St Pauls Primary and St Francis College. Key HIP principles include provision of culturally responsive, trauma-informed, strengths-based, wraparound supports for children and families.

The Health Impact Project is run through the Woodridge, Woodridge North, St Pauls, St Francis, and Marsden Community Hubs in Logan, Queensland.

E: acsl.gatewayofficer@ssi.org.au

P: 07 3412 9980

We offer organisations an opportunity to book a wide range of highly skilled in-language and in-culture professionals. Our 170+ Multicultural Support Officers build trust and rapport through lived experience and shared culture. This enables them to connect more meaningfully by offering enhanced levels of support across 50+ different languages throughout NSW and Queensland.

Embracing diversity and building cultural responsiveness is integral to every business and organisation. Developing and promoting engagement with culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD) empowers your participants by establishing their autonomy to help them thrive and realise their full potential. In addition, your business or organisation can tap into the knowledge and understanding derived from our long history of serving multicultural communities and established relationships.

In-language and in-culture services for activities such as:

• Supporting individuals and families in the CALD community: including settlement orientation, form filling, building digital literacy and connecting communities with services and activities
• Engagement, transport and supervision of children and young people in care
• Workshop facilitation or support
• Co-designing services, programs, and projects
• Community Engagement: supporting business to connect to community

Our Multicultural Workforce includes Multicultural Support Officers who have acquired additional skills developed through study and experience in Australia and overseas.

Our wide range of specialised skills includes:

• Administration and customer support
• Research and data collection (NSW only)
• Case management
• Accredited interpreting and translation
• Tech support for online events
• Events support
• Complex case support
• Specialised children and young people support (NSW Metro and Victoria Metro only)

There are several flexible ways that our Multicultural Support Officers can be engaged, including in-person and online, as well one-off or as an ongoing arrangement. They are based on an hourly rate, with a minimum engagement of three hours for in-person services and one hour for remote services.

Contact us to find out more about how we can be of value to you: workforcebookings@ssi.org.au.

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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s lives can be long-lasting. The federal government’s Workforce Australia Local Jobs program aims to reskill, upskill and develop employment pathways that assist people to move back into jobs as the economy recovers

SSI provides job coordinator services under the program across the Sydney South-West, Gold Coast and Wivenhoe regions in New South Wales and Queensland. We connect employers and training providers with job seekers.

Eligible job seekers on a jobactive, New Employment Services Trial or Transition to Work caseload may be able to participate in the Workforce Australia Local Jobs program. Please contact your employment service provider to be referred to one of our job coordinators.