.Jeanette Slater and her daughter, Claire Housden both work within the Social and Community Services space at Anglicare Southern Queensland.
Jeanette started with Anglicare in 2000 and has worked across multiple locations. From the Anglican Women’s Hostel in New Farm, which was a specialist homelessness service providing supported crisis and short-term accommodation for single women over the age of 18, to Woolloongabba, Buranda, Riverview and Booval.
Her daughter, Claire, has been an Admin Officer in the InSync Youth Service team based in Cleveland since 2020.
Anglicare Southern Queensland’s InSync Admin Officer Claire Housden with her mum Jeanette Slater, Admin Officer with the Riverview Social and Community Services team
Confronting homelessness statistics
In response to our 2022 Rental Affordability Snapshot, Claire said, “It shocked me to see how many people we have living homeless.”
“The extent of the need, the extent of the homelessness, that there aren’t enough services that come and pick up the homeless and take them to homeless shelters. Moreover, there aren’t enough homeless shelters to accommodate them.”
When Claire’s mum began working at the women’s hostel in 2000, she would often volunteer.
“I spent a couple of years on the Board of Community Housing Association, so I had half a clue. But it was confronting when I had a call from a mum with her pre-school-aged children sleeping at the beach at Victoria Point. I asked her “do you have warm enough sleeping bags,” because our case workers couldn’t find a vacancy anywhere for them,” she said.
“It was three or four days before we got her housed and that, now, is a miracle to get someone housed in such a short time.
“It’s just heartbreaking.”
A motivation to contribute
This is the sentiment her mum, Jeanette, shares. “I like the idea of working for an organisation that wants to do good in the communities that we live in as we’re all part of a society.
When Jeanette was commuting from her house in Ipswich to New Farm in the early 2000’s, it was no easy feat. It was before the new motorway was built and the roads weren’t as safe as they are now. After seven years of working at the women’s hostel, Jeanette came across a job advert looking for an Admin Officer for the Ipswich office in 2007.
Jeanette spends three days a week at the Booval office and the other two at Riverview as an Admin Officer. The team provides support, group education and counselling to adults, couples, families, children and young people. They assist people with relationship difficulties, so they can better manage personal or interpersonal issues to do with children, relationships and family. The goal is to enhance family relationships and family wellbeing.
Jeanette’s “love for her job” is what inspired her daughter Claire to follow in her footsteps.
Claire’s career change to our Social and Community Services
The COVID-19 pandemic was the catalyst for change for Claire to find a new career pathway. She was one of thousands to find themselves jobless due to lock downs and industry shutdowns. At the time, Claire was working in entertainment and selling shows globally. As a result, demand ground to a halt.
“I began searching for work and I just typed in ‘Cleveland’ and up came a job for a tenancy admin worker at InSync Youth Service with Anglicare,” she said. “…and immediately when I saw Anglicare, I thought this would be a great job. I knew mum had a fulfilling time working at the Anglican Women Hostel and this was a similar job where I could make a difference.”
“I also had the skillset and the certificate. I’d been a property manager before my job in entertainment, so I applied for the job without telling mum.”
“When I finished the interview, I felt that I had a chance. So, I called mum and told her I had applied at Anglicare… they called me that day and asked if I could start the next week and I was so thrilled.”
Claire said she has never been in a more fulfilling role and she knows she’s making a real difference to the lives of many people.
“It’s a job that directly helps people and I haven’t had that before,” she said.
“This has been the most fulfilling job I’ve ever had. I remember having a conversation with a local homeless person and he said to me ‘nobody has spoken to me for six weeks’,” Claire said. “He hadn’t had a conversation with another human being for six weeks, because people don’t notice homeless people, or if they do, they look down at the ground and keep walking the other way.”
Most rewarding moments
Claire shared some of her most memorable and rewarding moments since working in her role.
“Being able to find a transitional property for the mum and her two children who were sleeping on the beach at Victoria Point in winter was rewarding. Without interacting with our service, they could’ve been on the streets for longer than they were,” Claire said.
Another moment that stands out to Claire is one that happened a few years ago. A school counsellor had contacted her team to let them know of a young person who needed to leave their family home but had nowhere else to go. The team searched the Queensland Homelessness Information Platform (QHIP) daily, determined to help that young person.
“One afternoon a vacancy popped up, and the team were able to get them in. This was a miracle because these days there are 30-40 referrals for every vacancy, whether it be for crisis or transitional accommodation.”
An eye-opening moment
Claire grew up in a safe and loving home with a good support structure. After seeing the amount of vulnerable children lacking that safety and security has been an “eye opening” experience for her.
“I’ve had a loving family my whole life. To realise that some children, are calling through their school guidance counsellors saying they don’t want to go home because of drug and alcohol abuse at home. That is confronting,” she said.
“It’s an incredibly sad situation.”
Learn more about a career in Social and Community Services
To learn more about opportunities within our Social and Community Services space, please visit our Careers page. Like Jeanette and Claire, you might find a rewarding opportunity to make a meaningful impact on your local community.
