Community of Practice creating meaningful program development

Carmen Auer is passionate about supporting young people to find meaningful jobs that suit their skills and aspirations. After working with young people for over 16 years, Carmen also understands that deep collaboration with other partner organisations is vital. The Transition to Work National Community of Practice (CoP) uses research to continuously improve the program. This ensures the program’s successful and consistent delivery.

Carmen is General Manager of GenZ Employment in Queensland, one of the 12 TTW CoP providers. “We help young people to set and achieve their employment and education goals by focusing on the strengths and abilities they already have.”

“Our core work involves building a young person’sskills, confidence and readinessfor work.”

“Working in partnership with other organisations takes what we do to the next level.” The TTW providers national Community of Practice has met regularly over the past four years to refine and improve the service. “We always feel reinvigorated after meeting with everyone,” says Carmen.

“We share all our data and learnings, warts and all. The Brotherhood of St Laurence is a very good facilitator, bringing people together, so everyone learns from each other. They have been with us every step of the way.” The TTW national Community of Practice aims to be a voice to government on working together to improve opportunities for young people.

The Transition to Work (TTW) national Community of Practice (CoP) is a collaboration between 11 of the 43 program providers across Australia. In 13 regions, the CoP providers and their partners are implementing a consistent approach to the delivery of the Transition to Work service.