APM ParentsNext - Future Possibilities in Adelaide transcript

Tracy Jackson: Hi, and welcome to APM's ParentsNext Program. I'm Tracy Jackson, general manager here at APM. And I'd like to start by saying how excited we are to have an opportunity to work with you and your families on realizing your own possibilities for the future. Here at APM, our teams across south Australia, Victoria, and Cairns are here to support you on your own individual journeys. 

We know that being a parent can be one of the most rewarding experiences. However, we also know it can be pretty challenging at times. So we're here to provide you with the supports, the networks, accessibility to training and programs that are going to assist you in being able to develop your own pathways. 

Throughout this video, we'll share with you some information that will outline training opportunities, share with you the community stakeholders that we have partnerships with in your local areas, and we're also really excited to share with you some stories from some of our parents across the country, who've realized their own successes. And hopefully you'll have an opportunity to find someone that you feel that you can align with, and it might even spark some ideas that you'd like to then take away and have a talk to your local consultant about. 

So let's have a look at some parents just like you, who started their journeys in realizing their own future possibilities. 

Charlotte Chibe: My name is Charlotte. I have only one baby. The name is Robert, and they called me like "you need to come to Elizabeth ParentsNext. I didn't know what is going on with them. When I came here, they told me like "you are too young. Your baby's eight months old. Maybe you can choose your own things you want to do. If you want to go back to school or you want to do the course, just do your decision". Then I decide now to do my course. I was doing Aged Care and Disability. Both of them together. Then I finished now, so I'm looking for a job. Because they helped me a lot of things. They helped me a lot. 

Jodie Leech: Hi, my name's Jodie. I'm the business manager here at ParentsNext in Adelaide North. 

Charlotte came with her young son, and he was two. She was unsure of what she might like to do, so sort of exploring things. And she decided that she'd like to work in Aged Care. Charlotte completed her training with Total Training Solutions. We offer a lot of our participants to them because they do offer flexible training and they're very supportive and we'll provide additional class time if needed for students to catch up. They also find placements for them when they've got to do their work trials. 

From when Charlotte presented in parents next for initial appointment to now that she's completed her qualifications, she's a lot more confident in her abilities, and she's certainly motivated to find employment in the industry, and I suppose, make a better life for her and her child. 

Navneet Kaur: My name is Navneet Kaur. I'm the director of Total Training Solutions, Adelaide. We are a district training organization. We have two campuses in Adelaide. One is in Parafield Garden and one in Noarlunga Centre. 

So Charlotte came to us from APM ParentsNext, and she was lovely. She had a young child who was under one year old. So we've done a flexible training with her. 

We're doing courses since 2015 and since 2017, we're working with APM and ParentsNext. We have lots of students from ParentsNext and they have a successful completion. And after successful completion, 70% of them managed to secure a job as well with the help of APM and ParentsNext. 

Kylie Burke: My name's Kylie Burke. I have a five year old little boy and I've been with ParentsNext now for about 12 months when I first came to ParentsNext, no, I had no idea what they were doing, but Kylie explained it pretty well to me. And yeah, I kind of told her what I was aiming for. And she kind of sent me in the right direction. 

My goal was to become a personal trainer. At the time, I was still focusing on my own, like trying to fix out myself first. And then by the beginning of this year, I wanted to start my Certificate four in Health and Fitness. Kylie put me into a program which was to help me build a resume. And it wasn't just to build a resume, as well. They actually taught me how to look for jobs and get everything ready to start work. 

Definitely finishing my course. That was my number one goal. And then landing a job pretty much about a week before I finished, I walked out with employment. Kylie worked around my hours with Riley. And when it came to doing my activities, she found an activity that suited my time slot. So I got to get in there. It's helped me by leading me in the direction that I needed to go. Before I started, I knew I had to enroll with TAFE, and that was about it. 

If you got any questions, don't be scared to ask your ParentsNext person and just follow your dreams. You'll get it, if you want it. 

Kylie Underhill: My name is Kylie. I am a Parent and Family Pathway Planner at APM for the Salisbury office. 

When she first came in to see me, she was quiet, shy. She was quiet. She knew what she wanted, but it was about trying to help guide her to achieve her goals. In the meantime, we looked into other short courses and there was one run at the Morella Community Center called I Want To Work. And Kylie said it was perfect. It was only... I think it was a day a week, which she could work around Riley's kindy. And it meant that she could work on her skill development, creating a resume, cover letter and actually further exploring sort of the career paths she wanted to take. 

So basically I've seen Kylie blossom. She comes in confident. You could see that she's just a totally different person from when she first started. She's got direction. She knows what she wants. She knows how to get it. We did an assessment a little while ago, as well, and she said "I don't even know what to put anymore. I've met all my goals. I've done what I wanted to do. And now I'm happy". So to me that's perfect. 

Alison Davies: I'm Allison, I'm the coordinator here at Morella Community Center. We run a range of programs designed to meet the needs of the community around us. These can range from accredited and non-accredited foundation skills programs. So everything from English language and IT, through to some vocational-based programs, and programs like I Want To Work, which Kylie participated in. 

Morella works closely with ParentsNext to ensure that people can have an entry point into a program or an opportunity that's right for them at the time. Adult community education is a really great way of developing learning aspirations and they can extend beyond just the parent coming in. We've seen examples where parents have changed what they thought they could achieve and where they could go to, to the extent where that impacts on a family, where children see their parents learning as well. That's pretty powerful. 

Tracy Jackson: So thank you for giving APM, the opportunity to share with you some of our parents' stories, introduce you to some of the networks and partnerships that we have across the country. We hope that you found some value in what we've shared with you today, and that we've left you with the opportunity to really think about what the right next step is for you on your own journey in establishing your possibilities for the future. We look forward to working with you.