Two of Orygen’s vocational specialists have today been awarded international fellowships by Jobs Victoria.
Gina Chinnery, the national vocational services manager at Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, and Jaimee Lee Volkov, a vocational worker at headspace Sunshine, will use the fellowships to explore the ways international employment services deliver employment opportunities to young people experiencing barriers to employment, such as mental ill-health.
Ms Chinnery will use her fellowship to explore mental health vocational programs that include peer work or the innovative use of technology to help young people with mental ill-health find employment.
“This fellowship will give me an opportunity to meet with leading international researchers and service providers to review best practice, develop partnership opportunities and share that knowledge with employment and youth mental health services in Australia,” Ms Chinnery said.
Ms Volkov’s fellowship will take her to Nordic Europe to where she will gain a better understanding of innovative and emerging employment services and practices that address the barriers faced by young jobseekers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Working at headspace Sunshine, Ms Volkov has seen an increase in the number of young people with ASD registering for employment assistance.
“ASD affects 1 in 100 Australians and people with ASD are six times more likely to be unemployed than people without a disability,” Ms Volkov said. “I want to see why Nordic countries are securing better outcomes for their young jobseekers and bring that knowledge back to Melbourne to apply to the work we are doing here.”
The Jobs Victoria International Fellowships provide an opportunity for practitioners working within contracted Jobs Victoria partner organisations to investigate and explore models and approaches overseas that deliver mainstream employment outcomes for jobseekers facing barriers to employment.