What kind of...
*Laughs*
This is black and white.
Okay I'm just playing.
Hi everyone! I'm Xenia.
Welcome back to another episode
of Hired Or Fired.
Today I'm here at the Social Service Office
at Taman Jurong.
And I'm going to be a
ComLink Engagement Officer for a day.
I have never heard of
the job title before.
But I do know about social service.
Last time in university I took a module
and it's called social work.
And that's the only module which I scored A.
I think it's similar.
Let's go!
My name is Wari.
I'm the team leader of
the regional services team
at Social Service Office Boon Lay
at Taman Jurong.
I've been working here for
about four years now.
I currently train the new
ComLink Engagement Officers
in our team.
So ComLink is a nation-wide initiative
that was implemented to provide
greater support to families with young children
residing in public rental housing.
So we help them achieve stability,
self-reliance as well as social mobility.
We go out, engage families,
find out what are their hopes,
wishes and more importantly, the needs.
Then we work together with partners
to help families with more complex needs.
And we also
work together with
community agencies
to help bring together
services and programs
as well and curate them to meet the
needs of our town.
Hi I'm Xenia!
Hi Xenia I'm Wari.
I'm going to be your mentor for today
Nice!
What will I be doing today?
So you're going to complete three tasks
Number one: you're going to conduct a
Needs Assesment (NA) Survey,
Number two: you're going to
come up with an action plan
for a case conference,
Three: you're going to be volunteering
for a ComLink Programme.
I can do it.
Because there are some terms that I
learned before in school.
But okay, don't set your expectations
too high.
It's okay, don't worry.
Actually, I've never heard of those terms before.
I'm setting the benchmark
really low. It's okay.
Okay let's go!
Alright Xenia are you ready for your first task?
Yes but I don't really know what it is.
The Needs Assesment Survey typically takes
around 35-45 minutes.
And basically what we're doing
is that we're having a chit chat
with the family.
To kind of understand and suss out
what are their needs, hopes and aspirations.
And also assess if they require
further support from agencies.
We try and do this
face to face as far as possible.
We want to be able to
read off certain visual cues
or even verbal cues.
So for example,
if you notice the families' eyes are
- darting around. Correct. - Like they're a little scared.
Looking at everywhere else
but you.
They're going to be asked
a range of questions,
asking them about their employment situation,
their financial situation,
how many kids they have,
how many people are
staying in their household,
about their health issues.
[More and more questions]
So are you ready?
Always ready! Let's go!
Hi Xenia we're here at
one of the rental blocks
in Boon Lay and we're
going to try out the
Needs Assessment Survey with one
of the families staying here.
Her name is Madam Salimah.
Let's meet Madam Salimah!
Hi Madam Salimah. I am Xenia.
I am the ComLink Engagement Officer
for today.
So what Xenia is doing here today is
basically asking questions to better
understand what your situation is like
right now.
So it should be quite easy.
It depends on what your questions are.
It's very simple.
For example, are you working?
Okay, no I'm not working.
Okay.
I'm the housewife.
Do you have children?
Yes I have four children.
Okay.
When did you move in here?
2014.
Oh 2014.
Yes.
So is everything okay?
Like around here?
If you want to say okay,
you'd be lying.
This is how life is like.
At least we have a shelter
rather than not having one right.
What other support do you think
you need right now that maybe
we can help you with?
Yeah, with my bills.
The financial side of things.
Yeah.
Can you tell that it's my first day?
Oh this is your first day?
That's good.
Thank you.
Okay so we are done.
And I realized
that it is not as simple
as just asking questions.
So when you ask how is it? is it okay
in relation to housing maybe you can ask
questions like
"Okay so I understand you've been in the
rental flat for this many years,
do you have any intention to eventually
get a place of your own?
And how has the journey been like so far?"
Even though you jumped around,
it was very helpful for you to
make sure that the conversation was a bit more fluid
and not very "Hang on just look at this question".
So good job!
Not too bad for a start.
So now let's move on to task two.
What we're going to do right now is
to coordinate an action plan for a family
with complex issues.
They usually have a lot of different agencies working
together with the family.
So it's very important to bring these agencies
together to align ourselves on a common action plan.
Okay so we have a family of 10 that's currently staying
in a two room rental flat.
We have Mr Adam, he's in his thirties, he's the sole breadwinner
doesn't really have stable employment.
His wife Mdm Jane is also in her thirties,
she wants to work but she also needs to
take care of the young children.
So during the needs assessment
we picked up the family did not have
a washing machine at home.
They also noted that there were some hygiene issues.
Eight children in this family,
ranging all the way from 14 to two months old.
They are some that are also facing some issues right?
Rightly pointed out.
So you notice those that are in primary school,
all three of them are facing absenteeism issues.
Huh? Then how do we help if they don't want to go to school?
Last time my mother just take the cane and like that.
This case, I think that's where we kind of turn the question
around on you right?
So you're going to be coming up with an action plan
for this family.
We have something called the Social Assistance Assessment Framework (SAAF).
But basically, we use this tool to kind of structure and organize
how we pick out and identify the needs of the family.
From the biggest obstacle they have to overcome right now
as a family is for Mr Adam
to find a more stable job.
It is written there that she needs to take care of
the young children that means she doesn't have a lot
of social support.
Like she cannot just give her babies to her sister and be like
"You help me to take care of them and I'll go and work."
You know?
She definitely needs some support.
The three children.
Hygiene issues.
They don't have a washing machine.
It's like a Venn diagram you know?
Both encapsulate one another.
I think finance.
Since the shelter part is not that they don't have house.
[Xenia thinking noises]
It's okay that they miss a few days of school,
we come in first.
Are they like that?
So you've more or less gotten
the main categories right.
But I'd introduce one more category into the picture.
I knew it!
I said this is a Venn diagram with this.
We first look at the children.
So this is number one?
Yes number one, that's right.
When the children's developmental needs are not met,
that is already kind of a red flag for us.
We also wanna look at the support for this family.
Eight children is no joke.
What the social worker did was to provide counseling to Mdm Jane,
to help support her with her parenting stresses.
Steady employment.
We already see that this is affecting the family self reliance.
So what happens after focusing on employment,
is we look at whether the family require any other help
with managing their day-to-day expenses.
And last but not least, shelter.
What we did was to link them up with Housing Development Board's (HDB)
Home Ownership Support Team.
Basically a three room resale flat which is now where they
are actually staying at so they no longer stay in a rental flat.
It's also about empowering families to believe that they can do it.
Yeah which I think is the reason why I got the priorities wrong.
For me, I just think of practical ways to help them.
But this way, we help them figure it out themselves.
Exactly.
Actually not bad I got one, two, three, four.
Missing out just this.
Honestly Xenia I think you did quite a good job.
It's also good that you kind of try to put yourself in the family's shoes.
Okay Xenia so we've come to the end of task two.
We're going to move on to task three now.
Alright Xenia now that you've completed your first two tasks
you're down to your final task for today.
Yes!
So you're going to be facilitating a ComLink programme.
In total we have about 59 ComLink programmes across Singapore.
59?
59 that's right.
So for today's challenge you're going to be facilitating an activity
that's being run by 3Pumpkins.
I'd like to introduce you to Shiyun.
She's the creative director of 3Pumpkins.
Hi I'm Xenia.
Hello.
So TTKC or Tak Takut Kids Club is a space where we welcome all children.
So they don't have to be from a rental flat,
they could be also be from the BTO nearby.
So that we don't label the kids.
So our space basically is to promote better social connection
through playing, discovering their strengths and supporting their interests.
So mainly what you have to do is play together, have conversations
and just feel free.
Okay.
In fact we always tell our volunteers don't teach but play.
Oh.
But then that's a very easy task I guess?
So Xenia later on when you are playing with them the task is to make a monster.
Monster?
And then from there you just improvise and play along.
Okay.
So for instance if you could identify a technique that a child is using
you can highlight that. So that everybody else can try.
Vilen, Hani and Sulaiman, I'm Xenia.
Okay so basically with these two, we are going to make a monster.
It can be anything.
What- what kind of...
This is black and white.
Okay I'm just playing.
Xenia just play.
I'm going to learn from Sulaiman.
Because this is so nice.
Let's start the countdown.
10
No!
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
I'm not done!
But I've not done the leg.
Yours is already so nice!
You guys didn't listen to the rules. She said times up already.
I'm struggling inside.
I've always been very awkward with children.
So do you all ever feel awkward when you're around new people?
Cause sometimes I do and I don't know what to do.
For me, if there's a new person coming into my class, I just don't care.
I just walk away.
Okay. Yay.
I honestly feel like I've learned more from them in this session
than they have learned anything from me.
I constantly feel the need to help when maybe this session
is really just accompanying them.
Maybe at this stage of my life I forget how it's like to just
be curious. I think curiosity is something that they taught me today.
Thank you so much guys. I had a lot of fun.
I am very nervous to hear about my evaluation.
Actually its quite common for first-timers to come to TTKC
and they don't know what to do.
Because there's nothing to do.
Do you feel that way? Like you were hoping to teach them something.
So I feel that there was one point that you were very genuine and very vulnerable.
You actually shared with them that you don't know what to do.
Yeah.
And then the conversation happened.
Yeah.
So that is something almost like a breaking point
where friendship really happens.
Sometimes I realize that I'm someone who's very quick to help.
And I just want to solve problems.
But today I realized that maybe that's the best way to help.
The best way to help might just be to empower them
to solve their own problems.
And it was very enriching on its own.
So I hope I get hired, then maybe next time I level up you know?
Talk to kids? No problem.
Talk to old people? No problem.
So Xenia how was your day today?
It was good. I think it was very insightful
because when you were explaining the tasks to me right,
it seems like anybody can do it but it wasn't the case.
So you came in completely new, you've gone through several different
stages that a ComLink Engagement Officer would be doing all in one day.
So now please take your paper.
Will you hire or fire me?
Three, two, one.
Does that always happen?
[Laughs]
I think hired as a volunteer, fired as a full-timer.
You embody a lot of the qualities that we would like
to see in a ComLink Engagement Officer.
Demonstrating empathy, also having the soft skills to have a conversation that's very natural.
The role of ComLink Engagement Officer kind of extends far beyond
- the tasks we did today. - Exactly.
What we've done today.
But to start as a volunteer is not bad too.
Then maybe you should consider joining us as a volunteer then.
If you've been watching me up to this point
that means you're a little bit interested.
So good news for you!
The C.E.O.s are actually looking for volunteers to join them
in organizing ComLink programmes or journeying with the families.
So to find out more, check out this link.
Thank you for watching this episode of Hired or Fired.
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And I'll see you next time.
Bye!