The challenges of implementing Throughcare - Australian Institute of ...

Introduction
It was with keen excitement and enthusiasm but also with a dash of trepidation that I took on the
position Project Director for Throughcare Strategies in the NSW Department of Corrective Services
in June last year. Since then I have had some pretty sobering reality checks so now I would describe
my attitude as one of realistic optimism and I am enjoying the opportunity today to share with you
some of the experiences I have had in trying to put Throughcare on the map of the Department of
Corrective Services. So let me just briefly set the context for you.
Departmental Context
My Department in New South Wales is responsible for the management of correctional centre
inmates and offenders in the community supervised by officers of the Probation and Parole Service.
There are 27 gaols housing nearly 8,000 inmates (about 500 of whom are women) and there are 66
Probation and Parole district offices managing 18,000 offenders on community based orders. There
are approximately 6000 of us who are employed by the Department and this number includes about
500 staff in Probation and Parole.
In line with international trends, one of my Department’s core corporate objectives is to apply
effective measures to reduce the rate of re-offending. In the case of our Department, Throughcare is
the primary strategy to positively impact on recidivism.
Definition
I should say up front that although throughcare is ‘new’ in terms of official strategy, it is certainly
not ‘new’ in terms of many of the every day work practices carried out by a large number of our
colleagues. But it becomes a bit challenging though when such established work practices are to be
articulated into formal departmental policy. I felt that a formal departmental definition of
throughcare was needed to inform our own staff about what it actually is and how they fit into the
throughcare concept. In this sense it is not only the definition itself which is important but the
discussions surrounding it are also crucial. The definition then can also be used to inform other
departments and agencies who work with people in the criminal justice system about what my
Department is trying to achieve.
Let me give you just one example of the difficulties we ran into in defining the complex
departmental concept of Throughcare in one all encompassing but short and to the point sentence:
if the focus of throughcare is to provide support to avoid re-offending, who are the people who need
this support?
Clients, inmates, offenders, ex-offenders - this is not being obsessed with semantics! If we don’t
know whom we are talking about within what context, we certainly don’t know how to provide
appropriate services and support.
Well, the definition we have come up with goes like this:
Throughcare is the co-ordinated and integrated approach to the management of people who are the
responsibility of Corrective Services from their first point of contact with the Department to the
completion of their legal order, including their re-integration into the community.
You will not be surprised to hear that this definition is still a work in progress and if you have any
comments, suggestions and ideas about how this definition can be expanded and/or improved, we
can maybe discuss this over a conference break.
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