As Coordinator for the Reverend Charles Harris Diversionary Centre, Roslyn Lively manages 50 beds and the more than 20 staff who keep the sobering up facility running 24/7, 365 days a year.

“At the centre, we give our clients a good healthy meal, a clean bed, washing facilities and the assurance that anyone playing up will be removed by police,” says Roslyn. “We need this to be a safe, healthy place to come, where everybody is treated with respect and there’s no judgement.

“Our statistics tell us it’s working,” continues Roslyn. “We have clients that come regularly, and they’ve been regular since before I started in 2012. It’s working for them because they keep coming.

“Sometimes clients just want to come in and spend a couple days off the grog. There’s nothing we can do about them going again, but knowing they had a few days off the grog is still an achievement.”

Roslyn joined the centre eight years ago, initially applying for a bus driver position, but instead accepting a position as an on-call, casual Support Care Worker. After six months, Roslyn a took a Case Manager position for the Breaking The Cycle program, then progressed to Senior Case Manager, then in 2018 was appointed her current Coordinator position.

“I think Karen [Yumba-Meta’s Operations and Service Coordination Manager Karen Kite] saw something in me, she can just pick people, you know,” says Roslyn. “I get on with everyone – the clients and the staff, which is important. The nature of our clients is that they don’t have a lot in life.

“Working with the people we do, you have to be cut out for this kind of work,” she adds. “You either work here a short time or a long time, there’s no in between.”

Roslyn’s career history is as diverse as the clients she welcomes daily at the diversionary centre. Her mother was a proud Gunggandji woman from Yarrabah in Far North Queensland, while Roslyn herself grew up in Richmond, in outback Queensland. There, she worked at the local library, before moving to Townsville and working for a mining company, then with indigenous youth from rural and remote Queensland who moved to Townsville for study.

“I really enjoy my job today,” says Roslyn. “I enjoy the people; the clients, the team I work with. I’m just glad that Karen saw something in me.”

From her very first job, before she even finished high school, Susan Mosby seemed destined for a career helping people. “I did my primary school at home, on Murray Island in Torres Strait, then went to Herberton in the Tablelands for high school,” recalls Susan.

“I finished my Year 10, and was supposed to go back to Herberton for my Year 11, but they ran short of teacher aides [at Torres Strait],” she remembers. “I started as a teacher aide, and gradually I took over the classes!

”Three years later, she went to Mackay to visit her sister and they both decided to move to Townsville. In 1977, Susan married her husband Norman Mosby at St James Cathedral, and over time they welcomed their daughter Dorothy and son Norman Jr.

Throughout her life, Susan has explored various careers, but returned to her roots, helping people.“I started out as a bus driver for the diversionary centre in 2003, before it was Yumba-Meta’s, back when it was run by the department,” says Susan, who, a few years later applied for a Care Worker position.

As a Care Worker, Susan supports those at the centre with housekeeping duties, such as making beds, doing laundry, even cooking on weekends. “I look after the homeless, and help them if they have a problem. They are human beings just as we all are, and they can take the straight road or the side road. I don’t talk harshly, I talk nicely. If they come to the centre drunk and talk rubbish, I don’t take notice. I’m just there to help.”

Susan says she enjoyed the change of leadership when Yumba-Meta was awarded management of the centre in 2008. “Yumba-Meta gives us training on different things, which we didn’t get before. From things like heavy lifting, to keeping your boundaries.

“I’ve had my ups and downs, but I love working there,” says Susan. “It’s only my age telling me I have to give it up soon!”

Away from work, Susan enjoys spending time with her many grandchildren, playing bingo and walking near Ross River Dam. “When you look at water, it just makes your mind relax.” This must be why Susan is missing ‘home’ and plans to return to her native Murray Island in the Torres Strait for the first time since 1991. “I miss it very much.”

Originally from Ingham, Jacqui Page’s family experienced tragedy when her 20-year-old son Gregory sadly passed in 2009. Two weeks after Jacqui buried her son, her husband was diagnosed with a type of throat cancer and his health deteriorated rapidly.

“I cared for my husband through three years until he passed,” recalls Jacqui, who relocated to Townsville in 2010 for her husband’s cancer treatment. “He was actually the one who said to me: ‘You should be a nurse’.” Jacqui took her husband’s advice, and in 2014, while studying Nursing, she took a casual position at Yumba-Meta as a Support Worker at women’s refuge Flora House.

“Within my own relationship there had been domestic violence,” shares Jacqui. “My husband was a banana farmhand, but when Cyclone Larry came through in 2006, he cut himself with a cane knife and got a drop foot and couldn’t work, so he became the one at home with the kids while I worked. That changed him, for the better. He walked in my shoes. When he got the cancer, he thought it was karma, but I reminded him he’d changed his life around years before, and it was just bad luck.

“Working at Flora House, I could relate to the women experiencing domestic violence. It helped me in my work,” says Jacquie. “When you’re going through that [DV], you start making excuses and justify it in your head. It takes a lot for a woman to walk away, especially when they’ve got kids.

”Eventually, Jacqui’s studies required her to travel, so, faced with a crossroad, she chose full-time work with Yumba-Meta. In 2016, management encouraged her to apply for a position as Housing Officer.

“Back then, I didn’t know anything about managing property as a housing officer,” admits Jacqui. “My role is looking after tenants and properties. I had to learn the RTA, the privacy and confidentiality acts, our own YML policies and procedures, and how that all comes together so we can do our job.

“You underestimate yourself and what you can do, but I did it,” says Jacqui. “This is what Yumba-Meta has given me – I’m getting emotional – I love getting out of bed to come to work because I learn every day.

”Does Jacqui have any regrets leaving her Nursing studies? “None at all!”

With a long history as a sought-after builder and carpenter, Charles Cloudy was more surprised than anyone to find his skill set ideally suited to a Support Worker role with YML.

Initially from Cardwell, Charles accepted a carpentry apprenticeship in Brisbane aftergraduating from Tully High School, only moving North again a decade later to take up a succession of construction positions with Indigenous organisations.

In 2000 he made a foray into the area of social welfare with a role as a Youth Workerat the Cleveland Detention Centre, and it was on this background that Charles first joined YML as a Support Worker in 2012. “I’ll admit; initially, I was surprised they offered me the position, but when I thought about it, being a site supervisor in the construction industry, I had to communicate with multiple people, every day. You’ve got to develop rapport and respect to get outcomes, and that’s no different to working here at YML.”

These days, Charles works as a Case Manager at Dale Parker Place. “I didn’t realise homelessness was that big of an issue locally. I always thought, within my culture from Torres Strait, that if you are struggling in life, the family takes you in. However, working here, I have learned that many people don’t want to be a burden to their families. People want their independence and structural security.”

It’s with a clear sense of pride that Charles comments on the impacts of YML within the local community. “I think we’re doing a good job here. We’re a unique organisation that’s always changing, and YML continues to develop positive outcomes, that feedback into the community.”

“We’ve seen many great outcomes for our tenants. It’s about helping people socialise back into the community, including simple things like meeting rent, paying electricity bills, and buying groceries.” “Our program has helped many clients coming out of the prison system too. Being institutionalised for so long is a challenge, yet through our programs, we’ve seen clients get back into the community and achieve independence.”

When asked if Charles misses his initial occupation as a builder, he smiles, “I’m not going anywhere; it’s the best job you could ask for. We assist people from all different communities. You get to see the cultural differences and richness.”

Eva Haines and her husband had been renting their previous home for 13 years, but when the owners decided to sell and gave them just two weeks to make an offer or move out, they suddenly found themselves homeless.

While they were able to stay with Eva’s sister for some time, one bedroom just wasn’t enough and, after an exhaustive search, Eva was offered a home through Yumba-Meta Limited’s long-term housing program.

“When we were at the previous house, I thought I’d live there until I died,” said Eva. “The owners were good to us but in the end they wanted us out very quickly and to pack up after 13 years with no time to plan, made it a very trying time for us.

“Knowing that the house we’re in now is a long-term tenancy with Yumba-Meta takes a big load off our minds that’s for sure.

”Eva and her husband have now spent three happy years in their Yumba-Meta Limited home, sharing it with their daughter and two grandchildren.

“It’s a beautiful property – it’s huge, it’s got a big shed, it’s a dream house for me,” Eva said.

“My daughter has come to stay with me because my husband works away, so most times I’d be home alone. She’s got two children so we help her with the kids: the little boy’s enrolled in school here and the kids can play and kick a ball knowing that there’s no speeding cars coming past. I absolutely love it.”

Known amongst his colleagues as a hard worker, Abdulrahman Kamara, or ‘Abdul’, is the go-to-guy when it comes to supporting the health and well-being of the tenants at Dale Parker Place.

Abdul’s job as Concierge is essentially a bridging role between tenants and their case workers. He is available, on site at Dale Parker Place, to assist with tenant well-being, whether that’s monitoring their safety, making sure they are ready to attend important appointments, communicating with their case managers and really anything that helps to improve their life skills and living styles.

The role is the same as a Support Worker, but with a different title.

“My job is to help,” explains Abdul, who has worked at Yumba-Meta since 2011. “We are dealing with people, some are addicted to alcohol and drugs, so at times they come home when they can’t even walk. I am there to help them to their rooms, pick up food for them, clean their rooms, whatever they need at that time.”

Meeting people at a really tough time in their life, Abdul knows the importance of just having someone nearby to give a hand or lend an ear.

“Some of our tenants come to us in a bad shape, and then when they leave they are in a good shape. That’s good to see.”

His manager describes Abdul as hard working, highly reliable, and someone who never says no, who doesn’t wait for jobs to come to him, he looks for things to do.

“We are like family at Yumba-Meta, I feel at home here. I feel good coming to work. The bosses are nice and easy to talk to, I feel comfortable discussing anything with my boss. Yumba-Meta is a good place to work. I’m so grateful.”

Catherine Zaro has always been drawn to roles in which she can care for people. A Murray Island woman, born and raised in Townsville, Catherine worked in childcare prior to joining Yumba-Meta as a Support Worker in 2012.

“My role is helping women escape from domestic violence,” explains Catherine. “Helping put them into safe accommodation, help them with DVO orders against perpetrators, and making sure they feel safe where they are. I then sit down and do a case plan with them, help them apply for housing, provide transport to find rental properties.”

It’s delicate work, and quite involved. It’s also hands-on work, which Catherine loves.“Being a Torres Strait woman, an indigenous woman, helping my people is important to me,” she says.

“I’ve always wanted to help others. Growing up, we took care of my grandfather’s brothers; they couldn’t do a lot of things on their own,” recalls Catherine.

We all need support at different times in our lives, whether that’s as a child at a daycare centre, an older relative whose body has tired, or a mother and her children escaping domestic violence and figuring out a new world of independence.

“People will choose their path on their own, but I am here on the side, to help, guide and hold their hand, if they want me to,” says Catherine.

“What brings joy to me in this job, is when my ladies come to me and tell me they’ve got their own home, which they don’t share with what they’ve been through. With that house, they are starting again, on a fresh new journey. My greatest joy is seeing the happiness that comes from their independence.”

Catherine says there is a clear, shared purpose of all those working at Yumba-Meta which drives the organisation forward in the same direction.

“Yumba-Meta as a workplace is like a big family. If one goes down, not just one picks you up – everybody will pick you up,” says Catherine. “You will climb that ladder at work, but it’s the managers that are the ladders, they are the ones lifting you up, lifting me up.