Forensic Intervention Services - People stories

Leigh Taylor, Clinician, Forensic Intervention Services

“My name is Leigh and I work in the Metro Assessments Team here at Forensic Intervention Services.

“I am a psychologist and I did my internship in a prison. I came from working with violent and general offenders before coming over to Forensic Intervention Services, and now I work with both of those as well as sexual offenders.

“So my role is to assist the service user to kind of understand themselves and see what led them to be the person they are today and being the situation that they are in. I don’t have any problems, personally, working with them. I find they are just another human being.

“I find it really rewarding that I can assist the service user to move from where they are now to where they would like to be. I know the gains that the service users can make can be leaps and bounds.

“I feel like it is a great team. Everyone’s really, really supportive. I feel like I am getting great benefits which means I feel like a valued team member and I feel like I am making a difference.”

Final screen:

Challenge yourself with Forensic Intervention Services

Justice.vic.gov.au/forensic-careers

Victoria State Government – Department of Justice and Community Safety

Clair McLeish, Clinician, Forensic Intervention Services:

“My name is Clair. I am from the Metro Assessment Team. I am a social worker. Prior to this, I was in a different field of work and I was lucky enough to see a job advertised for this role and thought ‘why not?’ and I am really glad I did.

“I love this role. I love the work. We work with both people in community and people in prison. So we might look at their age, how many times they’ve been to court, if they’ve had prior offending that’s similar, if they’ve had other offending, and that will help to determine is the next step for them in terms of needing a clinical assessment or if they move on to treatment.

“I’ve found the culture in the Metro Assessment Team to be a really positive and supportive environment and I can’t speak highly enough of it. I think that’s what keeps a lot of us going and then also knowing that we are going to be making a difference on an individual basis with the service user to potentially make some really great, positive changes.

“I just like the role, hey. I just really like it, but I don’t know how to put it into words that it’s a good place to work. It’s a great place to be."

Final screen:

Challenge yourself with Forensic Intervention Services

Justice.vic.gov.au/forensic-careers

Victoria State Government – Department of Justice and Community Safety

Laura Munslow, Senior Clinician, Forensic Intervention Services:

“My name is Laura. I am a senior clinician within the Prison Sexual Treatment Team. Through my time with FIS, I have worked in both community and correctional settings with a diverse and very wide range of service users.

“It’s a privilege to be a senior clinician and to have that responsibility to help support the skill development of clinical staff and also to assist in maintaining the positive culture within our teams.

“Some of the key learnings from the role that I have learnt about myself is my resilience, is my capacity to continually search for the ‘why’ of why I do this role, why this role is important.

“My time at FIS has been marked by very significant memories regarding service users and the progressive gains they have made throughout the treatment. It’s always diverse, different, changing.

“The people are so wonderful that we get to work with, and it’s just so rewarding to work in a role that has significant meaning to community safety and to support individuals to making positive changes in their lives.”

Final screen:

Challenge yourself with Forensic Intervention Services

Justice.vic.gov.au/forensic-careers

Victoria State Government – Department of Justice and Community Safety