After years of working in the social services industry among different roles, Vincentia resident Jodie Heasman and a group of like-minded people established Oracle to better support the communities of the South Coast.

“We basically came together with the shared vision of supporting the community and helping to build a brighter future,” Heasman said.

“For anyone who may be experiencing disadvantage, homelessness, isolation, domestic and family violence.

“We do men’s behavioural programs, connecting women’s groups and we acknowledge and recognise the cultural land on which we live and work and play on.”

All of Oracle’s workshops and programs are run as a charitable, non-for-profit organisation and they are all free of charge.

“We are able to do that because we do have external partnerships with other organisations that may carry funding to be able to cover those costs,” she said.

“Instead of paying our managers exorbitant wages, we pay the award wage, and we make sure that most of our money is funnelled into our frontline services.

“The added bonus to this is that our culture is to remunerate our staff with flexible and realistic working conditions, with access to free counselling and health and wellbeing services as they are needed.”

Heasman said while Oracle is supported by philanthropic funding streams and various government and community grants, it is not enough.  

“The biggest problem in this industry is obviously funding and there aren’t enough grants and funding, especially at a local government level to support people in need in their own community,” Heasman said.

“Yes, there are nationwide initiatives, but by the time it trickles down to frontline services, it isn’t really a lot.

“That’s where we struggle in this industry, and we are so funding-reliant that every cent does matter.”

Having worked in the industry for over 20 years, Heasman conceded the fatigue from the job is just part of the industry.

“This is why it is really important for social workers and case workers to be adequately trained and be experienced in what they’re doing because it can really take its toll,” she said.

“The compassion fatigue, it really does come down to the organisation and how they look after their staff.

“I mean, compassion fatigue can happen in any job, you know, community-facing – I’ve worked for some really terrible organisations, but I’ve worked for some good ones as well.

“The difference between all of them has been the way they treat their staff and how they value them. It is as simple as that.”

While Heasman concedes the clientele is predominantly women, there are also programs for men. 

“Oracle uses facilitator Russell Newman from Achievable You for our ‘Positive Choices’, and he has been working with men for a long time now,” Heasman said.

“He’s an amazing facilitator and he gets really good outcomes for men who might be struggling in their relationships in their life.

“Russ works with men to make positive choices in their life around their relationships and how to put one foot in front of the other and live a life free of stress or anxiety and just making positive choices.”

In collaboration with Kiama and Shoalhaven Community Colleges, Oracle is holding a ‘Care, Connect, Culture’ program supporting women of all ages through social engagement, connection, conversation and building capacity on Friday 14 November from 10am-2pm.

For more information on Oracle or the event head to www.oracle.org.au