This mahi is a journey, it always has been. And that means we continue to check in to ensure we are providing the support we said we would. The best way to do that? Just ask!
We make follow-up calls to check in with the whānau as our journey nears its end. We want to reinforce that we care about their whare and their progress. This isn’t a transactional service. We want to ensure they are living in a warmer, drier, healthier home. The follow-up starts with a general check-in, but can be about a wide variety of talking points: to find out how their whare is going, see if they have remembered, and implemented, the education provided, how they are finding any repairs and maintenance that may have been carried out, if their tamariki are healthier, perhaps were able to stay out of hospital through the most recent winter.
It is a great opportunity for us to identify any gaps in our support, we can find out any balls that we’ve dropped, or balls that the whānau may have dropped that they might need some help with. It’s a chance to check in and let them know there is someone still caring. Our Referrals Administrator Jessie summed this up well when sharing, “Follow-ups are important because we strongly believe in the whānau journey, and you can’t believe in a whānau journey if you’re not tracking the journey.”
After the 2023 winter, the entire team dedicated a week to follow up with whānau in a collective effort toward hearing about this final chapter for our whānau. This week was called our ‘Whānau Care Café Week.’ It was a great opportunity for staff who aren’t typically involved in the end side of our whānau journeys to gain an understanding of the difference we are making to these whānau lives.
Our Assessor Alex shared, “It was actually really awesome all of us coming together. Although we are all in this organisation, we all work in our own mahi, it’s really easy to just keep going and forget what other people do and that it is a really collective effort, especially when you are doing something like follow-ups. Although I was calling a whānau that I hadn’t met before, it was cool to chat to them and hear that they were still really open to chatting with me.”
A special aspect of the Whānau Care Café Week was it highlighted the fact that although the whānau relationship is typically with one person, often the assessor, the whānau is deepening their trust in organisations and agencies, which a lot of our whānau don’t have. We are changing their mindsets, often on a subconscious level. Our follow-up prompts hold a question about whether their trust in organisations and agencies has grown. They may say it hasn’t, yet they are opening up to someone they have never heard from before this phone call. It’s a powerful shift to start to notice, and one we wouldn’t have the opportunity to see if we didn’t get everyone involved in follow-ups.
I interviewed five staff members after the Whānau Care Café Week to gain a better understanding of the benefits, successes, and learnings of the approach to concentrated follow-ups. Each of them made at least one comment on the importance of education to whānau in their calls. It was evident that whānau truly value the education they are receiving, and this is having a lasting impact on their whare.
Our Assessor Jo shared, “I think of a follow-up call with a woman who had mould on her aluminium joinery, and she was so angry because it was [social housing] and the [social housing provider] hadn’t done anything. When I explained to her how mould grew, and what caused it, she realised it was something she could do. For me, that was a fundamental moment for her, that she’s now been gifted with some knowledge that she can change her whare.”
The calls Jessie made provided her with a deeper understanding of the sustainability drivers of our education; “We are giving education to people who didn’t have that education growing up. They grew up in a routine of unhealthy homes, and unhealthy behaviours around the house… I think we are making a difference in communities because, with this education, we are providing, and the little bots that we’re doing, like providing a heater, providing curtains, and showing them how to use them, and giving that education, we are providing the community with a toolkit, so they are able to help each other out.”
Alex also talked about the generational shift within education; “If you give someone a heater and they use that heater, that heater will eventually break, and that’s the end of our input. But if you teach them how to use the thermostat, and they understand where to heat and provide this education, that’s the stuff that can be passed down to generations and be permanently implemented.”
Follow-ups provide an opportunity for the team to experience the impact of this education; “It means so much to me when they are doing the education we provided because it means they are actually listening to what we’re saying… you’re more likely to hear, “You’re the person who gave me a heater,’ compared to ‘You’re the one who taught me to wipe down my windows.’ So, it was really cool hearing whānau say, ‘I’m making sure I’m closing my windows earlier,’ like I have adjusted my behaviours because of you. That is so much more impactful because that can stay with them.”
The Whānau Care Café Week helped to connect some of our team members who aren’t visiting the homes to a feelgood moment with whānau nearing the end of their journey. Our Referrals Administrator Maya recalled one phone call; “She was able to rattle off so much information [the assessor] had given her, I couldn’t even keep up typing with how much she was remembering… it’s really motivating to be like ‘Oh, that’s awesome you have had such a positive experience with us.’” These feelings were echoed in other interviews with the team, Jessie shared; “It motivates you to want to reach out more.” And Alex shared; “It has lit a fire in my eyes, like wow, we really are changing people’s lives, and that is breathtaking to be honest.”
Follow-ups provide our team the opportunity to be inspired by the mahi we do, whilst creating a system to catch any whānau who have fallen through our cracks. Creating a concentrated follow-up week for the team was an incredibly valuable experience to connect with our whānau and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for all of the roles within our organisation.
