Careers with ACT Corrective Services

My experience over the last 2 years of the workplace is it's really rewarding.

The word ‘corrective services’ in itself is quite confronting, and it seems confronting. But you're really surrounded by really supportive people.

So I think we need to aim to have a workforce that is really empathetic towards the individuals that come in. We want to take a client-centered approach when working with our offenders and a strength based approach as well. So we really want someone who's empathetic and able to put themselves into someone else's shoes and to be able to better provide them with support.

There are hard days, but I think in every job in every  workplace, there are hard days. But the sense of community, the sense of belonging, the sense of identity that comes with your job within ACT Corrective Services are why people have been here for five years, ten years, 15 years, 20 years. Because you do, you create a real sense of community and identity.

We take offenders out to do their community service work in the community. The organisations that we provide the work for absolutely love having us. They're just always so pleased with the work we do because from the time we get there to when we leave, you can see the big difference.

And that's good for the offenders themselves to see because they feel like they've accomplished something for the day.

My work supports Corrective Services to create a safer community by figuring out what works. To make a positive impact for detainees is very big for me. I really like to be someone who can help others. It makes my life complete, because otherwise I'm not happy enough if I just live for my own happiness. If I share, then I feel much better.

Corrective Services and working within the Alexander Maconochie Centre gives you an opportunity to be able to influence people in a way that you just can't imagine.

It's not just processes and following rules. It's also about what it is that you as a person bring to the role and
bring to your environment. I love it. I highly recommend it.

It's a great place to work with great people, and having that ability to help and have an affect on people and help them through is really rewarding.

I wish I had started in this business 20 years ago because with the programs they've got in place and the good quality pay and conditions that they've got, if you want lifestyle choices, you definitely get them with this job.

If you're looking at a career with a diverse range of positions that you can, you know, move in and out of and learn from Corrective Services is, you know, is up there as one of the best.

You’ve got heaps of different operational roles across the branch. Then you've also got supporting roles
and enabling projects from custodial to finance to projects and executive ministerial roles.

So if you are looking at, I guess a journey moving forward, Corrections can definitely help you in that.

The diversity in the workplace here at the AMC; everybody's a valued member.

We're all accepted as one and equals. We get along quite well here and we have to. If we're going to make it work, we all have to work as a team. Whether it's a little team, ten little teams or one big team.

Cultural diversity is so important in any workplace, but specifically for Corrective Services.

We use our differences to come together and work towards something amazing. Keep our community safe but also keep each other safe.

My personal experience as a disabled person brings strengths to my team in that I'm able to consider how, perspective of disability impacts how research operates.

There’s people in here of my children's age. There's people who are older than me. It's such a diverse team and you know, you’re going to click with someone at some stage and it's a really, really good team to be in.

We do have a good percentage of females within corrections. So sometimes we can eliminate problems or we’re able to de-escalate a bit more.

I think the benefits of having a diverse workplace is that each individual brings strengths to their role. So it's about capturing the strengths of each individual and putting them together for a common goal.

Being able to work with the diversity that we have here across the whole directorate is just incredible. Learn different things each time.

Everyone gets their individual experiences and backgrounds into the role and it just really builds on, you know, the culture of the service and expands on that understanding of each other.

I think it’s super important to have a diverse workforce. You know, everyone has different skill sets and you have so many people to learn off and I think it’s great learning different ways to communicate and approach different situations and scenarios.

Having a diverse workforce, helps to understand the community's needs because the community is diverse.

It's just representative of the community that we're serving that there would be a diverse workforce.

Me speaking in English with my accent, I don't feel that bad because there’s many people speaking with their accents and people have different culture, different attitude, different age. I think it's good because everyone can give you something different and it's important to be tolerant and open and this is the strength of our society here.

We do have people from all walks of life, from various cultural backgrounds, from different perspectives. But I think for me, what's been the most rewarding in ACT Corrective Services is being acknowledged and respected for those differences. But it not being the forefront of what we do, but rather our differences become our similarities because we are working towards something beyond ourselves.