My name is Francesca Suffield and I was appointed in October 2005 as a project officer for Happening Families.

I have lived and worked in Ararat for almost 25 years and am looking forward to using some of my experiences and skills in my current position.

My role will be to assist teenage parents to develop and build on their parenting skills through workshops and discussion groups. I hope to provide a relaxing atmosphere where young mums can get together and share their experiences while also getting access to professional advice. My role will also include working with parents of teenagers in various aspects such as providing advice and resources on the transition of their child to careers or further education.

My work experience so far includes working with the unemployed through the CES. I was a specialist officer working with youth, people with disability as well as single parents. I then progressed to case management work with the long term unemployed. When the CES shut its doors, I saw it as an opportunity to try something totally different and worked with a mortgage company as a budget monitor. I was a support person for our clients assisting them in reaching their goal through budgeting and perhaps progressing to building a property investment folio.

I also worked as an integration aide at a Primary school. More recently, I worked as a medical receptionist.

I am very excited to be associated with CGLLEN and look forward to working in partnership with business, education and health sectors in bringing about positive experiences for young people.