Most probation officers are social workers. Our job is to give the courts information about offenders in the form of probation reports. We can make proposals to the court and then carry out any community sentence of the court. You may have heard of a probation bond or a supervision order.
My job is to help people make positive changes in their lives and to help keep the community safe. You might have heard about ‘living the good life’, a life that keeps you and everybody else safe.
My work in the Drug Court is a little bit different but it’s still about assessment, gathering information for the court and supervision, carrying out the order of the court and supporting you to make positive healthy, pro-social choices.
Assessment is about sharing information. It means that I will meet with you to talk about what being on the Drug Court involves and to check in with you if want to make that choice.
If you decide that you want to make this change, we will meet again to look at what is going on for you now, what life was like when you picked up the charge before the court and what are the positive changes that you would like to make for the future.
A written report will go to the court. You will be able to see this first and have a chance to comment on it. You will then be given a probation officer, either me or one closer to your home to work with you.
This is supervision. It means meeting regularly with the probation officer at your local office, or sometimes at your home or at the education centre and working with you to make the changes that you want to make.