Thomas Sutherland Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Vic, Au

• Undertook public health work in the absence of a health planner role, in the form of updating City of Port Phillip’s health profiles. These are a set of public documents that outline the municipality’s current status for demographic groups and a variety of social and health considerations, including mental health, family violence, social inclusion, older people and children. This involved extensive research, data analysis and high-quality report writing.• Supported the finalisation of Council’s Positive Ageing Policy that was publicly endorsed in May 2023. This entailed discussions with community members as the subject matter expert at a neighbourhood engagement session. It also included collating, analysing and incorporating community feedback and contributing to the relevant Council report for endorsement.• Backfilled the engagement team by leading the community and staff engagement process for the LGBTIQA+ Action Plan, including building and promoting the engagement survey, analysing feedback and data and producing an engagement summary report for public record. This report included examination of demographic, qualitative and quantitative data.• Finalised Port Phillip’s LGBTIQA+ Action Plan following the consultation process, incorporating community and staff feedback and writing reports for the relevant Councillor briefing and Council meeting. This resulted in the LGBTIQA+ Action Plan’s endorsement in July 2023. For this achievement, I won a Proudly Port Phillip award in Diversity and Inclusion.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Worked with a diverse range of clients with a wide variety of needs, ranging from physical to intellectual disabilities.• Assisted clients with everyday tasks, transport and community access.• Advocated for clients in a range of services for their best possible outcomes.• Ensured a person-centred approach was used during support, to best meet the desires, needs and goals of the client.• Successfully completed a Dual Certificate III in Individual Support (Disability Specialisation) and Certificate IV in Disability as part of ongoing training and development.

• Worked within the Sociology and Social Policy discipline to help promote, organise and facilitate their events.• Organised events such as a welcome event for Master of Social Policy students and staff (which included a panel discussion from guest speakers discussing their lived experience of disability), a similar end of year event and the Sociology Discipline Planning Day. Other events also included regular Sociology Salons, which involved academics speaking and presenting about their latest research.

• Worked within an academic team on a project that investigated the efficacy of a structured professional development program. This program was designed to build the capacity of disability sector staff to deliver and evaluate services, guided by the implementation of the Individual Supported Living (ISL) framework. This framework had the primary purpose of letting people with disability choose where and how they live in the way that best suits them.• Involved detailed analysis of qualitative data through NVivo software.• Collaborated with academics through the University of Melbourne as well as industry leaders such as Able Australia.

• Part of a core subject in my Master of Social Policy.• Internship project was a review of Council’s Community Transport service – determining how it was being used by the public, what was working well and what could be improved.• Involved liaising with and interviewing members of the public, collaborating with staff members across various teams and gathering qualitative data for analysis.• Concluded with the production of a full report on the findings of the project, which was used to contribute to future policy-making decisions surrounding the service.

Promoted to a Team Leader role to assist other agents in their calls in relation to contact tracing, vaccination bookings and the COVID-19 hotline. During this time:• Managed my own team involving coaching and providing support and feedback.• Held team meetings to address necessary topics and updates.• Completed administrative tasks such as team scheduling, coordinating jobs for staff and organising COVID-19 vaccination bookings.• Engaged regularly with a variety of stakeholders including government agencies.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Received inbound calls on the COVID-19 hotline and answered questions from the public related to vaccination bookings and interstate travel during border closures.• Made outbound calls to citizens as part of the contact tracing process, notifying them that they were primary or secondary close contacts of people with COVID-19.• Managed a range of difficult scenarios in calls with citizens, with many being in heightened states of concern and distress.• Maintained a sound understanding of government regulations which were subject to significant change and complexity at short notice.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Initiated and responded to customer interactions and enquiries, providing efficient and positive customer service.• Undertook cash handling, including completing balance checks and closing registers at the end of the day.• Collaborated with managers and colleagues to carry out daily tasks according to priorities.• Dealt with customer complaints in a professional manner and provided appropriate responses and escalation if necessary.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Promoted from Team Member to Team Leader after displaying leadership qualities and strong ability to engage in teamwork.• Provided effective customer service skills, while independently managing a team, including supervision and giving instructions.• Achieved 100% for the Boost Juice “Mystery Shopper” Program in May 2015.• Honoured Employee of the Month in August 2015.

Master Of Social Policy

• Analysed various social policy challenges such as Indigenous issues, disability rights, gender equality, sustainability, LGBTIQA+ rights.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Psychology

• Major in Psychology (Australian Psychology Accreditation Council approved) • Minor in Sociology • Participated in “Arts in Prato” study.

Education record

Completed a Study Abroad program as part of my Bachelor of Arts with Monash University.