John Allsop

John graduated from the University of NSW (Batchelor of Social Work) in 1990 and worked as a social worker with the Hunter Area Health Service from 1991-1997. During this time he was employed as a social worker in a surgical ward at the John Hunter Hospital for two years and then worked as a community health social worker at Port Stephens Health Services for four and a half years. John took a break from SW when his eldest daughter was born and returned to the Hunter Area Health Service in 2000 where he did a 12 month stint as the Intensive Care Social worker at the ICU at John Hunter Hospital. Following this he relocated to the Port Macquarie region where he worker as a Renal Social Worker based at Port Macquarie Community Health Centre. John joined Centrelink in 2004 and worked at both Port Macquarie and Kempsey customer Service Centres for approximately 18 months- following this he transferred to Darwin and worked there for two years where he was involved in the establishment of a remote servicing team which provided Social Work service and support to remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory-this role involved regular visits to remote Indigenous communities in the top end of the Northern Territory (eg. Maningrida, Tiwi Islands, Nhulunbuy). He returned to Port Macquarie Call Centre in 2008 and worked at the Port Macquarie Call Centre for two years. In mid-2010 he commenced a role with the Centrelink Rural and Community Practice SW Team which is responsible for the provision of SW service & support to disadvantaged and vulnerable Centrelink customers who reside in rural and regional areas throughout the eastern states. The Rural and Community Practice SW Team are also focussed on community engagement activities with an emphasis on developing and maintaining close collaborative relationships with a variety of Government and non Government agencies and services operating in regional and rural Australia.