Digital Communication Strategy and Crisis Plan for Berry Street

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Berry Street's digital communication strategy. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction to the organization and its structure. A SWOT analysis examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing Berry Street. The report then delves into existing communication procedures and proposes a detailed digital communication strategy, including protocols, etiquette considerations, and a marketing plan. A crisis communication plan is also developed, outlining its purpose, target audience, resources, action plan, and contingency plan. The report concludes with an evaluation of the plan and references. The aim is to improve communication with internal and external stakeholders and expand services across Australia. The report emphasizes the importance of digital tools and strategies to support the organization's mission of helping children and families affected by abuse and neglect.

Running head: DIPLOMA OF COMMUNITY SERVICES
Diploma of community services
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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DIPLOMA OF COMMUNITY SERVICES
Executive summary
This report focusses on digital communication strategy of Berry Street in Melbourne. In this
report, SWOT analysis of Berry Street has been conducted. The following paragraphs focused on
the existing communication processes of the organization with its internal and external
stakeholders. A crisis communication plan was also developed for them in this study, along with
a contingency plan. From the whole discussion it was understood that a proper digital
communication strategy would prove to be helpful in reaching out to a wider group of victims
and extend maximum support to sufferers.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Organizational structure at Berry Street..........................................................................................4
SWOT analysis................................................................................................................................4
Strengths:.....................................................................................................................................4
Weaknesses..................................................................................................................................5
Opportunities:..............................................................................................................................5
Threats.........................................................................................................................................5
Existing communication procedures................................................................................................5
Digital communication strategy.......................................................................................................6
Protocols:.....................................................................................................................................6
Etiquette considerations...............................................................................................................6
Plan to market the strategy:.........................................................................................................7
Crisis communication plan..............................................................................................................7
Purpose of the plan:.....................................................................................................................7
Target audience:...........................................................................................................................7
Resources:....................................................................................................................................7
Action plan:.....................................................................................................................................8
Contingency plan:............................................................................................................................9
Evaluation of the plan:.....................................................................................................................9

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Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References and Bibliography.........................................................................................................10

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Introduction
This report will be focusing on digital communication strategy of Berry Street in
Melbourne, which is an independent Community Service Organization in Australia. In this
report, SWOT analysis of Berry Street will be conducted. The following paragraphs will focus
on the existing communication processes of the organization with its internal and external
stakeholders. A crisis communication plan will be developed for them in this study, along with a
safety plan.
Organizational structure at Berry Street
Figure 1. Organizational structure
Source: (Berrystreet.org.au, 2018)
SWOT analysis
Strengths:
Berry Street provides a range of services across the metropolitan focusing on community
programs like helping children and families in recovering from the ill effects of violence, abuse
and neglect. It runs an independent child institute that is a knowledge–into-action centre and
supports children in different aspects (Berrystreet.org.au, 2018).
CEO Board of
Directors
Executive
Team

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Weaknesses
Inadequate staff is an issue that arises when it comes to taking care of the abused children
and families. Lack of expertise in this kind of community service is also an issue when it comes
to taking care of the abused individuals, who are mentally unstable or traumatized.
Opportunities:
A strong relationship with the children and the family would be helpful for them in
restoring their belief in themselves and the society so that they know how to gain trust in
themselves and their future. They believe in the fact that it is important to gain trust before any
relationship is grown. The existing social welfare policies support the organization in extending
their services to the victims. The organization even gets funding from different private and
public institutions.
Threats
The organization might not be able to conduct their role in a desired manner as they
might lack the potential to handle the situation carefully, or they might face issues with funding.
Instead they might make the situation worst for the victim if there is a lack of clarity or improper
communication.
Existing communication procedures
The mission of this company is to heal and develop a social and emotional bond with the
young people who have faced abuse and negligence. This organization communicates with their
internal stakeholders and their staff via email. It is seen that communication takes place between
managers of Berry Street and its staffs through conducting face-to-face meetings. On the other
hand, Berry Street communicates with their external stakeholders via their official website and

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toll-free phone lines. These processes have been proven to be quite effective in terms of
maintaining proper correspondence with all their key stakeholders.
Digital communication strategy
The main business goal is to merchandise the services of Berry Street in order to attract
new clients. The business goal is to expand its services across Australia, reaching out to more
neglected families and children. Their target audience are the victims of abuse, who have been
threatened by life in such a way that they feel neglected (Hemmings, Bouras & Craig, 2014).
Protocols:
It is required for the respective organization to consult with its managers regarding the
upgradation of the official website. The next step is to estimate the budget with the help of
finance team and website developers. The third step is to create an application form on the
website where interested individuals can register themselves on this form to become a volunteer
in this particular organization (Burns et al., 2015).
Etiquette considerations
There should be a two-way communication between the management, clients and
employees. For this purpose, face-to-face meetings will be organized between staffs and mangers
whereas communication with the clients will be done through community pages of Facebook and
official website of the company. Privacy and confidentiality should be maintained while
communicating with managers, employees and clients. Every individual should comply with the
policies as well as procedures of Berry Street.

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Plan to market the strategy:
It should be noted that a link should be sent to the emails of both the internal stakeholders
as well as the external stakeholders. Besides, a short video regarding the activities of Berry Street
will be posted in Facebook. After the completion of video, there will a link and by clicking on
that link, people can access the official website of Berry Street. In this way, the victims who does
not have a shelter or are typically abused by others, finds a shelter and support to regain their lost
morality and strength (Leigh et al., 2015).
Crisis communication plan
Purpose of the plan:
The plan aims to ensure safety and security for the victims in case of emergency
situations or for their better future.
Target audience:
Staff and the victims are the target audience for this plan as they need to be aware of
what is being offered by the organization.
Resources:
Human resources support will be required for the crisis communication plan. Trainers are
required for training the staffs. At least two safety officers are required for the different locations
where the organization will establish their operations. Training room and training materials like
whiteboard, projector, Xerox machines, etc. are required for this plan, along with help from the
IT department. Additionally, there has to be a fixed budget separated for training purposes.

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Action plan:
Figure 1: Action plan
Source: (Bruce, Crowley, Jeffcote & Coulston, 2014)
In order to get approval from hierarchy for installing
alarms, Safety Officer should report to General Manager
of Berry Street.
IT personnel reports the Human Resource Manager that
alarms should be installed at every location of Berry
Street. In this way, alarms are installed at the premises
of Berry Street.
After this, training would be given to the staffs of
Berry Street by Human Resource Manager where they
will acquire knowledge on how these alarms works
and how these alarms can be operated by them.
General Manager informs IT personnel to install the
alarms within the premises of Berry Street.

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Contingency plan:
Training sessions would be recorded after taking consent from the trainer. In case, if any
of the employees fails to attend the training sessions, they will gather information from the
recordings of the training sessions (Hensel, Lunsky & Dewa, 2014).
Evaluation of the plan:
The Safety Officer will report to General Manager for obtaining approval regarding
installation of alarms at every location. After this, IT personnel will install the alarms in the
workflow. After this, HRM will give training to staffs.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be stated that an effective implementation of digital
communication plan, crisis communication plan, will be helpful in attracting new clients, thereby
retaining its competitive advantage in Australia.

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References and Bibliography
Berrystreet.org.au (2018). Welcome to Berry Street. [online] Berry Street. Available at:
https://www.berrystreet.org.au/ [Accessed 16 May 2018].
Bruce, M., Crowley, S., Jeffcote, N., & Coulston, B. (2014). Community DSPD pilot services in
South London: Rates of reconviction and impact of supported housing on reducing
recidivism. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 24(2), 129-140.
Burns, T., Yeeles, K., Koshiaris, C., Vazquez-Montes, M., Molodynski, A., Puntis, S., ... &
Rugkåsa, J. (2015). Effect of increased compulsion on readmission to hospital or
disengagement from community services for patients with psychosis: follow-up of a
cohort from the OCTET trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(10), 881-890.
Hemmings, C., Bouras, N., & Craig, T. (2014). How should community mental health of
intellectual disability services evolve?. International journal of environmental research
and public health, 11(9), 8624-8631.
Hensel, J. M., Lunsky, Y., & Dewa, C. S. (2014). Staff perception of aggressive behaviour in
community services for adults with intellectual disabilities. Community mental health
journal, 50(6), 743-751.
Leigh, J. A., Wild, J., Hynes, C., Wells, S., Kurien, A., Rutherford, J., ... & Hartley, V. (2015).
Transforming community services through the use of a multidimensional model of
clinical leadership. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(5-6), 749-760.

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Otte, W. M., van Diessen, E., van Eijsden, P., van der Maas, F., Patsalos, P. N., Newton, P. N., ...
& Sander, J. W. (2015). Counterfeit antiepileptic drugs threaten community services in
Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria. The Lancet Neurology, 14(11), 1075-1076.