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In this final Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV) e-Newsletter for 2016, I'd like to wish our clients, friends, colleagues and community partners a safe and peaceful holiday season.
Thank you for your valuable support of our work over the past year. We look forward to working with you again in 2017.
Dr Andrew Bickerdike
Chief Executive Officer
Relationships Australia Victoria
In this edition:
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New headspace centre in Bairnsdale
We are pleased to announce that RAV has been selected as the lead agency for a newly announced headspace centre in Bairnsdale in Victoria.
The new centre will provide early intervention mental health services to young people aged 12 to 25 years in East Gippsland. They will have access to free or low cost and confidential mental, general and sexual health services as well as education and employment, and alcohol and other drug support services. The comprehensive suite of services will include therapeutic, financial, and drug and alcohol counselling, psychiatric consultations, vocational guidance, help with job seeking and health and wellbeing services for Aboriginal young people.
Ms Marianne Shearer, Chief Executive Officer of contract manager Gippsland Primary Health Network, said she is excited to see the development of headspace in Bairnsdale.
“It will be of great benefit for the community offering youth-focused mental health services. The East Gippsland community have passionately advocated for a service for their young people and it’s fantastic that we are able to assist it to come to fruition,” she said.
RAV Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Bickerdike, said RAV had a strong history of providing mental health services and supporting young people and families with issues affecting their wellbeing and relationships.
“We have established relationships with headspace centres in Hawthorn, Greensborough and Knox, and provide an existing family mental health support service for children and young people in East Gippsland,” Dr Bickerdike said.
“We know how important early intervention mental health services are and we welcome the opportunity to continue to support young people in a dedicated way through the headspace centre in Bairnsdale.”
With a focus on meeting the local needs of the rural community, the centre will be supported by Gippsland Primary Health Network (PHN) and operated in partnership with a consortium of local services: Latrobe Regional Hospital, within Australia, Australian Community Support Organisation, Latrobe Community Health Service, Gippsland Lakes Community Health, MIND Australia, Gippsland & East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-Operative, and Advanced Personnel Management.
Dr Bickerdike said that a Youth Advisory Group has also been established to enable young people to have direct input into the development of the centre and to ensure that the services are provided to young people in a welcoming, supportive, accessible and inclusive way.
“We’re pleased to have a group of enthusiastic and energetic young people involved in establishing the centre, and we look forward to working closely with these young people, our consortium members and the East Gippsland community in providing the headspace Bairnsdale centre.”
headspace has 95 centres currently operating across Australia and also operates an online and telephone service, eheadspace. More than 270,000 young Australians have come to headspace for support, guidance or help over the past 10 years.
headspace Bairnsdale is scheduled to open in early 2017. For more information, email the headspace Bairnsdale Centre Manager.
headspace gratefully acknowledges the financial and other support from Gippsland PHN and the Department of Health.
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New information and support for people affected by forced adoption
We’re pleased to share a new suite of resources to support those affected by forced adoption, developed through our Forced Adoption Support Service, Compass.
People who have been affected by forced adoption contact our confidential and free forced adoption support service for many reasons.
The new resources, available on our website, are designed to provide information, suggestions and links on a range of topics such as:
- searching or making contact with family members
- looking after yourself
- support with relationships
- seeking help from health professionals
- accessing other support services
- support groups for people affected by forced adoption.
To view the new resources, visit our website.
If you’d like support or more information, please call Compass on 1800 21 03 13 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
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Relationship Education Courses
We offer a variety of relationship education courses to help people to share experiences, connect with others, and learn new skills to improve their situation. We also provide primary prevention and early intervention programs in universal services such as schools and health centres.
The 2017 relationship education course calendar for our Kew Centre has now been released, including:
- Tuning in to Teens and Tuning in to Kids: six-week programs that focus on developing skills to recognise and respond to your child/teen’s emotions.
- Relationship Rescue: a one-day seminar for ‘couples at the crossroads’ who are looking to learn new relationship skills that will help their relationship to last.
- Future Positive: Good Connecting: a one-day workshop for couples to learn what makes committed relationships succeed and strengthen their own relationship.
- Post-Separation Parenting: a three-session or one-day program for parents to learn about the impact of separation and divorce on children, and discover strategies to assist with their parenting relationship.
- Women Managing Anger: a seven-week program for women to understand where their anger comes from and how to manage its impact on themselves on their relationships.
More information on relationship education courses available at our Kew Centre is available on our website.
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Family Violence Support Group: Women Making Choices
8-session group. Begins Tuesday 7 February 2017. Kew.
This free program is open to any woman who has experienced violence or abuse and would like support. It is an opportunity for women to share their experiences, gain a greater understanding, offer support to others and receive support through an educative, therapeutic and supportive group.
Over eight weeks, the program will cover topics such as:
- understanding family relationships
- safety issues for all family members
- exploring patterns of behaviour
- self-care
- impact on children
- parenting
- healthy relationships
- information, services and resources available.
To find out more about this program, or to register, contact the Kew Relationship Education team by email or call (03) 9261 8727.
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This e-Newsletter is an occasional publication that aims to keep you in touch with some of the interesting initiatives Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV) is undertaking to further broaden our reach and offering to the Victorian community.
We welcome your enquiries, feedback and suggestions via email. |
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About Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV)
Established in 1948, RAV is a valued provider of specialist family and relationship services. Our vision is for positive, safe and respectful relationships. We focus on providing effective services to strengthen relationships and social connections for individuals and families, and in schools, workplaces and communities across all life stages. Our objective is to relieve the suffering, distress and helplessness of vulnerable and disadvantaged people so as to enhance their physical, social and emotional wellbeing.
A community-based not-for-profit organisation, we have no religious affiliations and aim to help all members of the community, regardless of their religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, lifestyle choice, cultural background or economic circumstances.
We offer a diverse range of services including counselling, family dispute resolution, relationships skills education, family violence prevention, support and recovery programs, children and family services, post-separation parenting support, Family Relationship Centres and workplace services.
As a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), we can also tailor training to meet the needs of workers in the community, welfare, education and legal sectors.
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