2009-2010 Annual Report - Grampians Community Health

Transcription

2009/10
25th Annual Report
Grampians Community Health Philosophy Base & History
Grampians Community Health Philosophy
is grounded in the Ottawa Charter for
Health Promotion (WHO 1986), the
Jakarta Convention (WHO 1996) and the
Health Development Paradigm (Social
Model of Health)
These philosophies allow our staff
to ensure access for everyone in the
community to health information,
personal skill development,
empowerment of the individual,
community collaborative ventures,
personal resilience and self-responsibility
embedded in a caring framework of nonjudgemental acceptance of the diversity
of individuals in the community.
Our History in Brief:
Grampians Community Health (GCH)
formerly Grampians Community Health
Centre Inc, has operated since 1986 and
provides a multi-disciplinary approach to
psychosocial health in line with a Social
Model of Health philosophy including the
social determinants of health as stated in
the Ottawa Charter. GCH is embedded
in and operates from a number of sites
servicing primarily the local government
areas of Northern Grampians Shire,
Rural City of Ararat, Pyrenees Shire and
Horsham Rural City.
Balgartnie joined GCH in 1996 as a
Psychiatric Support Service – it has
since broadened its role to encompass
rehabilitation and sub regional outreach.
Grand Opening July 2010
an opportunity for young people in and
around the Wimmera to participate
in the development of services and
recreational activities in a supportive, safe
& innovative environment.
In May 2009 GCHC became Grampians
Community Health – a company limited
by guarantee.
In 2010 Grampians Community Health
Stawell based staff moved into the new
Stawell Health & Community Centre
(SH&CC) in Patrick St
Palm Lodge joined GCH in 2002. Palm
Lodge has been in existence since 1976,
first as a residential rehabilitation unit for
people with a substance abuse problem
and more recently as a counselling &
health promotion unit for substance
abuse, family violence & housing support
and gambling problems.
Nexus joined GCH in November 2005.
Nexus developed in Horsham to meet
a need young people had expressed
in 1999 after the closure of another
youth project, Banjo’s. It now provides
New building facing Patrick Street.
Staff at the Centre work in many areas
including: Drug & Alcohol Counselling
& Withdrawal services, Social Work,
Community Nursing, Community
Psychiatric, Youth Work, Supported
Accommodation, Family Violence,
Community Development, Health
Promotion and Education, Palliative Care
and complex service delivery for Senior
Adults, people with disabilities and their
carer’s.
Index
Chairperson’s Report............................................................................ 2
Community Care Options.................................................................. 28
A Year’s Reflections - 25 Years Out...................................................... 3
Balgartnie AGM ................................................................................. 32
Grampians Community Health Organisational
Grampians Community Health - OH&S Report .............................. 33
Chart...................................................................................................... 4
Strategic Plan 2008 -2013 Executive Summary.................................. 6
GPPCP Report..................................................................................... 34
Presidents Report for Grampians Group of Heart Beat.......................
Awards................................................................................................... 7
Reports
Administration Team............................................................................ 8
Community Health Promotion........................................................... 10
Out in the Community....................................................................... 11
Direct Care Programs Manager......................................................... 15
Counselling Team Report.................................................................. 16
Gambling Alcohol & Other Drugs Report . ..................................... 17
Alcohol & Other Drugs Statistics...................................................... 18
Housing and Family Violence Team . ............................................... 20
Wimmera Youth Team Report........................................................... 21
Youth Central Grampians................................................................... 22
Extended Care Programs Manager Report...................................... 23
Carer Respite & Support Services..................................................... 24
This report was produced by staff at Grampians Community Health with cover design assistance by Cath Johnston in conjunction with
David Linley of Grampians Print and Design. Printed on Recycled Paper.
2009-2010 Grampians Community Health - Annual Report
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GCH Board of Directors - Chairperson Report
It is my pleasure to present to you, on
behalf of your Board of Directors, the 25th
Annual Report of Grampians Community
Health. In fact the 2nd Annual Report of
Grampians Community Health Limited.
The major activities of the Board
over the last 12 months include
The 2009/10 year was particularly
memorable for Grampians Community
Health in that we completed the first full
year under our new company structure. We
have also witnessed the completion of our
new home, Stawell Health and Community
Centre, which has been the culmination of
10 years of community involvement and
planning. We now have a centre that will
serve the needs of the Stawell community
for the next 25 years.
• Our part in the project management of
the construction of the new building.
In this our 25th year it is worth reflecting on
our growth over the quarter of a century
of our existence. We began with a small
number of programs involving senior adult
well-being and health promotion. Today
we manage a large range of programs in
the areas of Community Health, Community
Care, Carer Respite and Support,
Community Psychiatric Services, Youth,
Gambling and Drug Services, Counselling,
Housing and Family Violence.
The accompanying graph illustrates our
growth in that period. The total revenue
over that period (excluding the $20,000,000
for the new building) is $68,500,000. This
revenue has funded our programs and, to a
substantial degree, has filtered back to our
community through wages, contributions
and the purchase of goods and services.
• Coming to grips with the governance
issues involved in our change to a
limited liability company.
• Overseeing the array of legal issues
around occupancy of the building.
• Instigation of a more informative
board reporting process. This matter is
ongoing.
• A comprehensive review of the role of
the CEO.
• An ongoing and comprehensive review
of strategic policies.
A matter identified by the Board was the
need to better communicate its role to staff
and volunteers. To this end I have attended
a number of functions explaining our place
and role in GCH. We continue with our
Board Buddy system which is somewhat
unique to this organisation. It provides
direct communication between staff and
Board Members.
The Board sees a number of challenges in
the medium term the most important of
which is the uncertainty surrounding the
possible transfer of primary care funding
to the Commonwealth. Continuity and
security of funding remains one of the
Boards’ major focuses.
While there has been a great deal of focus
on the Stawell site in the last 12 months
the Board is mindful of the valuable
contribution made at our other sites,
Horsham and Ararat in particular. We
are keenly aware of the accommodation
issues in these centres and will strive to find
appropriate solutions in the medium term.
It is the Boards’ intention in the next twelve
months to raise the profile of GCH. We
know we do a great job but it is essential to
our long term sustainability that the wider
community and in particular our funders
know this.
The Board thanks whole heartedly the staff
and volunteers of GCH for their work in
making this organisation great. We also
thank our CEO, Jill Miller, for her passion,
enthusiasm and focus.
I would like to thank my fellow Board
Members; Tanya, Janet, Barry, Margo, Geoff
and Liz for their significant contribution to
GCH and their support of me in my role as
Chairperson.
David Phipps
Chairperson
Grampians Community Health
Board Buddy to
GCH Teams
Board of Management
2010-2011
Admin Support Services
Tanya Barnes
Balgartnie Community Psych
David Phipps
Carer Respite & Suppor/
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Community Care Options
David Phipps
Community Development Team
Barry Curtis
Counselling Team
Janet Hall
Gambling & Drug Services
Geoff Witmitz
Housing & Family Violence
Margo Sietsma
Youth Team - Stawell / Nexus Horsham
Liz McCourt
"The workplace should primarily be an incubator for the human spirit."
(Anita Roddick, 1942-2007 founder of the Body Shop organisation, writer and humanitarian.)
A Year’s Reflections - 25 Years out!
And so it should be so – we spend much
of our life at work and our community and
clients spend time in our workplace too.
Much of what we do at GCH is toward
incubating and nurturing the human spirit
with our clients and partners, and to ensure
that happens, incubating the spirit of GCH
staff. The rapid business of life and work
means that sometimes we forget that.
Even the SH&CC building project is about
nurturing spirit – people need an uplifting
place to visit for care and to work in.
25 years ago , when we started GCH, we
were aware that so many places of work ask
their staff to care for their clients/patients
with compassion and energy but forget that
in doing that kind work the staff can become
very tired and sometimes even empty of the
very thing that they loved doing – caring for
others. We thought to try to do it differently
and follow the principles of the social model
of health for all – clients and staff. GCH has
three staff “top up” times per year (as well
as the staff support programs & services
we run). Near the start of the year we all go
away for a staff week end together – this is
a time to talk about the things that need
time to sort out and also to replenish us all,
the second one is a day in mid winter that
is to just do staff care and the last one, also
just a day, is for planning and collaborative
ventures for the next year.
We also thought to try an have an
organisation that would involve as many
ideas as possible from all staff and clients
and to do that, as managers, to try to stay
as involved as possible with the work of
the agency – as flat in our management
as possible. All GCH managers, including
myself, still have clients or programs we are
actively involved with. That work is still the
work I find the most nourishing for my spirit.
Over the years we have been in existence I
have loved being part of so many people’s
growth and flourishing through working
with GCH. It’s amazing to look back to the
first years of GCH and now see just how we
have developed. In our latest Accreditation
Review the reviewers were again impressed
by the culture of welcoming care for both
clients and all of us as staff. They found that
culture on all sites.
Apart from the support for clients and
staff, in my job so much of the work I do is
structural toward supporting the real work
happening at the service delivery level.
I have listed some of the bodies of work
done this year by the managers of GCH to
ensure that we deliver quality services and
hopefully get it right for people who use us.
HACC all @ SH&CC and Ararat Rural City
and Grampians Pyrenees Primary Care
Partnership @ Ararat.
Reviews, revamps and redesigns:
All seemingly dry stuff but it is very
enjoyable to create the working
environments for such a lot of review and
redesign let alone the partnership work that
can only strengthen the whole of our rural
communities.
GCH Intake service & Enhanced Access to
Men’s Behavioural Change
More exciting are the new services
developed or supported:
Early Intervention in Chronic Disease
(chaired by GCH)
New Family Medicine clinic in Stawell
Assets register revamp & Pre work for new
financial software program
Agreements with Psychiatry in Ararat
around clinical work placements and co
care.
Redesign of the IT systems for the SH&CC
building
Development of Wellbeing Resource
Centre
Rural ICT project – collecting together the
rural state wide Community Health sector
to ensure better quality data collection and
case noting ability.
Practical Completion of SH &CC in April –
GCH moved in May – a new service delivery
model.
Child & Youth Mental Health Redesign
project (actively on the executive) toward
better collaboration for children and young
people needing mental health care
The Winter Reflection week of evaluation
and action research (and becoming a
chapter of Prof Yoland Wadsworth latest
book on evaluation)
Partnerships in care:
Psychiatric Disability Rehabilitation Support
Service Alliance
Development of a partnership with Ballarat
University
Executive User Group of the SH&CC
Development of regional partnerships for
Family Violence & Drug Action plans
Partnership with Wimmera Health Care
group for aged care
Co-location of other services in our
buildings – Red Cross, Wimmera Uniting
Care & WorkCo @ Nexus in Horsham,
Women’s Health Grampians, Centacare,
Wimmera Health Care Group and
Wimmera Primary Care Partnerships
all @ David St in Horsham, Intertwine,
Wimmera Uniting Care, Stawell Regional
Health, Grampians Psychiatric Services,
Patrick St Family Practice, St John Of God
Pathology & Northern Grampians Shire
Development of Intensive Case
Management in family violence
Behind Closed Doors – an art installation
developing and funded, with thanks, by the
Victorian Women’s Trust fund.
Better Health Self Management
Active Places (for young people) @ Nexus
My thanks go to David Phipps in his role
as Chair of the Board for his depth of
understanding of GCH and its work, to the
Board of Directors – they are a great bunch
of challenging, compassionate and thinking
people. MSG – Nick, Marianne, Kate &
Jeanette – who are great at taking the big
picture of healthy living and ensuring that
GCH remains active in that area, backed
by sound principles and resources. To Core
Group who remain a delight to be part of
and have tackled so many projects and
reforms, redesigns and policies this year
again. To all of us as staff of GCH – it is such
a privilege to be part of you still – I thank
you for your care and compassion (and the
laughs).
Together we work to position GCH for our
future, which is an ever present journey of
discovery.
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Organisational Chart
C omm u n i t y
Grampians Community Health Organisational Structure 2010
MSG includes CEO, Programs, Finance & Resource Managers.
Core Group includes MSG plus all Team Managers
GCH Corporate Services, Marketing, Community Development &
Health Promotion - underpinning GCH Client Services
Health
Promotion
Diabetes
Educators
Aboriginal
Women’s
Health
Data
Manager
Rural
Access
Community
Health
Nurses
Community
Health
Promotion
Manager
Finance
Team
Finance and
Strategic
Business
Manager
Resource
& Library
Services
Reception
All Sites
Admin Team
Manager
Cleaning
Staff
Site
Maintenance
Manager
IT Manager
Site
Contacts
Facilities & Technology Manager
BOARD of Management - Elected from the Membership
4
Exec.
Admin
comm u n i t y
GCH Client Services
Home
Based
Outreach
EACH &
EACH D
Grampians
Pyrenees
Primary Care
Partnership
Contact &
Employing
Agency
Volunteer
Programs
Frail
Aged
Kids
Family
Care
Care @
Home
Dementia
Specific &
Packages
BRAG
Nexus
Youth
Centre
Rural
Outreach
Division
Social
Support &
Recovery
Snr Adult
Counselling
Employed
Carers
Psych
Housing
Active
Places
ABI
A&OD
Men’s
Behaviour
Change
Family
Violence
Fax Back
Hospital
To Home
Ageing
Carers
ABI + plus
Bali Club
Youth
Counselors
Community
Based
Withdrawal
Creative
Arts
Program
Intensive
Case
Management
Acquired
Brain
Injury
Men As
Carer’s
Balgartnie
Support
Service
School
Focused
Youth
Gamblers
Help
FV
Counselling
FV Service
Integration
Chronic
Illness
Young &
Sibling
Carers
Carer
Support
A&OD
Youth
0.05
Offenders
Courses
Family
Counselling
Indigenous
Family
Violence
CACP’s
Disability
Carer’s
Seniors
Program
Drug
Diversion
Youth
Drug
Diverson
Program
Counselling
for
Seniors
Supported
Accomm. &
Assistance
Linkages
Carer
Respite
Community
Psychiatric
Nurste
Tribal
Youth
Alcohol &
Other Drug
Counsellors
Social
Workers &
Counsellors
Family
Violence
Community
Psychiatric
Team Manager
Youth Team
Leaders Nexus
& Stawell
Gambling
& Drug
Services Team
Counselling
Team
Manager
Housing
and FV Team
Manager
Community Care Options
and Carer’s Respite & Support
Teams Manager
Extended Care Programs Manager
CEO
COMMUNITY Membership of GCH
Direct Care Programs Manager
The communities of the Central Grampians &
Wimmera Sub Regions of DHS & DH
Friends of GCH
5
Strategic Plan 2008 – 2013 Executive Summary
A Living Evolving Document
Vision
Vibrant & Healthy
Communities
Extended Vision
GCH, in collaboration with the communities
we serve, will provide excellence &
Key Priority Areas:
Principles:
What we will do to
achieve our vision
Values that already
underpin GCH’s work:
Development & Delivery
of quality sustainable
services, programs &
projects
Access for All
Client & Staff Wellbeing
Excellence & Leadership
in all
leadership in the development & delivery
of primary health care & community
services. GCH will facilitate the achievement
of healthy living for all throughout the
Grampians/Wimmera.
GCH fields of endeavour
Ensure the Needs of our
Community are met
PLUS
Community & Consumer
Involvement
Environmental
responsibility
GCH Aims & Objects
Quality Organisation
Social Justice
Key Strategic Goals:
The main outcomes we will seek to achieve
Development and delivery of
quality sustainable services
programs and projects
Excellence & Leadership in
all GCH fields of endeavour
by:
Ensuring the Needs of our
community will be met by:
6
Undertaking service development in key areas aimed at optimising the health & well
being of individuals through to communities, utilising a strength building approach
based on engagement & respect.
Strengthening the capacity of GCH to ensure the sustainability of the services, programs
& projects developed.
Providing leadership in developing a quality service using health promotion, early
intervention, partnerships, service coordination & program evaluation whilst maintaining
respect for client choice.
Benchmarking and subjecting GCH to rigorous external evaluation to ensure quality and
excellence.
Identifying & responding to community needs & trends for service delivery, programs &
projects, matching those with government and other funding source policy.
Enshrining a process of meaningful community/ membership involvement & consultation
at all levels of GCH – Programs/Projects, Teams, Management & Board with a respectful
bias toward minority groups in our community.
Awards
10 Years this year
Trish Mitchell 7. 4. 2000
Trish has been a force to be reckoned
with when it comes to caring for the care
givers in our community. She has now left
GCH after 10 years of ensuring carer’s
get support and financial backing. She
has certainly been a steady presence in
that team throughout many changes. We
thank her for her work and humour.
Jeff “Go Saints” Parson 10.7.2000
Although this is a bad year for Jeff since
the replay – he has certainly been a loyal
GCH supporter throughout his time with
us – we value him for the work he has
done in IT, payroll and data management.
He is always ready to help staff with all
the nuances of data and IT questions,
questions and more questions! Jeff
goes the extra mile and the amount of
barbeques he has cooked must register
in the hundreds. Thanks Jeff.
Gilda McKechnie
23.10.2000
The passion this lady has for community
development work on a large scale
for people with a disability has been
mammoth. Gilda is a great person to
have on your side. She is also a team
leader in community development and
health promotion. She certainly cares for
her team with the same passion. Gilda is
creative and compassionate – both skills
have been used for the job she holds to
great effect. Thank you Gilda for your
passion.
Karen Watson 26.10.2000
Karen is certainly a quiet achiever
(sometimes not so quiet) but her work
as a case manager for people with
complex needs who want to remain as
independent as possible at their home
has ensured that lots of people have
used her organisational talents, her
compassion and her dedication to boost
their lives. Karen is well regarded by
clients, fellow workers and professionals
from other organisations. Thank you
Karen for your caring nature.
15 Years this year
Carol Henwood
15.2.1995
Carol joined the team at Palm Lodge
as a counsellor in the days when the
Lodge was a residential A&D centre. She
came from a working back ground of
safe houses and women’s refuges. She
became part of GCH as the Gambler’s
Help counsellor and is now the manager
of the GADS team. Carol has a rare sense
of the ridiculous and keeps us all from
taking our lives too seriously. Thank you
Carol again.
Marian Corbett 3.7.1995
Marian joined us via Balgartnie when
it became part of GCH – she has been
an amazing advocate for people with a
psychiatric illness and constant supporter
of their rehabilitation. She is known
for some wild ideas that when they
eventuate make perfect sense. Her sense
of humour gets her through many trying
times and keeps Balgartnie with a smile
on its face. Her passion for the people
that make up Balgartnie is known to all.
Thank you Marian especially for the time
you were in charge of Balgartnie too.
Sandra Pickens
3.7.1995
Sandra joined the same time as Marian
and the same way. She comes from a
community house back ground before
becoming a “psychiatric services officer”.
Sandra drove the external programs of
Balgartnie for many years – travelling
to St Arnaud and other towns to deliver
outreach programs. She is an innovator
and has developed many services/
support groups for carer’s of people with
a psych illness long before that became a
recognised need. Thank you Sandra.
Frank Kean
14.8.1995
Frank joined GCH in Prison – he was the
person who delivered the GCH drug
programs at Ararat Goal. He finished
there when another Melbourne based
group took over and worked on the
outside in the 4C’s program including
Drink Drive. Frank’s love of chocolate
has led him to a deep understanding
of addiction. He has done much
extra training and now delivers Men’s
Behavioural Change groups and
transferred to the generalist counselling
team as their only male counsellor – a
valuable commodity. Thank you Frank for
the steadiness you bring.
Honoured
Colleague Award
This status is like life membership – an
honour bestowed by the Board of
Directors to people who have given
beyond the call of duty to GCH and/or to
their community.
Margo Sietsma
Margo has been on the GCH Board for
over 10 years as a truly engaged member.
Margo throughout time has been an
amazing community leader – she has
variously run the Hall’s Gap Wildflower
show, been actively involved in her
church work, drove the Beyond the
Smoke initiative following the 2006 wild
fires, which resulted in many activities to
assist recovery and the production of a
beautiful book with works of art. She is
involved, often in a leadership capacity, in
Friends of the Grampians National Park,
Film Society, progress associations and
much more
On the Board Margo has never stepped
aside from the difficult or extremely busy
times. She has held the positions of
Board Chair 2004 & 2005 and Treasurer
2001 – 2003 . Margo inspires great
confidence in her as a thoughtful person
who has the capacity to think through
difficult and complex problems (she
certainly uses her scientific brain to the
benefit of GCH & the community). She
takes on huge tasks and delivers, through
coordinating teams of people, dramatic
results – often.
Margo loves the bush, bush walking,
travelling and
spending wonderful
family times both
overseas and in
Australia.
Apart from all that
she is simply nice to
have around.
Margo in Sydney
when GCH won
the National Family
Friendly Workplace
Awards
7
Administration Team
Vision Statement
“To provide a professional, non-judgmental and friendly first point of contact that
enhances relations with the community and other service providers. To think creatively and
laterally to solve both internal and external client needs, whilst working to a high level
of confidentiality and enhance further development of all aspects of Quality Assurance
throughout the organization.”
The Admin Team:
Tania McKenzie - Administration Manager
Launa Schilling
- Administration Team Leader
Kerry Heinrich
- Executive Assistant to CEO & Board
Leanne Clark
- Receptionist Ararat
Louise Francis
- Receptionist Ararat Sarah Metcalfe
Kay Cadzow
Jeff Parson - Data Coordinator & Payroll Officer
Lorraine Nicholson
- Receptionist/Admin Support Stawell
Kerrie Skene
- Receptionist Stawell
Lyn Archibald - Receptionist Stawell
Leanne Bell
- Receptionist Horsham
Carolyn Dumesny - Receptionist Horsham
Highlights:The past 12 months have seen significant
change for both the Admin Team and
the Organisation as a whole. One of
the highlights in Stawell has been the
move to more functional surroundings.
This has enabled the team to sort
through equipment and supplies, to
review procedures and also to make
for a more cohesive workplace with the
team located all together. Staff feel as
though they have worked in this building
8
for much longer than we actually have,
the smooth transition from one site to
the other and the amount of planning,
preparation and team work have all
helped to contribute to this feeling. We
are very settled into our new workspaces
and are enjoying the closer bonds
formed due to the relocation.
The Horsham reception area has also
undergone renovations; the area has
more privacy and space in both the
waiting room and the resource area
behind the reception desk. The reception
area is now much more functional, with
purpose built storage and a centralized
resource room with dual access for staff
convenience making things much easier.
The Ararat reception area has had some
minor changes to doors and the inclusion
of a lockable storage cupboard under
the stairs. The upstairs resource area has
had some new furniture relocated from
the Stawell office to improve functionality
and appearance.
The Admin Team had another successful
Team Building Day in 2009. Ararat and
Stawell staff travelled to Horsham where
we met up with the Horsham staff at
Sylvania Park. This was a very successful
day with a focus on multi skilling admin
workers to ensure continued high quality
service,. By reviewing individual work
plans and allocated tasks, staff were
able to swap some tasks with other team
members. This had a number of positive
effects. Staff are able to learn new skills
and share knowledge, try new things to
minimise any boredom that may have
crept into their day to day roles and
ensure that no one is either bored or has
too large a work load.
The team were very happy with this
process and it was decided that we
would all get together again in 6 months
and review how the changes had gone.
The decision was made by the group
to incorporate the second catch up day
into our team Christmas gathering. So in
December 2009 we met again at Nectar
Ambrosia in Ararat and spent a few hours
discussing the changes, how they had
gone and if any further changes needed
to be made. This was followed by a
wonderful Christmas lunch to cap off a
very busy year.
Areas for Celebration:The Admin Team have had a
continued commitment to professional
development with staff attending a
number of different workshops and
professional development opportunities,
including;
Critical Incident Stress Management
Bridges Out of Poverty
First Aid Training
Mental Health First Aid
NSP Training
There have also been significant changes
with the introduction of Meeting Room
Manager, an online room and vehicle
bookings system across all sites. This has
been both a challenge and a wonderful
learning opportunity with a number of
team members across all sites attending
training and being involved in the
programming and setting up of this
software package.
The year also saw two Admin staff, Kerrie
and Joy participating in “Pink Ladies”
at the MCG; they have both raised
money and awareness of breast cancer
throughout the organisation and the
community, well done Ladies!
This is also an opportunity for me as the
Manager to highlight, thank and brag
about the wonderful group of people
that make up the Admin Team. They are
all exceptional individuals that as a group
become truly wonderful. The level of
commitment to their role, the belief in
helping others and the willingness with
which they do it is a credit to every one of
them. They are extremely supportive of
each other, flexible with changing shifts
and covering each other for holidays, sick
leave and last minute surprises. They are
great group of people that are a pleasure
to manage.
The move in Stawell has also given us the
opportunity to strengthen partnerships
with other building users. Sharing the
reception area with Wimmera Uniting
Care has been a great learning tool. We
have had and increased understanding of
each other’s programs which in turn gives
better client outcomes and support.
It has also been extremely enjoyable
working with Intertwine, the café and the
medical centre and we look forward to
other services joining us soon.
Team members have attended much
valuable training over the past year. This
includes First Aid, Critical Incident Stress
Management, Minute Taking, Bridges
out of Poverty and Mental Health First
Aid. This broadens our understanding
of both the administration role and also
of client needs, enabling us to become
more proficient and empathetic in our
roles. The value of ongoing training
cannot be underestimated and we are
grateful to management for recognising
its importance.
Future Directions:The Admin Team is focused on further
improving our skills and networks over
the next year with continued professional
development to keep us well informed,
well trained and customer focused.
The Team Building day has always been
successful and plans for our next one
are well underway. This is an important
development opportunity that the whole
team values. It is an opportunity for the
team who are spread out across three
sites and different days to catch up
and to focus on and strive for continual
improvement within the Admin team.
As always we will continue to monitor and
evaluate our process and procedures and
update when necessary to maintain our
commitment to quality customer service.
9
Community Health Promotion
The Community Health Promotion Team
has a common vision of a community
where all people feel safe, valued and
accepted, and have the opportunity for
positive choices in their health and well
being.
This year the team undertook many
challenging and exciting times within
the organization becoming the first
team to move into our wonderful new
building in Stawell and saying goodbye
to four amazing inspiring team members.
I would like to take the opportunity to
acknowledge the work of these four
wonderful women and say thank you to
each of them. Firstly Bernadette Cossar,
our legendary community health nurse
who worked for Grampians Community
Health for over 20 years and became a
friend to all in her community. Bernadette
was a true example of professionalism
and her reputation in the organization
and community was that of always being
there, helpful and kind beyond what was
ever asked or expected of her, she will
be and is sadly missed. Secondly, Penny
Knott our diabetes educator whose
passion and enthusiasm for her work
and healthy food became contagious.
Thirdly, Mary Barnes our AOD community
educator who worked tirelessly to change
our thinking around alcohol and other
drugs and was dedicated to creating a
positive healthy community. Lastly but
certainly not least Kerrie Skene who
supported us all with her many diverse
skills and by her presence, her strength
and sense of humour that inspires us all.
work ethic constantly amazes me, inspires
me and makes me feel proud to be a part
of this team. Many community projects
finally came to fruition and new projects
have just begun but as always the team
manages to maintain their passion
and commitment, their ability to laugh
and make others smile and give each
other and the community support when
needed.
The team’s projects and work are steps
towards our common vision for the
community and we aim to do this by
being true to our underlying philosophy
of the social determinants of health.
Our Team
Gilda McKechnie – Team Leader, Rural
Access Co-ordinator and an amazing
woman
Jill Miller – Our Health Promotion Guru
Launa Schilling – Health Promotion
Helen Giles – Health Promotion
Suzie Hamilton – Indigenous Health
Promotion
Bernadette Cossar – Community Health
Nurse
Bronwen Malligan – Community Health
Nurse
Sue Fontana –Diabetes Educator
Penny Knott – Diabetes Educator
This year the team interacted with over
3,300 community members.
Mary Barnes – Alcohol & Other drug
Community Development
Our areas of work in Health Promotion
are reflected in the statistics below.
Kerrie Skene – Health Promotion
Administration
We welcome all ideas, from anyone in the
community and love the opportunity to
advocate, facilitate or support individuals
or groups. Please keep coming and
talking to us.
Jules Walker
Manager Community Health Promotion
Although we had many sad goodbyes we
also welcomed to our team our newest
member Bronwen Malligan. Bronwen
an experienced community health nurse
supports all our team and teams within
thin the organisation and brings with
her a wonderful energy, a warm smile
and a committed passion to assist the
community.
For the rest of the team, their work and
10
Out in the Community
• Input into the Stawell Community Garden to ensure that the garden is inclusive and
accessible to members of the community who may have special needs. This includes
the funding of accessible raised garden beds with funding provided by the Disability
Partnerships and Service Planning Department of Human Services.
RuralAccess – Gilda
McKechnie Coordinator
One of the joys of working in a
program that has a focus on community
development is the opportunity to work on
a number of diverse projects, so life is never
boring. During the past 12 months I have
worked with a number of organisations to
deliver projects that include:
• Another round of Bushfire/grassfire
Preparation and Awareness forums
in Moyston, Great Western and Halls
Gap with another 4 planned for this
year. This project has been seen as
‘leading edge’ and I have presented
at Statewide meetings and for the
Barwon/Corangamite CFA to help them
with their planning in this area. Our
findings have also been used to inform
the Bushfire Royal Commission.
• The running of an Accessible Tourism
education and training forum held at
Halls Gap for businesses across the
Grampians Region. This included
the launch of the ‘Missed Business’
booklet that is a resource booklet about
making businesses more inclusive and
accessible. Participants heard from
a number of speakers including an
Accessible B&B operator, a Disability
and the Building Law Consultant, the
Manager of Blood on the Southern
Cross at Sovereign Hill where access/
inclusion plans have been implemented
and a local builder who builds
accessible accommodation.
• Beaufort Secondary College Disability
Awareness Day, organised by the VCAL
students. This is a particularly exciting
day, because the students decided
to organise this day themselves and
invited me to run one of the activities.
This is the type of positive outcome
that RuralAccess works towards, where
community members become the
ambassadors for raising awareness,
ensuring that we operate as an inclusive
community.
RuralAccess works closely with the rest
of the Community Development/Health
Promotion team and other service providers
in the community to ensure that access
issues, information and inclusion is always
high on the agenda. I sit on a number
of boards and conduct education and
training sessions throughout the Northern
Grampians, Ararat and Pyrenees Shires.
11
Out in the Community (continued)
Budja Budja Women’s Group
This year the Budja Budja Women’s
Group is back on track after a little bit
of a bumpy ride. The dynamics of the
group has been an interesting journey
as the women have gone from being
strangers to becoming great friends and
support to each other.
eliminates that feeling of awkwardness
when you first join a group. This method
will be continued for future women’s
groups.
The women’s group will continue to grow
and move in a good direction to ensure
the Indigenous Women have a voice
and their opinions are heard and to have
better health outcomes to help close the
gap in health for Indigenous Women.
The women have created some
wonderful art work and a Family Violence
Kit that they and I are very proud of.
These were distributed to different
services such as Vic Police, Grampians
Community Health and even some
Indigenous co-operatives in Melbourne
and Sydney just to name a few.
The women have been learning about
various health topics along the way and
this has strengthened their knowledge on
their health and wellbeing. We have also
brought our Indigenous Culture into our
group through our Welcome to Country
prior to holding our Women’s Group.
This has helped to ensure that our group
is culturally respected between ourselves
and others involved with the group.
I have learnt a lot of lessons myself
in regards to the women’s group and
about our Indigenous Culture. One of
these lessons that I have learnt for future
groups is to do any personal stories and
culture awareness through painting, art
and recording as the women do not really
enjoy writing as they feel that writing for
them is not culturally appropriate. This
has been a very important lesson for
me as it helps to better our activities in
the group and ensures the women feel
culturally safe.
The Women are also encouraged to
bring a friend along for their support. I
have found that this works very well for
the women as they really like to share
their culture with their family and friends
and the women’s group has played an
important role to achieve this. It also
12
“The Ancient ones watch, as a sad, lonely
and lost woman stands alone in a broken
squat.
She is quietly waiting, standing so still,
but her mind is racing, as she remembers
the bashing from the night before.
She paces the empty room, running
her hands across her sore and broken
ribs. Every night had become a living
nightmare.
A tear rolls down her bruised and
battered face as vivid memories of
shouting, slapping, kicking, punching,
screaming, silence...
She hears a faint cry from the tiny room
out back where her three children sleep,
huddled together on a small mattress.
Even in their dreams they are restless and
scared.
dreams of a loving man, a happy family,
another life. But her dreams soon fade
into the darkness as she feels her unborn
child kicking within her womb.
The wind blows through the broken
glass, as she gazes towards the stars and
hears the faint whispers from the Ancient
ones... ‘Woman, go get your children
and leave now. The waiting is over, your
journey is about to begin, your dream
will become your reality. Go now, you are
free.”
This is taken from the Women’s Family
Violence Kit.
Suzie Hamilton – Indigenous Health
Development Worker
She recalls the fear in their eyes as
she tucked them into bed earlier, and
wondered if it was just a reflection of her
own.
Walking to the broken window, she peers
out into the night. Closing her eyes she
The Stawell Community
Garden
We have now been at the garden for over
12 months. Our 20 plots are almost full to
capacity. We have individual plot holders,
groups and families utilizing the garden.
In recent times our shed has been fitted
out and the green house assembled.
There is definitely a spring buzz in the air.
Of course none of this would be possible
without the help of a wonderful bunch of
volunteers, and very generous companies
who have provided grants and donations
of equipment and resources.
The garden committee is very keen to
encourage new enthusiastic members.
Our committee is like many and in need
of more help.
It is our hope to build more plots,
encourage more young people to be
involved and get some art projects on
the go.
We are starting up some workshops at
the garden. These will be free and open
to the public.
It is important to acknowledge our
partners at the garden. They are
Intertwine Services, Rural Access,
Grampians Community Health and
Eventide Homes.
The Community garden is something for
Stawell to be proud of. Drop in and have
and look, spread the word.
Contact
Helen Giles
Health Promotion
53587400
Community Health Nurse
2010 has been a busy year for the
Community Health Nurse. April saw the
appointment of myself as Community
Health Nurse, replacing Bernadette
Cossar, who left after many years with
Grampians Community Health.
Services offered by the Community
Health Nurse include, information
on general health and well being
issues, health checks including blood
pressure checks, asthma information
and education and health coaching for
general health and wellbeing.
Other activities I have been involved
in so far this year, are the ‘Baby Think
It Over’ program, a virtual parenting
program, run in conjunction with Stawell
Secondary College and Marian College.
During Diabetes Week, a successful
Diabetes Expo was held, in conjuction
with Stawell Regional Health. July saw
an organised bus trip to Horsham for a
Breastscreen Clinic.
I also provide regular health education/
information sessions to groups at
Balgartnie, and the Indigenous Women’s
group.
Other activities include The Biggest
Morning Tea, and attendance at
conferences performing health checks.
Bronwen Malligan – Community Health
Nurse
relocated with her family to Roxby Downs
SA. Sue was then allocated the role one
day a week.
Health Promotion Events
National Diabetes Week July 2010
Diabetes Australia’s theme for this
year’s National Diabetes Week Activity
was, “Avoid Kidney damage in Type 2
diabetes”- focusing on awareness of
kidney damage and the risks of type 2
diabetes.
Held in the Diamond room at the Stawell
Health and Community Centre as the
first major event it was an extremely
successful day with over 70 people
attending. The expo was a collaborative
event including staff from Grampians
Community Health and Stawell Regional
Health.
Morning tea and soup was provided.
Participants had the opportunity to
connect with health professionals and
others with diabetes. Presentations
included an informative talk from Dr.
Obi, Patrick Street Family Practice. And
information was also provided by Elise
from Blizzards Optometrist.
Aged Care Service
Eventide Homes (aged care facility)
requested the support of the diabetes
educator to review clients with type 2
diabetes, and provide education to staff
on diabetes.
Education community groups
Diabetes Annual Report
Community Development Team Diabetes
Education Annual Report 2009—2010
Sue Fontana Registered Nurse,
Credentialled Diabetes Educator and
Penny Knott Diabetes Educator worked
collaboratively 4 hours a week in the role
of community development diabetes
educators until May 2010 when Penny
Diabetes – ‘Getting back on track’
The Diabetes Educators conducted
two group education programs during
2010. The 4 week programs were held
during the month of February as evening
sessions and during the months of
April and May a day time session This
education was to provide practical advice
and improve the health to those who
have had diabetes for some time.
13
Out in the Community (continued)
News from the Wimmera Launa Schilling
in physical activity, arts and crafts,
entertainment, education and health.
Wimmera Machinery Field
Days
Squash in Schools
This is such an exciting project for our
region; the mobile centre will service
seven local government areas and
enhance existing services.
Wimmera Machinery Field Days theme
was very successful with 11 Wimmera
Primary Care Partnership health &
community agencies collaborating in the
“Hot Options to check out Your Health”
health promotion event.
Squash in Schools Program has seen an
increase in participation with the two
programs; Secondary school sessions and
also the Junior Competition.
We have run approximately 15 programs
over 44 sessions and having an average
of 19 participants per session.
The steering committee has been
successful in gaining a majority of the
funding for the project. The committee
is now working on the fitout and setting
up of an advisory group to work with the
project co-ordinator.
The programs were successful in many
ways especially involving young people in
physical activity who would not normally
participate.
With over 400 visitors to our Temptations
site they were able to access information
on alcohol, energy drinks, prescribed
medication and tobacco. We had
interactive fun activities to put our
message across. This form of health
promotion is valuable as it gives us an
opportunity to connect with people who
may not be aware of our services.
McKenzie Creek Campus participants
had some positive feedback for the
program…. “it was awesome”, “would
do it again”, “it’s cool”
Partnerships were strengthened with
schools, alternate education facilities,
sporting clubs and sports assembly.
Horsham Northfest …….
With our first successful festival we had
over 250 people attend from all over
Horsham and surrounds, the comments
from those that attended said they would
like to see the festival run again. We are
currently planning on the next Northfest
at the end of 2010
Wimmera Youth &
Community Mobile Centre
The Wimmera Youth & Community
Mobile Centre(WYCMC) will be
commissioned in December 2010 and will
engage stakeholder groups to encourage
youth and community involvement
14
Marianne Hendron Direct Care Programs Manager
This is my third GCH Annual Report and
I could say that in the past 12 months I
was finally feeling like I have at least a
basic understanding of the areas my role
encompasses, but no, I speak too soon,
because just when you get your head
around things – goal posts move, new
priorities are introduced and reviews and
restructures happen! And then there are
elections! Oh well, that’s the nature of the
industry we’re in, and on balance most of
the changes are for the better.
2009/10 saw several significant initiatives
in regards to all of the program areas that
I deal with. Most notably:-
Family Violence – the vision and
hard work over the past five years in
the area of integration is truly coming
to fruition with key players in the area
of family violence support at the same
table on a regular basis and genuinely
working together to improve consistency
and simpler pathways for victims of family
violence. I have this year taken on the
role of Chair of Grampians Integrated
Family Violence Committee and look
forward to our region continuing to
consolidate our partnerships with Justice,
Police, Children’s services and indigenous
communities.
Our Men’s Behaviour Change Program
has been enhanced with some much
needed extra dollars to support staff
training and enable more dedicated
program delivery time.
Housing – We were fortunate to be
successful in new funding to enhance
or further develop housing support
programs for vulnerable people through
the Commonwealth Government’s
National Partnership Agreement and
hope the benefits of this are starting to
filter through to those who need it.
(Local Area Service Network). Again, a
lot of hours around the table to achieve
improved access to housing support for
those who most need it. We continue
to collaborate with our key partners,
Wimmera Uniting Care and Salvation
Army to smooth out the wrinkles and
monitor into the future.
Alcohol and Other Drugs
The key area of Dual Diagnosis
Implementation requires planning and
leadership and this again has been a
priority. Co-morbidity is often the rule
rather than the exception and these
clients are at risk of poorer treatment
outcomes and greater disability
or impairment in the long term.
Considerable time and energy has been
dedicated to working with our partners in
mental health services in the belief that
a collaborative approach provides better
outcomes.
Gambling
Once again regional services have
a partnership approach, involving
Wimmera Uniting Care, Relationships
Australia (RAV) and Child and Family
Services. We were successful in a
joint submission with RAV in receiving
Innovations funding to allow staff to
up-skill in new treatments for problem
gambling.
Youth
The dynamic youth teamwork across
the region continues with a strong
youth focus in the Drug Action Plan
Project in Central Grampians through
delivery of Programs such as GRADES
in partnership with schools, police and
other youth services. The Wimmera
region has benefitted from 2 new projects
focusing on physical activity and youth
participation post bushfire.
Counselling
The team is lean but still manages to
provide extensive and high quality
counselling and support across the
region and to take the lead in areas
such as Critical Incident Response, a
challenging and unpredictable area
which requires special skills. GCH coordinated a further training program in
this area this year which refreshed both
the knowledge and networks needed to
respond effectively.
The overriding goal of these diverse
programs and initiatives is improved
access, support and quality responses
for clients and a key to achieving this
is effective partnership with other
agencies and stakeholders. This is
both challenging and rewarding and
we respect and appreciate the work of
those who are with us on this journey.
Our staff in all these programs are
dedicated and committed in these efforts
and I acknowledge the professionalism
and compassion they display. I also
acknowledge the great work of others
in the agency who so ably support us in
our client work – notably reception and
administration staff, IT and resources
people, health promotion team and not
forgetting the finance department.
The Horsham sites are busier than ever,
and we value and enjoy the presence of
our co-located services, Wimmera PCP,
Wimmera Health Care Group, Women’s
Health Grampians and Centacare (all at
David St) and Wimmera Uniting Care,
Red Cross and WorkCo (at Nexus). They
enrich the work we are doing and provide
lots of opportunities for cross fertilization
of ideas and networks. We look forward
to more in the next 12 months.
The past year has seen the full
implementation of the Opening Doors
Project driven by the regional LASN
15
Counselling Team Report
The Generalist Counselling Team has
seen significant changes and events
this past year. Changes within the team
structure and the relocation to the Gold
Reef building have been opportunities
for expression of team resilience and
flexibility. All three sites have a constant
high demand for counselling services
offered and, whilst waitlists are an
ongoing factor, satisfaction with, and
high regard for the service is expressed
regularly by both individual community
members and organisations. The issues
presented most commonly to this service
are; depression, anxiety, relationship
issues, grief and loss, residual anxieties
after abuse, and the psychosocial aspects
of chronic illness.
In addition, participation in counselling
for Employment Assistance Programs,
and debriefing sessions after traumatic
events both within and outside the area,
have had a high presence in this last year.
The Horsham site continues to be
involved with the Professional Grief
and Bereavement Study Group, and
the Wimmera Counsellors Group.
Team members from Stawell and Ararat
maintain their participation in the Ararat
prison with both group and individual
work and the ongoing work with Budja
Budja in Halls Gap is significant and
highly valued. Introducing music and
its potential for well-being to primary
schools has been another initiative of a
team member.
Team members have also consistently
participated in regular updating of skills
with the diverse trainings essential to the
rural worker. They have also taken part in
a Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment
as a way of enhancing team cohesion
and now look forward to another year of
challenges and enhanced productivity.
Statistics for Team
Within the community the counselling
team delivered 4,376 individual
counselling sessions 429 group sessions
and Spent over 4,500 hours providing
support to community members
16
What our Community
and Partners think of our
counselling service
Team Members
Family Violence Counselling
& Support Group
I would like to say thank you to my
colleagues in the counselling team and
especially to Tanya Mitchell for their
ongoing support, encouragement and
great sense of humour which makes the
work I do possible!
Appreciation and high regard has been
expressed directly by many individual
clients as well as community/professional
organisations. Some of these are;
Woodbine Centre Inc., the ‘Professional
Grief and Bereavement Study Group’
participants, St Arnaud Child Care
Centre, and the ‘Becoming Free’ group
participants.
Once again this year has continued to
be challenging with the complex issue of
family violence, with increased working
with children. The Women’s support
group in Horsham has commenced
participation in a Community Arts Project
which hopes to create an interactive art
installation to create further community
awareness and response to family
violence.
Sandra McGrath … Acting Team
Manager
Christina Madams…Senior Adults/
Generalist Counsellor
Fiona Williamson …..Generalist
Counsellor
Frank Kean………….MBC/Generalist
Counsellor
Jillian Gough…………Family Violence
Counsellor
Ruth Griffith…………Family Outreach/
Generalist Counsellor
Christine Walker…….Generalist
Counsellor
Tanya Mitchell……….MBC/Generalist
Counsellor
Jillian Gough
The project gives opportunity for the
women to give expression to their
experience of family violence and is
enabling them to gain new skills in
the creative process. This has been an
exciting project and the women have
been very keen to be involved. It is
hoped that the project will be on display
early 2011.
A new creative arts therapy group for
children (3 – 6 year olds) and their carers
will commence in Stawell in October
and will run for 6 weeks. This group will
be focusing on early intervention and
strengthening the relationship between
children and their carers.
Craig & Christine – Taiko Drumming
Workshop
This will be a pilot group with the hope of
being able to provide more creative art
groups in 2011.
Gambling, Alcohol & Other Drugs Team Report
GADS is one of the biggest and most
diverse GCH teams, comprising no less
than eight different programs catering
to a wide range of needs across the
region and the generations. At the start
of another three year funding cycle, we
were happy to retain all our positions with
our ‘forensic’ programs – Rural Outreach
Diversion Workers and Drug Diversion
staff being re-funded.
Over the past 12 months we maintained
a strong focus on Dual Diagnosis
Implementation, with team members
involved at several levels to enhance our
ability to respond to clients with cooccurring drug and alcohol and mental
health issues. This has involved further
upskilling of staff for dual diagnosis
assessment capability, the undertaking
of a Reciprocal Rotations Project and
regular liaison with partner agencies in
mental health over common assessment
tools and other opportunities for
collaboration in client treatment and
support. We have been happy to host a
member of the Wimmera Uniting Care
Horizons Team weekly to experience first
hand work in an AOD setting and one
of our staff will do likewise in a mental
health workplace.
The Commonwealth funded Rural
Home Based Withdrawal Program
continues to be of great value to clients
throughout the region, offering home
visits and transport for those needing
to attend a rehabilitation centre in the
city or other large regional towns. The
program continues to see a mix of clients
addressing alcohol, legal prescription
and illicit drug issues and is faced with
challenges such as limited access to
pharmacotherapy (eg: methodone
programs) across the region.
The 4C’s – Drug and alcohol Counselling,
Consultancy and Continuing Care
- program was in strong demand
and counsellors were rarely without
full client loads. These counsellors
provide therapeutic intervention,
pharmacotherapy education, and
assistance for clients to attend de-tox or
acceptance into a rehabilitation centre, a
very complex role, and one that requires
patience and dedication.
The Acquired Brain Injury/Alcohol and
Other Drug Clinical Consultant continues
to undertake care co-ordination,
secondary consultation, networking and
capacity building across the whole region
– no mean feat. Here too the challenge
of access to specialist services in more
remote areas is felt, with extremely
long wait times tfor clients requiring
neuropsychological assessments.
However there has been some success in
using our Video Conferencing equipment
for consultations with clients in outlying
towns.
The Driver Education (Drink Drive)
Program, offered at regular intervals at
Stawell and Horsham sites, is still very
much in demand and our newly retrained
Quit Facilitators have also offered new
programs in Horsham
Our Youth AOD outreach program across
the region is always busy with direct client
work providing community education
to schools, and with collaboration with
alternative education programs such as
ConnectEd in Horsham. The counsellors
provide one-to-one counselling to our
young people struggling with substance
use, supporting and encouraging them to
reach their full potential.
We have moved into the implementation
phase of the Central Grampians Drug
Action Plan, undertaking projects with a
focus on youth and community education
around alcohol in particular. This work
is well supported by our partners in the
police and school networks.
counseling as the data below indicates.
Staff have had extra demands with
the implementation of the new client
information system, TrakCare, on top
of working with complex clients, the
self-exclusion program and portfolio
work which aims to increase the capacity
of workers in other areas such as drug
and alcohol to work collaboratively with
gambling clients.
The Grampians Responsible Gambling
Interest Group facilitates venue
managers, community members,
reformed gamblers, other welfare
agencies members, an arena for
discussion, education and projects for the
benefit of the community.
The Stawell team have done an
exceptional job in coping with the move
to the beautiful SH&CC and, along with
clients, have now embraced their new
area with all its extra space and facilities.
Over the past year we have, as always,
had goodbyes and welcomes to this
big and busy team. Two very valued
members, Hylton Mason and Mary
Barnes moved on and we welcomed
Linda Spencer and Tim O Donnell.
Carol Henwood,
GADS Team Manager
Drug Action Week in June was highly
successful in terms of community
education and engaging with new
networks. There were information stands
in Ararat and St Arnaud and a very
successful and well attended Quiz Night
in Horsham kept over 120 entertained
with some good drug, alcohol and
gambling ‘harm minimisation’ messages
being highlighted
Gamblers Help continues to have
strong demand for problem gambling
17
Alcohol & Other Drugs Statistics
Grampians Needle & Syringe
Exchange Program
Central Grampians Overall
Statistics
Age of Users ‐ Central Grampians
Central Grampians Overall Service Delivery
1%
600
14%
32%
Under 25
400
25 ‐35
Client Contact
200
0
Client Contact
90
35‐45
46 +
Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4
401
391
318
404
53%
Needle Syringe Comparison ‐ Central Grampians
Male and female Central Grampians 80
70
7,800
60
7,600
50
40
Female
30
Male
7,400
7,200
Needle & Syringe OUT
7,000
6,800
20
6,600
10
2009/2010
2008/2009
0
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Quarter 4
Gender Comparison ‐ Central Grampians
Clients by Age ‐ Central Grampians
3% 4%
11%
18%
Under 15 Female Clients
Under 25
Male Clients
25 to 35 21%
48%
35 to 45
45 to 55
55 +
82%
13%
Clients by Drug Usage ‐ Central Grampians
1% 1% 1%
25%
Alcohol
Sedatives and Hypnotics
Heroin
72%
Methodone
Amphetamines
18
GCH Community Trivia Night during Drug Action Week 2010
Wimmera Needle & Syringe
Exchange Program
Central Wimmera Overall
Statistics
Wimmera Overall Service Delivery
Age of Users ‐ Wimmera
1500
10%
26%
1000
Under 25
33%
Client Contact
500
25 ‐35
35‐45
0
46 +
Client Contact
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Quarter 4
1496
1233
1421
1276
31%
Needle Syringe Comparison ‐ Wimmera
Male and female ‐ Wimmera
100
90
50,000
80
40,000
70
60
30,000
Needle
20,000
Female
40
10,000
0
50
Male
30
20
2009/2010
2008/2009
10
0
Quarter 1
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Quarter 4
Gender Comparison ‐ Wimmera
Clients by Age ‐ Wimmera
29%
4%
13%
Female Clients
35%
Male Clients
71%
22%
Under 25
25 to 35 35 to 45
45 to 55
55 +
26%
Clients by Drug Usage ‐ Wimmera
6%
1% 1%
2% 1% 1%
Alcohol
Cannabis
24%
Amphetamines
Nicotine
64%
Heroin
Morphine
Benzodiazepines
Opiod Analgesic
19
Housing and Family Violence Team
The past year has been busy, bustling
and challenging. The Housing and Family
Violence Team has seen the introduction of
four new programs, student placements and
staff changes. The program has welcomed
two new team members and has seen
another two team members leave. 2009-2010
has been a year of positive change offering
the team an optimistic outlook for the future
of the service.
The HFV program has continued to work
on the HASS workplan and is preparing for
accreditation in September 2010. The team
continues to provide a service in line with
its mission statement – Aiming for Safety
and Social inclusion for all. The program has
experienced an increase in referrals from the
community, especially in Ararat.
Throughout the last year the HFV team has
been involved in many activities and groups:
these include Grampians Accommodation
Network, Family Violence Prevention
Network, Wimmera Accommodation
Services, Partnership Practice Group,
Regional Family Violence Committee,
Wimmera Field days, Housing Week,
Homeless Persons Week, RYAN, NILS and
Week without Violence and the Jigsaw
Program.
Program supported 166 women between
the period of 01/07/09 to the 30/06/10. 70 of
them were aged between 30 and 39 years
of age.
304 faxbacks were received during this
period from the police. 296 children were
reported as being present at family violence
incidents attended by police for this period.
What our clients say:
Client feedback:
“I just want to say than you for all your help
in such a difficult time in my life”
What our partners say:
“Workers are very easy to approach with
issues that need brainstorming or creative/
lateral responses”
“You have a high respect for each other and
your clients”
“Great team”
“Communicate well”
“Provide service to clients in a timely
manner”
“Thank you for the service, I don’t feel so
alone”
“My housing support worker guided me well
during my search for a home and gave me
respect”
The Housing and Family Team welcomed
the ‘big move’ to the Stawell Health and
Community Centre. Although challenging at
times, the move has strengthened the team
and highlighted the need for laughter and
fun in the work place.
The past 12 months has had its challenges
and achievements and the dedication
and commitment of all team members
has enabled another successful year to
go by. With a balance of laughter, fun and
creativity along with enthusiasm, energy and
commitment the HFV program can continue
to offer the community an enhanced,
streamlined and accountable program.
Statistics for Team
The cross target housing support program
supported 129 people for the period of
01/07/09 to the 30/06/10. Of these 129
people 78 were female and 51 were male. 26
were aged between 25 and 29 years.
The Family Violence Housing Support
20
Wimmera Youth Team Report
What an amazing last 12 months at
Nexus. Unfortunately there is simply
too much to cover everything in detail,
in short, we have seen a number of
significant developments in respect to
our program, staffing and opportunities.
Firstly I would like to take this opportunity
to acknowledge and thank all our Nexus
supporters, our stakeholders, partners,
and of course the youth who take a lead
role in guiding the direction of Nexus.
“For Youth, by Youth, with Youth”.
Nexus is essentially a one stop shop
for all youth, being a safe, supportive
environment to access support to youth
services, having co-located services
assisting young people with education,
housing, drug and alcohol, as well as
hosting youth activities, programs and
events with the Nexus project team.
We were successful in securing FReeZA
funding again for 2010-2011 ensuring
that this proven project can continue to
provide quality events and opportunities
for the youth of our region. FReeZA
Music Industry workshops were held at
Nexus last August. For the second year
running we supported a local Horsham
band to attend the Pushover Music
Festival in melbourne with a bus trip.
There are 25 FReeZA members which
meet weekly.
The appointment of Brooke Nuske in the
capacity of Youth Participation worker
and Active Places worker has also added
a new dimension of health promotion
and creative options for fun physical
activities in schools and in the community.
This is in partnership with PCP, Horsham
North Community Action Centre,
Wimmera Regional Sports Assembly,
Horsham North Primary and Holy Trinity
Lutheran Primary school.
Manique Bransgrove successfully
completed her Cert 3 in community
services traineeship, we wish her well with
her future.
Brendan Scale has continued to
deliver the very successful Tribal Youth
“Mudmaps to Manhood” program,
Over the past 12 months we have had 10
Friday night live and 8 FReeZA events,
along with 2 road trips to schools for
youth week and drug action week. Our
regular Cya Thursday drop in program
is going well. Our combined programs
and events have had an approximate
attendance of over 3000 young people
over the past 12 months.
delivering sessions in local schools. He
also worked tirelessly in the skate park
project, and engaged youth to design
and build the dirt bike jumps at the
Horsham Youth (skate) park.
There has been a strong emphasis on
ensuring that Nexus is safe, fun and
relevant. We are fortunate to have a
diverse and dynamic committee of youth
who meet regularly and contribute to
the centre and its programs. Connection
and promotion has been furthered
significantly through the development
of the Nexus Facebook page for youth
and a separate page for parents and
supporters.
As we celebrate the ten years of
Nexus operation, we acknowledge the
contribution Horsham Rural City Council
has made in the development of Nexus.
It is with confidence in the ongoing
support from our agency, “Grampians
Community Health”, we believing this
valuable facility, its staff, programs and
facilities will continue to provide a source
of support and entertainment for the
youth of our region.
ROCK ON !! Alois Kniebeiss Nexus Co-ordinator
Staff have been extremely busy
supporting a number of new and exciting
projects. We have a new partnership
with the Salvation Army - “Salvos youth
and music project”, and took delivery of
music / recording, equipment for our fire
affected community. The partnership with
Wimmera Uniting Care’s Bushfire share
community appeal (A bushfire recovery
project) also provided several trips to
Melbourne to the Rampfest Skate park,
Shopping Trip.
21
Youth Central Grampians
Well here we are again. Who said a week
is a long time in football? No really I
would like to know the answer to that.
Anyway, another year and another action
packed time within the youth team in
Stawell. After months and months of
preparation, planning, nerves and doubts
we managed to move into our new home
at the SHACC. The Month of May has
never really had a high profile but this
year was different. Everything stopped for
our big move and how great it was to see
everyone chip in and help out and make
it a very successful transition.
As the most ‘experienced’ youth team
in the state, we took it in our stride to
settle into our new home. Our team
consisting of Tania, Rachel, Kevin and
myself soon made our first floor home
comfortable and then began the task of
what to do with the mighty ‘youth space’
on level ground floor. Jill had many ideas,
Marianne was the voice of reason and the
young people said…What youth space?
So began the challenge to get out and
about and see what’s cooking.
So far, with limited resources, we have
been able to have a group of year 8
students from Stawell secondary college
use the space every Monday. Kevin has
been teaching them all sorts of games
and tricks as well as what to do with table
tennis balls. We have had LLEN forums,
Freeza music events and many local
and region wide network meetings. Our
next challenge is to get input from our
local young people about other ways of
making use of the space that would suit
their needs.
Kevin and Tania have been kept very
busy with many referrals for young
people in our community. We have
also been trialling a direct Police Youth
referral and in the 12 month period to
July 2010 we had around 80 of these
come through. Our partnership with the
police has grown significantly and many
other projects (like Grades, RAGE etc)
are currently being delivered together.
Rachel has changed hats again and is
now our Drug Action Plan coordinator
for this area. She continues to engage
with young people, schools, agencies,
families and anyone else in an attempt to
get some real action on these complex
issues within our community. The School
Focused Youth Service is now into its
11th year. I have really enjoyed the
opportunities to work with schools and
community organisations to provide
better links and support for our most At
Risk young people in the community.
This year we have a new Brokerage
committee consisting of Paul Kelly
(Police), Dion Griffin (Youth connections),
Kristy Price (DEECD) and Kevin Griffiths
(Youth support). I thank them for their
commitment and support.
Well that’s about it, of course I would like
to thank the team for their continued
work in things like 1-1 counselling, Tribal
activities, Grades, outreach work (St
Arnaud, Beaufort, Lake Bolac, Ararat etc)
Intake, school support and great team
morale. Thanks Marianne for being there
(when you’re not in Ireland) and thanks
for reading this. Ciao.
Some Team Statistics &
programs
Tribal sessions in 2010
20 sessions during the year including
a 5 day leadership camp. 21 students
involved.
Building Better Blokes and
Getting Gorgeous. .
35 boys and 32 girls involved from Ararat
College. 1 day workshop.
School Focused Youth service
17 projects funded during this period
with some 850 young people directly
involved were another 18 young people
supported via individual brokerage.
GRADES numbers:
2009 – 220 parents and children
attended the GRADES Gala night at the
Astor cinema.
– During 2010 - 110 grade 6 students
from the four Ararat primary schools
were involved in 4 sessions facilitated
by Paul, Mel, Kristy and myself.
– Around 70 parents and their grade 6
student attended a parent evening to
learn about the program, be involved
in program activities and to discuss
the issues grade 6 students believe
they may face in their transition to
secondary school.
1-1
support
107 young people received individual
support from GCH youth staff.
47 of these were direct Police referrals
which are currently happening between
GCH and local police in Ararat and
Stawell.
Year 8 alternative program.
10 students from Stawell Secondary
College working out of new GCH youth
space every Monday as part of their
alternative program. Supported by youth
staff every Monday.
Maurice Billi
(Youth Team Leader & SFYS Coordinator)
22
Extended Care Programs
2010 has been another year of change
which has me wondering if anything
remains static in GCH. Upon reflection
I realize the answer is ‘no’. Change,
while sometimes challenging is evidence
that our service delivery is constantly
evolving to respond to the needs of our
community.
Once again this year the Carer Respite
and Support Service (CR&SS) and
Community Care Options (CCO) teams
have supported people in the Northern
Grampians, Ararat Rural City Pyrenees
Shire to maintain their independence by
living at home.
The CR&SS team focuses their support
on carers who assist many aged and
fail people to remain in their homes or
with family. The team provides much
needed support and assistance to carers
to help make their caring role more
sustainable. As you will see by the annual
reports written by the Carer Respite staff
respite comes in many forms; in home,
out of home, aids and equipment, social
outings, education and information
sessions for carers, assistance to attend
long distance medical appointments and
self care for the carer. The carer and care
recipients are involved the development
of their Service Plan to ensure the respite
is most appropriate for their needs and
circumstances.
The CCO team provide support through
Community Aged Care (CACP), Extended
Aged Care and Linkages Packages.
These packages provide a planned and
managed package of community based
care for those with complex care needs
who wish to remain living in their own
homes. The role of the Case Manager
assigned to the package is to design a
package of care ensuring it is appropriate
and meets the individualized need of the
client.
The implementation of the Home and
Community Care (HACC) Active Service
Model has been a high priority for the
CCO team this year. The model is based
on the premise that all clients have the
potential to make gains in their wellbeing
and that the HACC services can improve
their capacity to make these gains. This
model will promote, where possible
clients to be as independent as possible
and actively making decisions relating to
their own lives.
Balgartnie clients and their families
continue to be supported through
therapy groups, home based outreach
service, day programs, ‘drop in’
opportunities, respite options and
support group outings which occur on a
daily basis at (and from) the centre.
This year has seen the development of
a new therapy group, “Hearing Voices”.
The program, lead by Marion and Vicky
provides a safe environment for people
who hear voices to support one another
and share strategies about how they
manage their voices. A strong working
relationship has been developed with
the Prahran Mission who has led the way
in Australia with this type of group. The
staff facilitating the group has had the
opportunity to meet and discuss with
program with Peter Bulimore, one of
the Chairs of the Hearing Voices and
Paranoia Network in the UK.
Dual Diagnosis is another new area of
work. The objective with this program is
to minimize the destabilizing affects of
mental illness combined with substance
abuse can have on someone’s life.
This can be achieved while treating
the mental health issue and drug and
alcohol problems by giving consideration
and support for stable housing, family
relationships and employment issues.
I must not forget the dedicated staff
members who make such a different to
many lives through their work. Over
the past twelve months our program
staff have been faced with an increasing
number of clients with higher demands
who are living very complex lives. In
many instances our staff have eased their
situations by bringing some very creative
thinking to their daily job.
GCH staff are continually updating their
skills and knowledge to provide the best
quality service to our community. This
year staff from the CCO, CR&SS and
Balgartnie teams have attended the
following information and education
opportunities:
• 2010 Hammond Care Dementia
Conference
• Elder Abuse
• Stroke Awareness
• Better Health Self Management (3 day
training)
• Health Coaching (2 day training)
• HACC Active Service Model and Client
Care
• Statewide and Regional meetings
Our staff met the move into the new
Stawell Health and Community Centre
(SHACC) with much enthusiasm and
celebration. I have watched them
spend many hours packing, cleaning,
unpacking and reorganizing which they
have managed to do with a smile. Their
reward is their new and exciting work
place which is being enjoyed by all.
I congratulate all staff members for their
creativity, diligence and dedication and
thank them for the humor they bring to
the workplace. You make it so easy to
come to work every day.
Kate Astbury
Manager
Extended Care Programs
23
Carer Respite and Support Services
In July 2009 Alison Duxson took over
this Carer Respite and Support Services
management role from Kate Astbury
who is now our Extended Care Programs
Manager. This new management role
complements Alison’s already existing
role as manager of the GCH Community
Care Options team
CCO and CR&SS have worked closely
together for many years and this new
combined management role will further
strengthen best outcomes for carers and
care recipients.
• August 2009 CR&SS team members
participated in a regional National
Respite for Carers forum. Our team
had representation on the planning
committee established to support from
the resultant Capacity Building project
and at the NRCP state meetings.
• October CR&SS had representation
on the planning committee and
participated in aged care forums in
St. Arnaud and Stawell in, providing
resources and information to people in
attendance
• October 20th To celebrate carers
week CR&SS held a Carers Day Out
at the Stawell tennis clubrooms. Our
community nurse Bernadette spoke
about first aid. Topics included CPR,
immunisation, safe sex and wound
management. Her fun, inclusive
approach made it enjoyable for
everyone.
• Nov 19 & 20 – Men As Carers
Gathering – 5 carers 1 CM attended
• January 2010.A 2 day camp for Young
Carers was held at Camp Wyuna
Queenscliff. Activities included surfing
lessons, canoeing, cycling and team
building games. Five young carers
attended from Central Grampians with
our two carer support workers Sue and
Jenny
24
• Planning/appraisal day were held for
Active Respite Options on January18th
and the Carer Support Worker program
on 23rd March 2010
At these days the programs are evaluated
and new goals set.
• April 13th Annual Carers Pamper day –
see Carer Support Group report
• April 15&16 Men as Carers Gathering
(see report)
• April 27-29 Evening Activity Group
retreat in Halls Gap. Ten care recipients
attended and enjoyed a variety of
activities including sight seeing in the
mountains morning/afternoon teas/
lunches/dinners, massages, and a visit
to the wildlife park
• May 12th Men as Carers Ararat Outing
was enjoyed by Carers throughout the
region. The outing included a tour of J
WARD,GUM SAN for lunch and a visit
to Railway Museum
• May 23rd Alzheimer’s the Musical –see
Dementia report
• May 2010 Creative Ways to Care –see
Dementia report
• May 2010, in recognition of the type of
service Carer Support Workers provide,
a decision was made to change their
title to Carer Case Manager. The
carer support worker component
continues to be vital part of the case
management role, which covers:
1.assessment for services,
2.care planning and service coordination
3.monitoring, reviewing
4.case closure.
• CR&SS continues to attend Ararat,
Stawell, St Arnaud and Beaufort service
provider meetings. Case managers
also attend regional and state carers
meetings, regional portfolio meetings
and Victorian Carers Services Network.
Carer Support Group
Carers Support Group has had a busy
year with the group enjoying a trip to
Halls Gap to play mini golf , visit Dunkeld
for a tour and lunch for carers week,
a trip to Ballarat to the Carers Victoria
Mingle and an enjoyable Christmas
lunch. A pamper day held at the centre
was praised by all with attractions such
as hand and foot massage with the
Avon lady who brought along a range of
products.
Carer Support Group this year had
grown, offering emotional support,
practical advice and the sharing of ideas
in a caring confidential atmosphere. Entry
to this group is open to all carers of a
person over the age of 21
We welcomed a new building as our
venue this year and the group have
embraced the new facility.
The group meets once a month in the
front room of the main building.
Contact Susan or Libby Facilitators
53587400
Men As Carers
The “Men as Carers” Program provides
male carers in the region with a chance
to meet and socialise with other men in a
similar situations and is open to any male
carer in the Grampians region.
Twice a year the men gather at the
central location of Mountain Grand Guest
House in Halls Gap for an overnight stay.
This provides a great space for the blokes
to unwind. The morning sessions are a
sharing of experiences of their caring role
facilitated by Carer Case Managers and
a Counsellor. In the afternoon Education
sessions from Carers Vic were provided.
The blokes also enjoy a massage and a
drive in the Grampians as a wind down
period. The evening gathering around
the meal table also provides a great
forum to hear other stories. We usually
gather next morning to chat over any
concerns and finish with morning tea,
before heading back to their caring role.
In the winter we have nights at the
movies, cooking our own meal, happy
hour and sing-along once a month.
activities and we endeavour to make sure
the program suits all staff, clients, season
and carers.
This year we provided an outing to Ararat
to visit J Ward, Gum San and the Railway
Museum. Carers from Horsham and
Ballarat joined the blokes from Ararat
and Stawell to socialise over lunch at
Gum San.
Employed Carers Respite and the
Evening Activity group has been a
success in our rural community, offering
affordable specific planned activities for
frail aged, and people with dementia.
The participants enjoy the activities
offered and the carers enjoy the respite.
Rhonda Grellet and Dorothy Williams are
Activities Officers for this program with
occasional support from Care@Home
workers
Throughout the year a trip to the football
in Melbourne was organised and enjoyed
by men throughout the region.
Jenny Chapman
Men as Carers Case Manager
Jan West and Rhonda Grellet are
Activities Officers for this program with
occasional support from Care@Home
workers
Employed Carers Respite has enjoyed
a busy year in 2010 with referrals steady
enabling people to enjoy the respite
provided.
Carers are required to be working carers,
carers wanting to rejoin the workforce
or people who are studying to join
the workforce. The care recipients are
over 65 or prematurely aged, over 50 if
aboriginal.
The activities include:
A massage, aromatherapist and
wellbeing therapist who attends once a
month. This is a very popular activity.
As we have a rural based group we
incorporate old life skills into the
planned activities such as a trip to a farm
for shearing or harvest, fishing, local
art exhibition, open gardens, and the
Grampians National park is just up the
road with a plethora of attractions.
Disability Report 2010
Carer Respite and Support Services are
funded from both the Commonwealth
and State Government to support carers
of a person with a disability.
The Commonwealth Government
provides funding support to assist
carers of children aged 0-6 and the
State Government provides the funding
support for carers of people aged 6-65
years.
Employed Carers Respite
This program provides respite for
the employed carers from 4.00p.m. 8.00p.m., Monday, Wednesday and
Friday weekly.Participants are provided
with transport to and from the venue and
a two course meal.
Susan Power Coordinator
Active Respite Options
Country Club
Country Club is an Ageing Carers funded
program for Carers of people with an
intellectual disability.
This program has been enjoyed
throughout the year by 4 participants
and their carers. Some of the activities
that have provided the carer with respite
include- a trip to the zoo in Melbourne
to see the baby elephant, a trip to
Maryborough to the railway museum, a
trip to Ballarat to play mini golf and lots
of in house cooking and fun activities.
The community garden in Stawell has
provided a routine community access
point for this group to plant, grow, tend
to and eat vegetables.
Consultation is held with the care
recipients and their carers as to choice of
This funding is provided to carers of
people with a physical, sensory, or
intellectual disability, chronic health
conditions or an acquired brain injury.
Support provided includes emotional
and financial, in home respite; facility
based or residential respite, and flexible
respite- i.e.fuel vouchers, massage
vouchers, holidays and activities. Care
plans are created in consultation with
the carer and close liaison with service
providers
Funding is provided support to various
Carer Support Groups with the Central
Grampians subregion.
Carer Case Managers attend Victorian
Carer Services Network (VCSN) meetings
in Melbourne quarterly. They also attend
service provider meetings and Disability
Consultancy meetings.
This year funding has been made
available to provide education to older
carers of a person with a disability. We
will have 2 workshops per year that will
run over 5 weeks and these will be about
25
Carer Respite and Support Services (continued)
The Aged Care Portfolio assists carers
to care for frail aged/palliative persons
over the age of 65 years. By supporting
carers in their role, the care recipients
are able to remain in the home as long
as possible. We may assist them by
connecting them to other services,
providing information, financial and
emotional support.
This last quarter has been a very busy
one with increased level of referrals and
also more acute level of needs within the
community.
We have assisted a total of 85 carers and
clients during the last 12 months. Due
to current pressure on other support
services in the aged sector, Carer Respite
and Support Services are required to
maintain support for a longer period of
time.
During the last 12 months the Carer Case
Manager has participated in professional
development in Elder Abuse, Stroke
Awareness and Better Health Self
Management. Regional Working Group
Meetings, Regional Service Provider
Meetings and VCSN Aged Carer Support
Worker Meetings are regularly attended.
26
Jenny Chapman
Carer Respite & Support Services
Dementia Specific
This portfolio is funded by the State
Government to assist Carers of people
who have Dementia. This year a range
of respite services such as In-home
Respite, Out of Home Respite and Carer
Support was provided for 14 Carers and
Care Recipients. Respite was accessed
on more than one occasion providing
maximum benefit to the Carers and the
person they care for.
IN-HOME
Aged Care
A Carer Support Worker and Carers attended a Pho
Dementia Awareness Week. The photographs in th
taken by Phil, a person with Dementia.
DAYTIME
RESPITE
Jenny Oliver
Carer Case Manager.
We have many challenges ahead to
support our carers in the increasingly
stressful times ahead.
2009/2010 Dementia Packages
Dementia Awareness Week
FUNDED
HOURS
This financial year CR&SS has provided
support to 94 carers of a person with
a disability and 7 of these carers were
over 65 caring for an adult child with a
disability. Our youngest care recipient
was 4 months old.
As part of our Regional Working Group
we have provided activities for carers,
including setting up of a Writers’ Group
in each region which are run from local
libraries.
2009/2010
DEMENTIA
planning for the future of both the carer
and the person they care for. Our first
one is to be held in Stawell beginning in
September.
Community Flexible Respite
for People with Dementia
This National Respite for Carers Program
is funded by the Commonwealth to
provide 1080.0hrs per annum, consisting
of 5 packages of 4 hours per week
flexible respite for carers of people with
Dementia. This can be in the form of
In-home Respite, Community Access for
an Individual, supported getaways for the
carer and/or the person being cared for,
Education, Community Access and other
recreational activities.
Alzheimer’s the Musical
Carers, along with Carer Respite and Support Servic
attended a performance of Alzheimer’s the Musical
light hearted look at Dementia, providing a short b
This portfolio has funded many of the
above services for 17 Carers and Care
Recipients throughout the year. In the
past year a lot of time was provided for
carers who required support with a range
of issues such as entry into permanent
care facilities for care recipients and their
caring role in general.
Creative Ways to Care
otography Exhibition held in Horsham during
he exhibition, DEMENTIA IS NO BARRIER, were
Creative Ways to Care was launched in 2009 by the Commonwealth Respite and
Carelink Centre in southern Melbourne. Workers had recognised that carers embark
on the journey with Dementia with little or no experience of how to respond to the
changes Dementia makes to the person they care for.
The Creative Ways to Care program aims to explain and demonstrate how simple
activities can be used to prevent or divert behaviours of concern and improve the
quality of everyday life and provide carers the resources to do this independently at
home.
BROKERED
TOTAL
HOURS
INDIVIDUAL
COMMUNITY
ACCESS
Carer Respite and Support Services facilitated workshops over a 6 week period during
May & June at Stawell Health and Community Centre.
ce workers from across the Grampians Region,
l held in Stawell during May. Carers enjoyed the
break from the demands of their caring role.
2010 Hammond Care Dementia Conference
Hammond Care’s 8th Annual conference held at the Sydney Convention Centre from
15th to 16th June 2010
Staff from Carer Respite and Support Services attended the conference, and heard
speakers from around Australia and overseas, present on the theme of the conference,
“Dementia-do we need a different point of view?”
Plenary discussions offered participants insights and information into Care Provision
and Research in the past and the direction needed to be taken for the future quality of
Dementia Care in Australia.
Workshop presentations displayed new ways of providing service delivery to those
who are caring for persons with dementia either in the community or residential
settings.
Trish Mitchell
Carer Support Worker-Dementia
27
Community Care Options Annual Report
for 2009/2010 and again together with
Wimmera Community Options we put
in a submission to the Department of
Health and Ageing.
With the challenges of a competitive
global economy, Community Care
Options is constantly evolving to meet
the challenges and demands of the
workplace.
Our clients need employees who are
committed to the organisation and its
philosophy of care. The experience and
competencies of the people in each
level of our organisation contributes
to continuous improvement of client
outcomes and by being proactive in
anticipating expectations Community
Care Options can prepare for important
decisions minimising risk and developing
innovative programs for all clients.
It has been a busy year for the team
we moved from “Ruby House” to our
new building at the Stawell Health and
Community Centre. The team spent
a lot of time sorting out files, books,
resources and finding some old treasures.
We shared a lot of laughs and very few
tears because we are all so thrilled to
be in a new building with state of the art
equipment and facilities.
CCO Case Management
Team Report
The Case management
team provide 46
Linkages Packages
And In partnership with Wimmera
Community Options provides
38 Community Aged Care Packages
15 Extended Aged Care In the Home
Packages
5 Extended Aged Care In the Home
Dementia Packages
A new ACAR round was announced
28
The Department of Health and Ageing
also put out submission for tenders
for their new Consumer Directed Care
packages
This is an innovative approach by the
Government to providing programs and
services that better meet the needs of
care recipients through offering increased
flexibility. Consumer (or self) directed
care allows people to have greater
control over their own lives by allowing
them, to the extent that they are capable
and wish to do so, to make choices about
the types of care services they access and
the delivery of those services, including
who will deliver the services and when.
Evaluations of existing consumer directed
care programs show this approach
can lead to better outcomes for care
recipients in respect to their quality of
life, independence and satisfaction with
care.
This was another submission done
together with Wimmera Community
Options.
The Case Management Team continued
with their personal development
skills to meet the changing trends in
packaged care and the focus has been
on health coaching, Better Health Self
Management and Active Service Model
of client care.
Karen Watson completed the Health
Coaching course, this course conducted
in the context of chronic disease
prevention and/or chronic condition.
Sharon Trimble completed the Better
Health Self Management course, this
course trains participants to run a six
week program for people with chronic
conditions such as diabetes, asthma and
to help them better manage their chronic
condition.
Alison Duxson and Karen Watson
have been involved in the Victorian
Government’s ASM of care (Active
Service Model of Care) initiative this
model of care is to assist people in the
HACC (Home and Community Care)
target group to live in the community
as independently and autonomously as
possible. Of course not all HACC clients
will be able to live in the community with
out some form of assistance but the goal
of this initiative is to ensure that clients
are able to gain the greatest level of
independence they can possibly achieve,
and be equally involved in making
decisions about their life and the services
they receive.
Staff Changes
Julieanne Burwood is heading up the
newly created position of coordinator of
the Wellbeing Resource Centre located
on the ground floor of the Stawell Health
and Community Centre, Julieanne
is a qualified Librarian/Teacher and
has undertaken this role to be able to
provide the community with up to date
resources on all services provided by
Grampians Community Health and health
education programs, she will also recruit,
train, coordinate, support and monitor
volunteers to assist with providing
health education and health resources
to the community. Along with her role
as coordinator of the Community Car
Julieanne is a very busy lady.
The team held a care planning and
goal setting workshop in March 2010,
this workshop’s processes focused on
identifying client needs, clarifying goals,
setting priorities and identifying actions
necessary to achieve these. It is client
driven and empowers the client with
decision making.
Our client’s enjoyed the annual Winter
Warmer at the Halls Gap Hotel in
July 2009 a delightful roast lunch and
dessert was provided. In December the
Christmas Luncheon was held in
Co-ordinators of
volunteers: Libby
Blackmore, JulieAnne Burwood,
Shirlei Barnes,
Sue Cunningham
St Arnaud, it was a lovely day and there
was a good attendance.
The team invited Laura Walker from
DHS to our CGCCO meeting to
discuss Disability Services, Aged Care
Assessment Services Protocol. This was
a very informative meeting and gave
clarification to the case management
team around the protocols of a younger
person with a disability entering a
residential aged care facility.
Once again the case management team
have been busy
From the July 2010 Care Recipient Survey
• They listen to you
• Alleviates the multiple things you have
to deal with
Long service badges and certificates
were presented :
• Putting problem into perspective
One Year -
• Knowing they are a phone call away in
an emergency
• Assistance with getting us out of town
• Takes away a few of the responsibilities
we have without taking over
• One stop shop
Volunteer
Programs –
2009/2010
“Now More Than
Ever – Thanks For The
Hand”
The total annual hours volunteered in
Australia was 713 million. From the latest
ABS Voluntary Work, Australia Survey.
105 volunteers associated with
Grampians Community Health are
playing their part
Volunteer Recognition
33 volunteers and 5 staff tucked into a
delicious Christmas BBQ lunch at our
International Volunteer Day celebration.
Bill Anderson, Giovanna Angelats de
Monaghan,Vi Bullow, Mike Burrett, Glen
Butler, Wendy Collier, Jean Curtis, April
Holmes, Barbara Jenkins, Maureen
Johnston, Peter Jones, Peter Lewis, Sue
McCutcheon, Sharon Parkinson, Gay
Rahley, Corrine Rathgeber, Riza Rilloraza,
Janet Robin, Rod Tonkin, Daniel Walker,
Gary Withers
Five YearsRon Harris, Malcolm Hirst, Estelle Hirst,
Alison Neil, Cheryl Withers, Robin Erwin
Ten yearsKerrie Hodder, John Bradley, Ron Harris,
Malcolm Hirst, Estelle Hirst, Kerrie
Hodder, Alison Neil, Cheryl Withers,
Robin Erwin at the 2009 International
Volunteer Day presentation
Volunteer Training And
Support
21 volunteers at Grampians Community
Health took the opportunity to upgrade
their skills as our contribution to
National Volunteer Week. May 2010.
Two workshops were offered. The
Understanding Depression workshop
gave information about mental health,
focussing on Depression. The Looking
After Yourself workshop helped
volunteers to enable them to understand
their volunteering role and to give them
the confidence to work more closely with
their co-ordinators when necessary.
Over the past 2009/2010 year, 16 new
volunteers completed the initial training
programs, and those who wanted to
continue were placed in the areas of their
choice. Volunteers additionally receive
specific training appropriate to their
chosen volunteering area.
What The Service Users Had
To Say
The three year survey of volunteering
produced the following comments:
“To see improvement in people’s
wellbeing, seeing friendships being
formed and encouraging others to do
something out of their comfort zone.”
“The satisfaction of brightening a
person’s life, self satisfaction, to make a
contribution to the community”
” I think that Grampians Community
Health does make a difference”
29
Community Care Options Annual Report (continued)
Do Care Visiting – Social
Support
This program establishes friendships
between volunteers and mainly older
socially isolated people, as well as
some people with disabilities or a
chronic disease. The volunteers receive
training and ongoing support. Currently
21 people are visited regularly. 28
volunteers are registered in this program.
Referrals are received from service
providers, as well as from people in
the community, and from individuals.
This service operates in the Northern
Grampians Shire.
The three year survey of the Do Care
program produced the following
comments:
“Developing a friendship like one of my
family
“We discuss everyday things such as
football, tennis. It makes my day”.
“Do Care activities include: go to the free
concert, go to the movies but mostly we
sit and chat.”
“Go for drives, get a bite to eat, have
coffee. My visitor helps me with everyday
things that are important to me”
Contact: Sue Cunningham (Do Care)
53587400
Community Car 2010
The Community Car has once again been
in demand this financial year. An ageing
population and lack of specialist medical
services in country areas has increased
the demand for assisted transport to
Ballarat and Melbourne hospitals and
specialist consultation.
Those unable to drive themselves or
unable to use public transport or have
no family support to get to medical
appointments, hospital admission or
specialized medical attention out of
Stawell require assisted travel. For
this reason the community car is a very
important and necessary service.
30
From 1st July 2009 to 30th June 2010 the
Community Car Program has recorded
353 assisted transport appointments. Of
those 353 trips, 58 were to Melbourne
and 181 were to Ballarat. As well as
providing transport to major centres the
community car program has continued
to provide a car and volunteer drivers to
transport two dialysis recipients to the
Ararat Hospital three times a week again
this financial year. 181 trips to Ararat, 6 to
Moyston, 2 to Geelong, 25 to Horsham
and other areas included Hamilton, Nhill,
Kaniva, Hepburn Springs and Pomonal.
The community car has travelled 37,595
km this year to transport people to
appointments. Other GCH cars have
travelled 22,438 km in the same period In
total, the volunteer drivers have travelled
60,033 km for this financial year. The
community car has averaged 3,133km a
month and other GCH cars 1,870km a
month.
Twenty-three volunteer drivers have been
active for this financial year and have
shared the 353 drives. Of those twentythree, only nine volunteer drivers drive to
Melbourne.
Our Volunteer Drivers are apart of GCH’s
Risk Management Policy. We provide
a safe environment for our Volunteer
Drivers while still providing the best
possible service to our community.
The Community Car is equipped with
a mobile phone, emergency roadside
assistance phone number, fuel card, first
aid box, and now a Travel Emergency
Pack for high fire risk days
acknowledges the importance of
providing the Community Car Service
and the dedication and support of our
volunteer drivers.
Julie-Anne Burwood
Volunteer Coordinator
WELCOME! Program
Meg Capurso who coordinated the
Welcome Program resigned in March and
we welcomed Shirlei Barnes as the new
coordinator of the program, this program
is funded for one day per week.
Trained volunteers work with newly
arrived families/people from overseas
to help settle them into the community.
Contact Shirlei Barnes: 53587400
Active For Life Program
This program aims to increase mobility
for older people aged 50 years
and over, through fun, exercise and
companionship. This has enabled any
person over 50 years of age living in the
community to achieve individual goals
by participating in a flexible exercise
program. It is supported through
volunteer leadership. Attendance
numbers vary slightly with the seasons,
but usually between 16 and 20
participants attend.
Lorraine Rowe, Glenys Lyall, Jocelyn
Fuller, Annette Monaghan and Lyn Martin
have provided volunteer support for this
program.
The Active for Life Program meets at
Stawell Regional Health and Community
Centre at 10.00am each Monday, except
Public Holidays. New participants are
always very welcome. Contact: 53587400
for further information.
Care @ Home
2010 Annual
Report
“Ensuring that Clients
who needs assistance
can remain living at
home”
Care @ Home program is Stawell based,
which provides a professional team of
workers in the Stawell and Ararat areas.
The team has vast experience working
with frail aged people, people with
dementia and younger people with
disabilities.
We assist people by supporting them to
perform day to day living tasks so they
can remain living in their own homes. Our
service operates to ensure a quality of life
for all concerned.
Program Services
• Assistance with personal hygiene,
bathing, showering and dressing.
• Shaving, hair care and grooming.
• Companionship
• Transportation
• Home help
• Meal preparation
• Errand service
• Support for getting up or going to bed
• Transport and support when attending
medical appointments.
• Shopping.
Our Team in 2009/2010:
STAWELL
Ian Burke-Geoff Dalziel-Anne DistonKaren Duncan-Lyn Gehan-Rhonda
Grellet-John Launder-Debbie LeverHannah Meumann-Donald Mckinnon-Sue
Palmer-Karen Peacock-Linda NewmanKim Vipond-Jan West-Dorothy Williams.
Ararat
Catherine Curran, Sara Marx
Service Area:
Northern Grampians Shire & surrounding
district
Care@Home Appraisal
November 2009:
Care @ Home team attended an
appraisal day at Stawell Tennis club
room’s in November. Our strengths show
that we deliver quality service by good
continuity of workers, covering a more
flexible service delivery, with a caring
positive approach.
Time is taken to match clients with
the most appropriate workers. Care @
Home workers ensures that reporting of
changes in client’s situation or new issues
are raised with the relevant people in a
timely manner.
This small group of workers complement
each other and they work well as a team.
Annecto:
Care @ Home works in conjunction with
Annecto After Hours Respite Service
providing emergency out of hours service
for clients. Care@Home is currently
reviewing our ability to provide this
service into the 2010-2011 period due to
a change in criteria
Training:
This year Care@ Home staff has
participated in training work shops such
as: First Aid, GCH Pause Day& Fish
Day, Working with Children, Mental
Health First Aid , EW Tipping Information
session, Communication/Conflict
resolution training, Responding to Elder
Abuse , Cultural diversity training.
Care @ Home, encourages all staff to do
extra training, enabling them to keep up
with the demands of the industry
Finance:
Care @ Home is not a government
funded program so finance can be
unpredictable. Care @ Home has been
working closely with the Community
Care options and Care Respite teams
with a steady flow of clients this year.
Care @ Home also have been working in
conjunction with Balgartnie concerning
the seniors group and it has provided
a steady steam of work for the Care @
Home staff. The Finance has been a
steady stream this year for Care @ Home.
Care@Home commenced working with
Balgartnie Seniors group in March 2010.
This new business opportunity has
enabled Care@Home to employ some
workers on a permanent part time basis
thus making the program a more viable
business model.
• By maintaining staff and expanding
their skill base, Care@Home will be
able to extend services and look for
new opportunities.
• Care @ Home workers value the
experience of the Balgartnie workers
and will access them to assist with
strategies when required.
• Care @ Home workers bring a range of
individual skills and experience to the
role.
.
• Care @Home has been able to provide
consistency with workers
An added bonus is the extra interaction
between the Balgartnie and Community
Care Options teams resulting in greater
understanding of programs which will
lead to a more holistic approach to care.
Debra Lever :
Care @ Home Co-ordinator
Susan Palmer
Assisting Co-ordinator
Future Plans
Care@ Home plans to keep looking
towards the future and not to rely on
service providers alone, for our clients
and income.
31
Community Psychiatric Report:
2010 has seen changes and expansion
to the program delivery at the
Balgartnie Centre where a small but
committed team of staff continue to
deliver programs including Home
Based Outreach Support (HBOS), Day
Programs, ‘Drop-In’, Respite options and
Carer Support that remains flexible and
responds to the needs of our Members
and their Carers.
Some of the program expansions
throughout the last eighteen months
have included:
Therapy Groups:
Stepping Stones:
The ‘Stepping Stones’ group is
predominantly directed towards people
that are experiencing depression and/or
anxiety and uses a ‘home grown’ therapy
model named ABC (Attitude, Belief
& Choice). ABC gives the individual a
road to follow not only in their recovery
but also through their life journey. It
encourages people to choose how they
want to live. To stay in the ‘rut’ their lives
have become or to actively change their
mind set, to be an active participant,
rather than a passive observer. It
encourages belief in self and to choose
change and believe change is more than
possible, it is achievable.
It is certainly noteworthy that Marian
Corbett, who developed ABC as an
alternative to the complexities of CBT
(Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) has
been invited to a conference in Hobart
in November to present her ABC
philosophy to the conference.
Hearing Voices
Talking to other people who hear voices
gives Members the opportunity to share
experiences, learn from one another
and to learn strategies that help people
cope with the occurrence. This has
been achieved by setting up a ‘Voice
Hearers’ group within Balgartnie, such as
those established by the Hearing Voices
Network throughout the UK.
Voice hearers say it is important to
discuss voices. In the process, it is
possible to learn to recognise when they
are worse, and to identify patterns that
are specific to given situations e.g. how
frequently they are heard, what time
of day, etc. This can help people to be
better prepared and to ‘manage’ their
situation. Voice hearers may think they
are alone in their experience of hearing.
They may have feelings of shame or
the fear of going mad. Anxiety often
leads to the avoidance of situations that
might trigger the hearing of voices, and
this seriously limits peoples lives and
opportunities.
Extension to NRDF:
The National Respite Development Fund
(NRDF) is a component of the Mental
Health Respite Program for flexible
respite options for Carers of people
with a severe mental illness/psychiatric
disability and Carers of people with
intellectual disability.
The focus of the NRDF is to develop new
and innovative options to increase and
supply flexible and appropriate respite
services.
With this funding the Balgartnie Centre
has been able to provide an expanded
Home Based Support to individual Carers
and monthly support groups based
around recreational evenings where
Carers have the opportunity to ‘unwind’,
socialize and share coping strategies or
just meeting other Carers with similar life
expieriences.
Dual Diagnosis:
People experiencing ‘Dual Diagnosis’
(Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
problems) are at increased risk of a
range of poor outcomes including
serious physical illness, social isolation,
self-harm and suicide. In recent years
research has demonstrated important
links between substance use and mental
illness. Use of illicit substances in the
context of mental illness also increases
the likelihood of other difficulties such
as unstable housing, disrupted family
relationships and unemployment. A dual
diagnosis approach aims to treat mental
32
Intensive – HBOS:
The ‘Intensive Home Based Outreach
Support’ packages is an initiative that
commenced in 2009 through funding
received for an Integrated Rehabilitation
and Recovery Care Service (IRRCS)
health and drug and alcohol problems
without sending people from one facility
to another.
2010 has also seen significant progress
in the area of Dual Diagnoses whereby
Balgartnie Rehabilitation services,
Grampians Psychiatric Services and
GCH-Alcohol & other Drug services have
begun to work more closely to provide
better outcomes for clients with complex
mental illness and substance abuse
issues.
assistance of it’s staff and management
continues to be invaluable.
If you would like further information
please call 53526280 – Adrian Phillips or
Marian Corbett.
The aim of the I-HBOS is to improve
outcomes for Grampian’s mental health
clients with the most complex clinical,
psychosocial and other support and
health needs by providing an intensive
and integrated set of interventions that
will ultimately support clients to connect
to their communities, live with greater
independence and utilise mainstream
services when needed.
To be part of the collective ‘family’ of
services at GCH has been of enormous
benefit to both the members and the
staff of Balgartnie, having the ability to
refer clients on to other services available
within GCH and to have the support and
Grampians Community Health - OH&S Report 2010
consider organisational responsibilities of
the individual agencies using the facility
in order to satisfy the Occupational
Health & Safety of all our staff, clients and
visitors utilising the Centre.
This has been a significant year in
regards to furthering our policies and
reporting mechanisms to provide GCH
staff with awareness and processes of
Occupational Health & Safety both in
regards to our service provision and our
client base.
The OH&S committee, and particularly
the Stawell representatives have been
presented with a significant challenge
with the move to the new SH&CC facility
in Patrick street. The sheer size and
multi storey nature of the building in
conjunction with the numerous agencies
present, has required the committee to
The current OH&S committee consist of:
Nick Monas.
- Management Representative.
Adrian Phillips (C).
- Balgartnie Centre & RTW Officer.
Susan Power.
- SH&CC, Ruby House & RTW Officer.
Luke Bibby
- SH&CC – Building Manager
Launa Schilling.
- David Street & RTW Officer.
Vicki Hobbs
- David Street
Matt Venn.
- High Street, Ararat
Brendan Scale.
- Nexus, Horsham
Our OH&S committee continue to
meet on a monthly basis and Video
Conferencing across the Ararat, Stawell
and Horsham sites has increased the
availability of committee members and
minimized the need for travel between
the Centre’s in order to participate in
the OH&S process. The OH&S Calendar
continues to be a valuable tool to
provide staff with a clear progression
of responsibilities and tasks to be
completed on a monthly basis.
The OH&S committee are looking
forward to another productive year
ahead.
Adrian Phillips – Chairperson
33
GPPCP Report
on organisational changes in hospital,
community health and local government
to better suit the needs of people who
have recently been diagnosed with a
chronic illness.
This year has been a year of staff changes
for Grampians Pyrenees Primary Care
Partnership (GPPCP). We have a new
Executive Officer Chantal Thomas, a new
Health Promotion Coordinator Meagan
Ward and a new Administrative Officer
Kelly Morgan.
GPPCP have taken on a new program
under the Health Promotion deliverable
which focuses on raising the awareness
of elder abuse. The Grampians regional
Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy (EAPS)
project has involved running community
information sessions and discussion
workshops, working with agencies across
the region to assist in the development
of organizational policies and protocols
associated with recognizing and
reporting elder abuse.
Continued health promotion work
includes; Smiles 4 Miles an early
childhood setting approach to oral
health promotion, the development of
the mental health working group which
focuses on mental health promotion and
working with GCH on the implementation
of the drug action plan for the catchment.
We saw the finish up of the Bums of
Seats project and the support for the
community based strength training
classes. Both of these were community
driven projects that build on community
capacity by training locals in strength
training and becoming community choir
leaders.
GPPCP have also been involved
in the “Links” Early Intervention in
Chronic Disease partnership work
across Ararat Rural City and Northern
Grampians Shires. This work focuses
34
Lastly, we continue to enjoy the support,
company and hospitality of Grampians
Community Health as our auspice
agency. Thank you to our colleagues at
all sites, but particularly to the Ararat
crew who contribute to a great working
environment, warm and welcoming
culture and fabulous morning tea! That
is all from the GPPCP team, we look
forward to continuing our successful
partnerships across the GPPCP
catchment.
had some enjoyable evenings. Kevin
Erwin – Mayor & Firefighter gave a most
interesting talk on the role he played
during the dreadful fires last February.
John Simpkin’s slides are always a joy to
all – armchair travel is wonderful when
one can’t get to the places.
Musical time with Jeff Harmer – our
stories & quizzes help to keep our minds
active.
The winter early meetings are very good,
as was our Christmas meal at the Gift
Hotel – one night when we don’t have to
watch our diets.
The raffle was once again successful with
all books sold. Thanks to everyone. It’s
a combined effort. John and I manned
a stand at the Senior’s Expo and had
Chantal Thomas – Executive Officer
several queries but no new members.
Stacey Dempsey – Partnership
Development Coordinator
To all, thank you for your support
throughout the year, especially Secretary
John and Kathleen our Treasurer. We
have accomplished a lot.
Meagan Ward – Health Promotion
Coordinator
Loki McIntyre – Health Promotion Officer
Karen Armstrong – Health Promotion
Officer
Kelly Morgan – Administration Support
President’s 2009 Report
to the Stawell Group of
Heartbeat Victoria
Joyce Dowsett.
President
Held February 22nd 2010 at Eventide
Homes
Another year has passed ever so
quickly. The attendance at meetings has
fallen off, due mainly to the elderly not
comfortable in venturing out at night.
Unfortunately member John Tavener
passed away recently – our condolences
to the family.
Although less in numbers, we have
35
36
2009/10
25th Annual Report

2009-2010 Annual Report - Grampians Community Health

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