Annual Report 2012 - Lifeline Darling Downs

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Lifeline Darling Downs & South West Queensland Ltd 2012 Annual Report
Day that occurred on the 25 th of July 2012. We had 50 staff from across the Human
Services Division participate over that day.
The fourth was some seminal work completed in developing research across Human Service
Division programs and procedures to ensure continuous improvement. The Family Therapy
interventions in line with client feedback. ASIST is the data gathering and analysis tool
being used across the team. I will be presenting a paper on the implementation of our
outcomes based research program at the Family Relationships Services Australia
conference in Darwin in November 2012. Our Men and Relationships Program have recently
completed an extensive qualitative analyses of community need, existing services and
, Mary Rose Miller was contracted
procedures for responding to critical incidents. Other program areas have also been
involved in program development and I refer you to their respective reports.
creation of, and participation in multiple NGO forums and
committees. For example, our Family Law Pathways Network is arguably the most
interactive forum current for the Toowoomba Community. Network members come from a
range of organisations that provide services for separating families, including practitioners
such as counsellors, mediators and legal practitioners specialising in family law, and
representatives from Family Law Registries, the Child Support Agency, Community Service
agencies and Centrelink. Our Network aims to:
work towards an integrated family law system;
provide a forum for regular meetings of service providers to keep organisations
connected and up to date with the services each is providing and recent
developments such as changes to the way services are provided;
provide Mega Training Days Service providers work together to host a day for staff
from a range of organisations that provide services for separating families;
provide Conferences and Forums Events have been held that bring together legal
practitioners and service providers to hear about innovations in family law. Topics
covered have included such things as collaborative law, Family Violence, changes to
the Family Law Act and Primary Dispute Resolution. These events are aimed at
broadening and strengthening membership by sharing information and providing an
opportunity to Network;
provide Training Sessions have been held to further the understanding of staff in
particular services of their role in the overall family law system. Of late, our staff have
been involved in AVERT Domestic and Family Violence Training.
Sixth has been the provision by our Professional Development Team and Craig Lincoln of
training across the agency in mandated areas such as Suicide Awareness, Addictive
Behaviours, Child Safety Awareness, Domestic and Family Violence, Respect and Diversity
and Work, Health and Safety. The impact of this training has not only been to render us
compliant with our contractual agreements, but to further build the capacity of staff.
The seventh relates to staff changes. Our agency is built on quality staff and quality
provision of service to our clients. This last year has seen significant number of staff exit
and enter the agency. In particular I want to acknowledge the work of Alan Dean, former
Manager Federal and Other Programs, and a former Board member. His contribution to the
agency in both roles over the past 12 months has been deeply appreciated.
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