Management Report 2004
From Anxiety Recovery Centre Victoria Annual Report 2004
Finally in November 2003, ARCVic moved into its new home. Our move from the two small, cramped offices we were located in at Waiora Community Mental Health Service, in Armadale, to the new house in Ashwood, brought a great sense of relief to everyone involved in the search for premises over the past 4 years, and much anticipation and excitement as we entered a new era in the life of our organisation. Our move to independent premises will allow us to have a strong presence in the community that is consistent with our mission and aims. Further, the new Ashwood premises has a 'neighbourhood house' style, which will make the Centre comfortable and accessible for members, service users and clients. With more space than at Waiora, we will be able to accommodate extra volunteers, and a library/resource room for members' use is being developed. The change in our accommodation is an outcome of the continued growth of the organisation, from humble beginnings over 17 years ago, when a handful of sufferers lent each other mutual support in the kitchen of one of their homes.
This significant step in ARCVic's history is due to the aspirations and hard work of its long-term Director, Kathryn I'Anson and the Committee of Management, including several past Committee members and immediate past President Edwin Belfield. We would like to make a special acknowledgement of thanks to Edwin Belfield for his important and leading role in ARCVic's search for premises during his tenure as President, and for his sustained commitment to ARCVic's future.
We were finally able to hold our first Open House for members on Wednesday 4th August 2004, during OCD and Anxiety Disorders Week. It was great to catch up with members and friends of ARCVic and celebrate the setting up of our new home. We were very grateful also to all our members who responded so generously to our New Premises Appeal. Our member's donations resulted in raising over $1,500.00 towards the setting up of the premises, enabling us to purchase needed equipment and furniture. On behalf of the Committee of Management we extend our deep appreciation to all who contributed to the Appeal.
ARCVic continues to be involved with key research and service development projects in the anxiety disorders and mutual support/self help areas. The first stage of a project, undertaken as a partnership between The Network for Carers of People with Mental Illness and beyondblue - 'The Needs and Experiences of Carers of People with High Prevalence Disorders', was recently completed. ARCVic was represented on this project by Kathryn I'Anson, who was actively involved in the research project and development of the several papers which were produced. We look forward to using the findings of this project to advocate for the needs of carers and families of people with anxiety disorders to the government and service providers. Kathryn is currently working with members of The Network's Working Group on this project to develop a policy position paper to further elaborate on the changes needed in health policy and practice to ensure better support and services for carers and families. ARCVic is also a co-investigator on a project with the Psychology Clinic at the Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne - with A/Professor Michael Kyrios, Sunil Bhar, Jane Gunn and Barbara Jones, looking at models of collaboration between GP's and psychologists in the treatment of OCD. Focus groups were recently held to gain the perspective and views of people with OCD, and we thank all our members who participated in these groups.
Highlights this year included the seminars run during OCD & Anxiety Disorders Week in the first week of August 2003 - on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and on Stress, Trauma and Anxiety. ARCVic sent out Anxiety Week kits to over 250 organisations and professionals which included posters and information about all the anxiety disorders. In October 2003, we organised a seminar featuring Professor Randy Frost, a well known and respected researcher and clinician from Smith College, Massachusetts, USA. Professor Frost's seminar was on Perfectionism in OCD and the anxiety disorders.
As well as these major projects and events that ARCVic has undertaken in the period July 2003 to June 2004, staff and volunteers have continued to run our regular support and recovery services - including the HelpLine, Support and Social Groups and Recovery Programs. There continues to be a high demand for these services. During this past year 6985 calls were dealt with by the OCD & Anxiety HelpLine, Staff and Support Group Coordinators, 6584 information kits, packages and pamphlets were distributed, 631 people attended ARCVic seminars and talks, and 2054 support group attendances were recorded. These numbers highlight ARCVic's important role, as a specialist anxiety disorders community support service, in meeting people's needs for information and support. Also our data shows an increasing demand from mental health and health services and professionals for information and support networks for clients, referral advice, and specialist advice regarding individual client needs - 39% of calls to the HelpLine were from professionals and services.
This year, we were able to recommence our Stress & Anxiety Management Program, under the direction of Prue Lewis, who put considerable time and hard work into revising and updating the Program, resulting in the production of comprehensive facilitator and client manuals. Prue has now facilitated several groups for this Program, which have been very successful and have received high commendation in evaluations from participants. Our thanks to Prue for her commitment and dedicated work on this Program. Thank you also to Iris I'Anson and Jessica Bernales for their continued commitment to the Social Anxiety Recovery Program, which assists many people with social anxiety, and also receives very positive evaluations. Iris and Jessica put in considerable voluntary time each year into the further development of the program which ensures its continuing availability and affordability. We also greatly appreciate Iris's work in supervising and training assistant recovery program facilitators, which will help us to maintain and extend the programs in the future. An exciting new development in ARCVic's programs is the current planning that is underway to run an early intervention recovery group for young people with OCD and their parents. This program is being developed by Rod Carne, Iris I'Anson, Barbara Jones and Kathryn I'Anson and we look forward to the running of the first program early next year.
We would like to note our special thanks and appreciation to Jessica Bernales, who has worked so hard and with such great dedication and untiring patience and goodwill over the past year, assisting with the relocation, settling in and generally keeping everything going. Special thanks also to Prue Lewis, who as well as her work for the Recovery Programs, has greatly increased her time at ARCVic over the past several months to help us with a range of projects and tasks, including taking on the role of Assistant Editor for the Newsletter, and helping maintain the HelpLine service while new team members are recruited. We have also been very pleased this year to welcome back Lois Van Dyk to her voluntary administrative support role. Lois's support and assistance to the HelpLine and Office workers has been greatly appreciated by everyone at the Centre. We were pleased to recently welcome to our team of volunteers Jane Wilkins, David Delaney and Michelle Puttick (psychology student on placement), who will be joining ARCVic's HelpLine as Telephone Counsellors after undergoing a training program. Jane, Michelle and David all have a strong commitment to supporting people and families living with anxiety disorders, and bring to this role a range of relevant experience and knowledge from the health and disability areas. It will be great to have them working with us. We are extremely grateful for the dedication and support of all of our volunteers who each bring special skills, knowledge and talents to help us to achieve our goals. Our volunteers all work hard in their roles and willingly give their time to make possible the services and activities that ARCVic provides. We would like to make special mention of our Support Group coordinators, facilitators and assistants who do such fantastic work in running their groups and providing a setting for many people and families affected with anxiety disorders to gain mutual support, understanding and connection with others. Thank you to Dianne*, Catherine Ashford, Pearl*, Edwin Belfield, Jessica Bernales, Fiona Cuthbert, Terry*, Frank*, Poppy Geros, Bruce*, Dot*, Marnie*, Dianne*, Wendy Malcolm, Richard*, Justin*, Jeff*, Andy Prodromidis, Heather and Karen*, Paul*, Janelle*, and Martin*. Thank you all.
To all of our members, friends and supporters we extend our sincere appreciation for your continued support during the past year, and look forward with you to productive and rewarding times ahead. With a secure base finally, we look forward to the coming years and developing ARCVic's role as an influential advocate and support for people and families living with anxiety disorders.
| John Geros President | Kathryn I'Anson Director |
* Surnames of some volunteers have been deleted to protect privacy.