BUSHkids 2016-17 Annual Report

CEO

Chief Executive Officer I am very proud to lead such a well-respected, dynamic and responsive organisation. The depth of feeling for, and high value our communities place on, our services was brought home to me during our annual Conference this year, when all our regional service centre phones were redirected to my direct number during the Conference sessions. It was a privilege to talk with our families and stakeholders, and realise the trust and respect they have for our staff, and the important role our teams play in their families’ lives. As an organisation, our teams strive to live up to our core values of being child-focused and family- centred, working collaboratively to make a difference for vulnerable families, and being accountable to our clients, stakeholders and communities. At the same time we continue to grow as a community partner providing services to the children and families in rural, regional and remote locations in Queensland. After a decade or so of stability, we are now confi- dently taking up the challenge of growing our organi- sation to reach more families and vulnerable children across our vast state. In reflecting on our achievements and challenges in the past year, I am delighted to see the gains we have made in meeting what we set out to achieve in our strategic plan. We have increased the availability of our services to rural, regional and remote families and children by expanding our services, developing our model of care and exploring innovative service delivery methods. This has included successful submissions to become an NDIS Partner in the Community delivering Early Childhood Early Intervention Services across five local government areas in Central Queensland, and our telehealth research project, being undertaken in partnership with The University of Queensland. This project has entered its second stage and is well on the way to informing our organisational telehealth framework. You will read about our other innovative programs in the Learning and Development section of this report. These projects have facilitated our planned move from predominantly clinical intervention services to targeted group, preventive, universal and education services. We continue to make great strides in ensuring our services are evidence-based, clinically efficient and provide demonstrable outcomes for the families and communities we serve. Our BUSHbase database is collecting the information we need to inform practice changes and support service delivery. Robust supervision and professional development systems are in place to ensure our service staff provide contemporary support to our communities. I encourage you to read about these developments in the relevant sections in this report. Strong relationships and networks continue to be developed and this year our Friends of BUSHkids teams have contributed greatly to our work in the regions, active in fundraising, volunteering their skills, raising our profile and – perhaps most importantly – helping ensure the services we are providing meet the needs of the local communities. One sterling example of this is the development of our A Steady Start to School program and the involvement of our Friends in its success.

We are working hard to ensure that our services are provided in an ethical, efficient and sustainable manner, providing value for money for our funders. BUSHkids is being recognised as a leader in the provision of developmental services for families and communities across Queensland. This was confirmed to the organisation as we celebrated being awarded our second NDIS Partner in the Community grant in September this year. Our media, print, radio, TV, and social media reach has continued to grow, as evinced by the coverage of our Bundaberg ECEI service launch, with both ABC Radio and Bundaberg News Mail presenting major features. We aim to be an employer of choice for staff and volunteers and continue to receive large numbers of applications for new and vacant positions. We are about to start trialling new service models for positions that are difficult to recruit, such as a ‘telepsychologist’ for registered psychology provision. A restructure is underway to ensure our operational framework supports the growth in our organisation. This new structure will deliver improved operational management and professional supervision, will introduce a Quality Assurance Team to monitor risk and compliance across the organisation, and provide support for future development of our services through the introduction of our Strategic Development Team. All these changes are reflected in the substantially different format of this year’s Annual Report, with the move to ‘streams-based’ reporting rather than recent years’ focus on individual Centres and clinical disciplines. The dramatic expansion and realignment of BUSHkids’ operations in the past year necessitated a fresh look at how we both view and report on our work; it is a tighter and more disciplined appraisal of an organisation that is, truly, ‘82 years young.’ As we approach our next exciting year of service, we have a great deal to look forward to as we aim to meet the needs of more families, children and communities in rural, regional and remote locations across Queensland. We look forward to seeing results from our telehealth research and for it to inform our operations in the future. Establishing and growing our Early Childhood Early Intervention services in Central Queensland in partnership with the NDIA and local communities is another exciting prospect, bringing with it more professional opportunities for our growing staff base. I take this opportunity to thank our funders, donors, supporters, connections, volunteers, our BUSHkids Council members that guide us and, most of all, our dedicated staff who have served BUSHkids and our client families during the last 12 months. I pay my respects on behalf of BUSHkids to the late Mrs Glenda Keeshan and her family. Glenda led the organisation for 29 years with great dedication and strength, first as State Secretary then CEO from 1991–2006. We also pay our respects to the memory and family of our late Warwick staff member, Catherine Dunn. Our organisation is greater for the legacies of these dedicated ladies. Carlton Meyn

Carlton Meyn

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