Marymedia Christmas 2021

December November 2021 2020

A MESSAGE FROM

Anne Kirwan GROUP CEO OF MARYMEAD CATHOLICCARE CANBERRA & GOULBURN

I would like to start by introducing myself.

I am Anne Kirwan and I am the Group CEO of Marymead CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn.

As some of you may know, earlier this year, we announced the Catholic Archdiocese's commissioning of a review of the future governance and operational arrangements for Marymead and CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn.

As Canberra and its surrounding region continues to grow and the community and social services sector continues to change significantly, we need to ensure our organisations can continue to maximise growth opportunities, build capabilities and ensure our ongoing sustainability.

To achieve this, the boards, CEO’s and executives of Marymead and CatholicCare put forward the following recommendations:

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The bringing together of the two agencies, creating one new agency, named Marymead CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn.

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The establishment of a new leadership structure with the appointment of myself as Group CEO and the appointment of Tracey Hall (Marymead) and Lisa Higginson (CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn) as Group Deputy CEO's.

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The establishment of a new governing structure.

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Frontline services for Marymead and CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn are unaffected, delivered by existing staff, benefiting from shared support services.

We began the process of bringing together the two agencies just before lockdown, and while COVID-19 has meant we might not have been able to progress things as much as we like, the new Board and I have been working behind the scenes to establish our charter and terms of reference, and join the management teams of CatholicCare and Marymead.

I have been very impressed by the commitment of the staff at Marymead during the difficult COVID-19 environment. The inventive ways that programs and services have continued to be delivered, and also the open communication and caring spirit that is evident amongst the staff, who have all supported each other.

The Auxiliary have also impressed me with their innovative fundraising efforts during COVID-19, and the work they have continued behind the scenes in the Auxiliary nursery and keeping on top of the donations for the garage sales.

As we begin to ease our restrictions I look forward to visiting all our sites and to meeting our supporters at our up and coming events.

This is an exciting time for Marymead and CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn as two organisations with incredible histories come together to deliver our existing contracts whilst building on new opportunities to take us into the future.

Thank you, Anne

MARYMEAD CANBERRA / COOMA / GOULBURN / MORUYA / QUEANBEYAN / WAGGA WAGGA / YASS / YOUNG

Inside

1

FROM THE CEO

2-3

NEWS

4-5

PROGRAM NEWS

6

CHRISTMAS APPEAL

7

EVENTS & VOLUNTEERING

8

DONATIONS & SPONSORS

MARYMEDIA | DECEMBER 2021

News A MESSAGE FROM

Tracey Hall DEPUTY GROUP CEO

It has been a challenging couple of months, but I have been extremely proud of all our Marymead staff in continuing to deliver our services and programs and in the way we have all looked out for each other.

In our last Marymedia I reported on our vision and goals for 2021/22, and in particular our three focus areas within the goals: • Innovation in client services to meet changing needs • Grow our foundations to build our team capacity • Develop our sustainability through diversifying our business model.

When I look back on the last 6 months, I am quietly impressed as to what we have already achieved considering nearly half of that time has been in a lockdown environment. As you will read in this newsletter, our programs and services have explored different ways to deliver during lockdown and still connect with our clients, and I was very proud of all our teams in ensuring our clients experienced as little disruption as possible.

I believe that the coming together of Marymead and CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn is an exciting time as two organisations with incredible histories come together to deliver our existing contracts, whilst building something new for the continued benefit of the children and young people across our communities.

Lastly, I would like to thank our Marymead Board Members, Sean Worth, Sharon Winks and Greg Fraser, who are looking forward to continuing their close association with Marymead as members of the recently established Marymead CatholicCare Board.

Although not continuing in a governance role, Denis O’Brien, Jen Kirkaldy, Matt Franklin, Di Bakon and Nam Nguyen are enthusiastically supportive of Marymead's next steps and look forward to supporting Marymead in other ways. We thank you for all your support during your time with Marymead.

Kind regards, Tracey

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL OWNERSHIP Marymead acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and the elders both past and present.

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AZURE We’re thrilled to report, Azure, Marymead’s Independent Retirement Living Village, is now at capacity with all 84 units sold. Residents have settled in wonderfully, finding many ways in which they can create social connections.

Throughout the week, residents participate in activities such as ukulele, Mah-jong or the nordic walking group. Handy helpers are also finding different ways to support Marymead’s Auxiliary.

On a larger scale, the Azure Social Committee have succeeded in running Christmas in July and most recently, Melbourne Cup. Not ones to miss a sweet treat and a good cup of tea, residents also found a clever work-around to the lockdown challenges and decided on a socially distanced, driveway fundraiser. Tables and chairs were set as the front of each household and residents enjoyed morning tea amongst the spring colours of the Village.

It has been wonderful to again have Floriade support us in sharing bulbs.

MARYMEDIA | DECEMBER 2021

News

Christmas Giving Mental Health Month Awards 2021

Spread joy and assist families this Christmas.

SAFE & CONNECTED YOUTH: COORDINATED SERVICES RESPONSE PROGRAM

If you’ve been thinking of donating to Marymead this Christmas, here are a few simple ways in which you can do so:

It was fantastic to hear in the 2021–22 ACT Budget, that the ACT Government, will provide $7 million over four years for the Safe and Connected Youth: Coordinated Service Response Program.

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Organise a giving tree

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Purchase a gift-card or gift-voucher

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Purchase a gift for under the tree

This program will support children and young people aged 8 to 15 at risk of homelessness, and their families, with a suite of services including family support, mediation and outreach. It will also respond to the critical gap in accommodation services for children and young people in this age group, by establishing a therapeutic respite accommodation service.

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Donate online.

Our team are here to support you with your donation. Please send them an email for more information: marketing@marymead.org.au

We cannot underestimate how much better off children and young people will be as a result of this funding. Between 8 to 15 years is a time of remarkable opportunity and growth. Through intervening early, we can ensure young people have the support they need to thrive in our Canberra community.

As most of you are aware, the support and accommodation gap for children under the age of 16 in the ACT has been raised as an ongoing concern by the sector for nearly 20 years. This funding will fill this gap, by providing a coordinated service response for children at risk of or experiencing homelessness, or engaging with child protection or youth justice.

This funding is so important and makes a real difference to the lives of so many children, young people and their families. Providing support to families in their time of need is at the core of what we do at Marymead. Providing a safe environment for children and young people can change their life trajectory.

We need to acknowledge all of the Canberra community, specifically, the organisations and advocates who have been lobbying tirelessly for over 20 years, this is a fantastic outcome and one that will ensure that children at risk of homelessness have coordinated services in place to help them at a time when they are so vulnerable.

The ACT Government invested an initial $480,000 to fund the Safe & Connected Youth Pilot of which Marymead were a collaborative partner.

The procurement process is currently underway with more information in the new year.

Exciting news!

Our New Horizons team recently received an award in the category of 'Enhancing the Lives of Individuals, Families and Carers' at the Mental Health Month Awards 2021!

This award recognises the work of the New Horizons Program, and Marymead, in supporting vulnerable families to increase capacity, coping strategies, strengthen relationships, improve wellbeing and work towards goals, whilst exploring life choices and listening to what matters to children and young people accessing the Program.

Our KAYAKS (Kids and Youth Are Kool) post-separation support program was also nominated for a Children’s Week Award for the wonderful work they do in providing a safe therapeutic space for children and young people to work through the experience of a family breakdown.

Christmas Appeal Last year we asked you to help us to raise $50,000 for those in need of access to free mental health services. Thanks to the incredible generosity of you, our community, this ambitious fundraising goal was surpassed. This year, we’re aiming for another $50,000.

With the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 causing continued disruptions to everyday life, demands on mental health services continue to be at an all-time high.

Your contribution can help increase our capacity in areas such as: •

Counselling

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Parenting

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Work within schools.

Your ongoing contributions to support Marymead does help us make a huge difference across our communities.

To donate please go to marymead.org.au/christmas-appeal or call us on 1800 427 920 PAGE 3

MARYMEDIA | DECEMBER 2021

Program News

Mental Health and Counselling Unit TRAILBLAZING IN LOCKDOWN The most recent COVID-19 lockdown has posed many challenges to the New Horizons team. Preparing to move counselling sessions with children online has been no small feat! However, our clinicians have remained undeterred and have used all their passion and creativity to trailblaze a new way of conducting therapy in an online space.

First, was the birth of the Virtual Therapy Rooms created by our very own Emma Sait. Emma spent hours tirelessly creating a Virtual Therapy Room that was equipped with child-friendly activities, resources for coping with mental health, books, and the psychometric tools that we use in session. These rooms are able to be visited by the clients both in and outside of therapy.

Emma even created a Bitmoji of herself to add a personal touch to the rooms (see image below).

What has followed has been wonderful to watch. Felicia has posted handwritten letters to her clients to maintain the personal connection, other clinicians have facilitated virtual scavenger hunts with clients. Most importantly, our New Horizons staff have endeavoured to remain connected to our most vulnerable families in ways that go above and beyond.

Team member, Sarah has even sourced a free laptop to gift to a client to better remain connected to both Sarah, and the important school work!

Running groups has been another challenge, which the New Horizons staff have taken on readily. All in all, we found creative ways to continue services for those most in need through yet another lockdown.

New Horizons has also been nominated for a 2021 YOGIES Award, and the winner will be announced on 17 December.

Fingers crossed!

Annabelle Jeffries Family Counselling Team Leader

Example of one of the Virtual Therapy Rooms

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Exciting New Programs REVIVAL NEW SOUTH WALES In August we were excited when Marymead and The Family Place were awarded funding for a new program, 'Revival' in the Eurobodalla region. Revival addresses a high need from the community for social and emotional support, as a result of the bushfires that severely impacted the region in 2019–20.

The support will be delivered in the form of non-clinical community-led intervention that focuses on vulnerable children and families, particularly the Aboriginal community.

Revival will be delivered through community consultation, cultural Yarning wellbeing groups, and psychosocial and wellbeing recreational supports. Participants may find themselves engaging with 'Tea and Talk' groups, music therapy, bush walks, and many more support opportunities. These will be grounded in community ownership and as a result will improve social and emotional wellbeing, community resilience, and the engagement of the community in providing the support.

The program is currently funded until June of 2022 and is expected to be highly successful across Eurobodalla.

A big thank you to University of Canberra, OT student volunteers, Harrison and Tahlia,for all their hard work in helping to bring this program to life.

EMPLOY FOR ABILITY SCHOOL LEAVERS EMPLOYMENT SUPPORTS Employ for Ability and Marymead now provides School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) for NDIS participants on the autism spectrum.

This fantastic program is tailored for young people on the autism spectrum and is run over 48 weeks by trained autism consultants. The aim of the program is for each participant to build on their strengths and skills and use these to participate, firstly in work experience opportunities, and then take the next step of securing paid employment.

Employ for Ability is currently looking to take on new SLES applicants. If you are interested in applying please call 1300 619 768 or visit employforability.com.au

MARYMEDIA | DECEMBER 2021

Program News

MindMap

Online Youth Navigation Portal Regenerate Marymead has also launched a new mental health support program on the NSW South Coast. Regenerate is designed to focus on children aged 8–12 years, who have been identified as an age group needing support, due to the impacts of the bushfires and COVID-19.

Regenerate will provide mental health outreach services and focus on bushfire and COVID-19 recovery through traumainformed counselling, supporting this vulnerable group and building increased resilience and engagement in the community.

Regenerate would not be possible without the grant Marymead received in July from the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund in the Eurobodalla and Bega Shire regions. The grant will fund Regenerate for 12 months, during which time Marymead will build relationships with other organisations and seek ongoing funding.

We are excited to announce the launch of MindMap, a new, community led portal, co-designed by the ACT Government and various community organisations including Marymead, Australian National University, ACT Youth Coalition and the ACT Youth Advisory Committee to help young Canberrans and their carers find timely and effective mental health support services and resources.

MindMap is designed to help children and young people under the age of 25 navigate Canberra’s mental health system and supports. The portal has around 300 online mental health and wellbeing resources, including understanding mental health challenges, useful strategies, and best practice resources from multiple websites. It’s also available to help parents, carers and service providers link up with existing local services and supports.

“Marymead are thrilled to partner with the Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing in the delivery of MindMap. Young people have been asking for assistance to help navigate the mental health service system in the ACT. MindMap will provide this much needed support 24/7 to assist them in finding the right service at the right time.” Tracey Hall said.

To speak to a MindMap team member, or for more information, visit mindmap.act.gov.au today.

THANK YOU! Kids' Companions Tax Appeal We were absolutely blown away by the support we received for our Tax Appeal, with the final number landing at $33,550!!

This means we can now afford to take children and young people out to enjoy social activities which they may not have experienced previously.

ling Annual Seedale & Plant S en & Open Gard Did you join us for the ‘mulch Annual Seedling & Plant Sale & Open Garden’ in October? If you did, you helped us raise $5,000 for this fantastic program.

Available, were lovingly grown herbs, flowers, succulents, vegetable seedlings (tomato, zucchini, pumpkin, corn, cucumber, beetroots, eggplant, capsicum, chilli etc) and plants for landscaping.

This popular sale is held annually at our mulch site in Stirling.

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MARYMEDIA | DECEMBER 2021

THIS CHRISTMAS SUPPORT MARYMEAD’S

Giving Tree Appeal Three ways to support local children and families Purchase a gift for under the tree Purchase a new and unwrapped gift for a child, young person or parent/ carer. Gifts appropriate for all ages are appreciated. Drop to Narrabundah.

Purchase a gift card or gift voucher Purchase a gift voucher to be given to a young person or parent/carer.

Gift vouchers could include grocery vouchers, activities or department store vouchers.

Donation over gift?

This Christmas, we need your help to raise $50,000 to support children and young people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, mental illness.

With the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 causing continued disruptions to every day life, demands on mental health services are at an all time high.

Your contribution can help increase our capacity in areas such as: •

• •

Counselling – Confidential, early intervention mental health counselling and outreach support services for children and young people.

Parenting – Tailored, individual mental health counselling for parents and caregivers.

Work within schools – In-school early intervention, holistic family support, customised to meet the needs of the school community as opposed to the traditional model of a school counsellor.

For more information head to marymead.org.au

SCAN TO DONATE

MARYMEDIA | DECEMBER 2021

Volunteering

Auxiliary

NEXGEN

Despite COVID-19 shutting us all away, our wonderful Auxiliary have still been working hard, organising some amazing activities both virtually and in-person.

Our NEXGEN volunteers are a young and enthusiastic group of fundraisers who have run some exciting events for us over the years, and raise valuable funds and awareness of our services within the community.

Just before lockdown, the Auxiliary with supporters, gathered together for their annual Card & Games Day at the beautiful, Royal Canberra Golf Club. It was a fun day with games of Mah-jong, scrabble, bridge and cards, as well as a raffle and some beautiful crafts for sale. Thanks to all for your attendance, the day in total raised $2,521.50 While at home, online raffles and auctions were the fundraising methods of choice – and what a success they were! Special thanks to Darlinghurst House, Marist for their school house auction and all who were involved in our September, AllBids Art Auction. Over $7,500 was raised as a result.

During COVID-19 they have still been working hard, supporting the Auxiliary, sorting through all of our generous donations in the Marymead toy room, and also meeting online to plan some exciting events to come in 2022!

If you would like to be a part of this wonderful team, they are always looking for event planners, fundraisers, or simply volunteers who want to put their skills towards a great charity.

If you would like to volunteer please contact volunteering@marymead.org.au for more information.

To the local businesses who get behind our Auxiliary raffles, we wish to thank you also. This has been a wonderful way to raise dollars while in-person events are limited.

The past two months have been spent catching up on inperson events as best we can, following COVIDSafe protocols.

Plant Sales, Garage & Plant Sales and our always wonderful Government House Morning Tea have allowed this wonderful Auxiliary, for the first time ever to hit their $100k mark! Keep an eye out in March when we will officially celebrate this milestone.

Congratulations to our Auxiliary and a huge thank you to those who support our Auxiliary.

Gardening Girls Our wonderful Gardening Gals, members of the Auxiliary, have lovingly nurtured and grown the nursery on-site at Narrabundah for many, many years. Group members propagate and grow cuttings and seedlings from their own gardens as well as those kindly donated by other members of the community.

We are so lucky to have such generous supporters. All money raised helps support Marymead's programs and services. Thank you.

You can purchase plants from the ladies at any of our Narrabundah Garage & Plant Sales, otherwise pop by the nursery on Mondays between 9.00–11.00am if you wish to miss the crowds. Please note, poor weather or holiday periods may impact these timings.

It was wonderful to see so many returning faces at each of our recent sales. Hoping your gardens are all looking lovely.

Thank you for your wonderful support.

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Donations of 2021!

Support from Local Schools A huge thank you to the wonderful students, teachers and community of Marist College, St Clare's College, Merici College and Canberra Grammar.

From volunteering, fundraising drives and gift collecting, you are helping to make a considerable difference to the vulnerable children, young people and families in your community. We love working with you all and look forward to seeing you all again in 2022!

Good360 Donation Thanks to the amazing work of Good360 and BIGW we received an awesome amount of toys and clothes to be passed on to families who need it most.

Good360 is the largest Australian online marketplace for businesses to donate goods to Australians who need them most. Since Good360’s launch in 2015 they have matched 22 million items.

We are grateful for our ongoing relationship with Good360 and the companies that donate and support them.

Grill'd Local Matters Initiative

Country Women’s Association Donation

In September we were really excited to hear that Marymead came first place in the Grill’d Manuka Local Matters Community Fundraising, winning $300.

Earlier this year the Tarago Evening Branch of the Country Women’s Association reached out to our Goulburn office. They expressed interest in supporting our Permanency (Foster Care) Program by donating items for young people entering the foster care system.

Grill'd restaurants support local charities with their 'Local Matters' Community Fundraising Jars. Each month in every restaurant they have 3 jars that each support a different charity. Every time you purchase a burger you choose which charity gets your token. At the end of the month the charity with the most tokens wins $300, or $100 for 2nd and 3rd place.

Our first prize win will go towards our wonderful Grandparent's Group.

The Grandparent's Group provides social connection and support for people who are preparing to be, or who are the primary carer for their grandchild/ren.

Thank you Grill'd Manuka for your support.

GIVIT Donation

These incredible women worked hard to put together personalised packs for our children and young people, and in September dropped these packs off to our Goulburn office. There were 18 backpacks for boys and girls aged between 2 and 12.

Each bag came labelled and contained pyjamas, underwear, toiletries, towel, cuddly toy and a book.

Another wonderful organisation, GIVIT connects those who have with those who need through their website.

You can donate goods, your time or money to help those who need it most.

We cannot thank CWA enough for this generous donation. These packs will mean the world to our children and young people, who are transitioning through a very difficult period of their life.

Thank you GIVIT. Your team are so wonderful to work with and we appreciate all of your support along with the support of those who give generously to you.

Marymead recently received a laptop, Sheridan towels and sheets which all went to a families in need.

FYSHWICK ACT

CANBERRA 255 GOYDER STREET NARRABUNDAH ACT PHONE 1800 427 920

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If you would like to be added to our mailing list, or removed, please contact us on 1800 427 920 or via email at info@marymead.org.au or write to us at P0 BOX 4260 Kingston ACT 2604.

MARYMEAD IS A CATHOLIC AGENCY OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN. ABN 90 677 510 841