Each year it feels like I start the CEO foreword with the same sentiment, it’s been an action packed, productive 12 months

Whilst it does seem a little repetitive, it does accurately sum up our work over the last year.

At RA Tas we are always striving to increase the range of supports we can provide. This year we were fortunate to be funded to provide a dedicated counselling service for children impacted by family violence which complements our work with adults. We have also been exploring and evaluating non-talking based therapies to expand the range of interventions that we are able to offer people who seek support. It has been fantastic to see the expansion of our therapeutic interventions, including the delivery of a six-week Trauma Therapy Art Workshop, which had very high levels of engagement and resulted in the development of new skills and understandings about trauma and personal insight as well as the creation of some amazing pieces of art.

It has been fantastic to see the expansion of our therapeutic interventions, including the delivery of a six-week Trauma Therapy Art Workshop …

We have been working with communities over a number of years to assist them to develop and deliver responses that meet their local needs. In October 2022, we held an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Community Network. In addition to delivering the annual Suicide Prevention Forum and the LiFE Awards, the Suicide Prevention team work with communities, however they define themselves, to develop community action plans for suicide prevention which respond directly to the needs of the community. Our work to create belonging and reduce loneliness also involves engaging with communities across Tasmania through Neighbours Every Day (NED) and Relationships Australia’s national day of action Neighbour Day. This year we were fortunate to partner with Healthy Tasmania to provide community grants to 35 groups to host neighbourly activities across the state. Activities ranged from the Southport Community Centre’s re-establishing a monthly wood-fired pizza to a Winter Solstice Trivia and Support event. It really goes to show that there are so many creative and interesting ways people go about building creative communities.

A key highlight on the RA Tas calendar is our staff conference. It was great to be able to hold the staff conference again given that we had not been able to do this previously because of COVID-19. We still had to do things slightly differently, with staff attending in the North and South of the state with a video linkage between the sites. The staff conference provides a fantastic opportunity for building relationships across the organisation and an ongoing favourite, staff TED talks. The theme for this year’s conference was aligned with one of our values, Looking Forward, and we engaged with a range of interesting topics including loneliness, climate change and mental health, lived experience of disability, death and dying, self-care, family violence and coercive control and an Aboriginal framework for grief and loss.

The staff conference provides a fantastic opportunity for building relationships across the organisation and an ongoing favourite, staff TED talks.

Our values have again been a key focus this year. We instituted the RA Tas Values Awards in partnership with Access Pay. The awards allow all members of staff to recognise how their colleagues contribute to making RA Tas a great place to work by bringing our values to life.

With an award each quarter for each of our values (Willing to Serve, In it Together, People Matter and Looking Forward), and judged by the Board, it is a great way to hear about and share the fantastic contribution our staff make as we go about supporting the Tasmanian community.

In recognition of the important role workplaces can play in improving people’s health and well-being, we have been expanding the reach of our Employee Assistance Program to include an emphasis on some additional supports that sit alongside the counselling, workplace mediation, and trauma debriefing that we have done for a number of years. The additional focus on sporting club well-being support, personal development supervision, support for workplaces to improve the health and well-being of their people and the delivery of bespoke workplace training have been beneficial additions to the support we can offer workplaces.

This year was a little unusual in the sense that I spent time on sabbatical. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to participate in the Social Impact Leadership Australia’s (SILA) national leadership program for CEOs of for-purpose organisations. The program has had a significant impact on my leadership through the completion of residentials focusing on leadership of the self, organisation and system alongside coaching and the sabbatical. It has also allowed us as an organisation to look at our approach to leadership and enhance our capacity in this area. One of the benefits of the program was that it provided an opportunity not only for Mel Harback to act as CEO, but also for us to have staff at a number of levels act up in roles for an extended period of time. This really demonstrated the depth of talent we have in our organisation and I am incredibly grateful for the tremendous effort that everyone put in whilst I was away.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our staff for the amazing work they do. Their contribution makes a difference in the lives of Tasmanians every day. I look forward to continuing to find ways to support our people so they can continue providing services of the highest quality.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our staff for the amazing work they do.

As always, I am grateful for the contribution of the Leadership and Management Team. Thanks especially this year to Mel Harback for acting as CEO and Le-ella Doyle for her work whilst acting as COO during my sabbatical. I would also like to thank the RA Tas Board for their effective governance of our organisation and the ongoing support they have given me, including the opportunity to participate in the SILA Program.

Dr. Michael Kelly

CEO