2019-2020 · 2020. 11. 23. · Mel Clarke – Body Shop bags Melanie & India Secondis – 65 Shoe...

1 2020 DAWN HOUSE ANNUAL REPORT

2019-2020

All pictures in this year’s AGM report are from

the create program. Facilitated by Fran

Windsor


Contents 1. Donations ............................................................................................................................. 3

Mission ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Philosophy ................................................................................................................................... 5

History ......................................................................................................................................... 5

1. Overview .............................................................................................................................. 6

1.1 Accountability .................................................................................................................... 6

1.2 Finance ............................................................................................................................... 6

1.3 Human Resources ............................................................................................................... 6

1.4 Work Health & Safety ......................................................................................................... 6

1.5 Policy and Legislative Context ............................................................................................. 6

2. Presidents Report ................................................................................................................. 8

3. Executive Officers Report – Susan Crane .............................................................................. 10

4. Finance Report 2019-2020 .................................................................................................. 13

5. Yearly Summary ................................................................................................................. 14

5.1 Demographics................................................................................................................... 14

5.2 Unassisted ........................................................................................................................ 15

5.3 Contacts ........................................................................................................................... 15

5.4 Exits ................................................................................................................................. 16

6. Men’s Behaviour Change Program ...................................................................................... 17

7. Community Education ........................................................................................................ 18

8. Continuous Improvements .................................................................................................. 19

9. Accreditation ...................................................................................................................... 20

10. Website .......................................................................................................................... 21

11. Client Feedback .............................................................................................................. 23

12. Covid19 .......................................................................................................................... 24

13. Finances ......................................................................................................................... 24



Windsor


1. Donations

“Thank You” to all of our Wonderful Donors!

Fran Wickes – Homemade Dolls

Althea Inglis – Homemade Cot quilts

Christine Greenall – Plants

Dawn Lawrie – Crockery

NT General Practice Education – Television and Stand

Stacey Sibriz – Lady Pamper Packs

Chloe Little – Packs for Ladies

Mel Clarke – Body Shop bags

Melanie & India Secondis – 65 Shoe boxes filled with items as gifts

The Nappy Collective continues to

support Dawn House by delivering

Nappies

Share the Dignity collects donations of sanitary

products that they bring in for our ladies.

Nappies

Island Sky (Wilhelmsen Ships

Services) - Donated 50 Pillows

and Quilts

ConocoPhillips - Bedside tables, bedside lamps, ironing board, Iron,

Single mattress with base, Queen Mattress with base, Dryer, Washing

Machine

Hayman’s Electrical

Food, Female Hygiene items

https://www.thenappycollective.com/


Dripstone Children’s centre:- Books and booster seats

Esther Lloyd-Taylor – Too Much stuff Recycling- Bag of clothes

Sacred Heart, Early Learning:- Female Hygiene packs

Good Times Bar & Grill – Toys for Christmas

Department of Health – Ladies Packs and Toys

2019 Christmas hampers from:- Kentish Lifetime Learning

Darwin South Rotary

Somerville

Good Start Early Learning, Stuart Park

Royal Darwin Hospital Laundry - 100 redundant hospital blankets

Radio Rentals – Sheets and blankets

NT Chiropractic Health & Wellness Centre – Lunch boxes with Drink bottles and School items

Darwin South Rotary – Pencils, books and Food for Hampers

Money Donations from Private Donor $2000

Humpty Doo Tavern $208

Jacana Energy $2500

Darwin Memorial Opportunity Centre $500

A special thanks to the CWA Darwin Branch

for continuing to supply us with lovely personal hygiene bags

Body Shop Australia – Shampoo’s,

Conditioners, Body wash and Creams


Mission

Dawn House provides emergency accommodation and confidential services to empower women and

children leaving domestic and family violence. It is also committed to sharing expertise and taking

leadership in working with women and children escaping domestic violence.

Philosophy

Commensurate with its feminist values and principles, Dawn House is committed to the pursuit of social justice and the preservation of dignity and worth for all women and children in society.

We recognise that the continuation of patriarchal values, principles and violent criminal behaviour

within our communities are counterproductive to the development of equal power relations between men and women and only serve to perpetuate and support violence against women and children.

Therefore, consistent with the rights of others, Dawn House believes that women and children must have equitable access to civil, economic, political, cultural and social rights necessary for the pursuit of self-fulfilment, self-determination and the achievement of optimal human potential. To this end

Dawn House actively identifies and promotes non-violent processes that encourage and support women and children to achieve their personal and collective goals.

History

Dawn House Women and Children’s Shelter derived its name from ‘Dawn, meaning ‘the first

appearance of light, daybreak, a beginning:’ a concept dating back more than 1500 years.

Dawn House marks a new beginning for the women who come into it. The service began in 1976

under the auspice of the Women’s Centre in Spillett House, Smith Street. By 1978, Dawn House had

moved to Trower Road in the northern suburbs of Darwin and became a refuge. In 1980, the service

moved to its current location. Dawn House has always been a service that is run by women for

women and their children.



Windsor


1. Overview

1.1 Accountability

The Executive Officer of Dawn House reports on operational and financial matters at the monthly

meeting of the Governance Committee. The Executive Officer also reports on Operational and

financial matters to the NT Territory Families and the Commonwealth Department of Social Service

on a 6 monthly basis. Dawn House is audited on a yearly basis. The Dawn House’s annual operational

plan is subject to approval by the Governance Committee.

1.2 Finance

The Executive Officer must have the Dawn House annual budget approved by the Governance

Committee. The Executive Officer has authority to approve items of expenditure up to $2,500 within

approved budget and $2,500 per budget line outside approved budget, subject to sufficient funds and

not exceeding total approved annual budget. Otherwise, the Executive Officer must refer all items of

expenditure to the Governance Committee for approval.

1.3 Human Resources

The Executive Officer has authority to appoint new employees under the delegations of Dawn House.

The continuation of an employee position that falls vacant and the creation of new employees

positions are subject to the approval of the Governance Committee. The Executive Officer may dismiss

an employee but before doing so are required to refer to the NT Chamber of Commerce for advice on

legality and compliance. All redundancies must be approved by the Governance Committee.

Employee “on- boarding” and induction is a comprehensive process to create a culturally inclusive

workplace

1.4 Work Health & Safety

The Executive Officer and Office Manager are responsible for assessments being undertaken, the

development of control plans and schedules to minimize risks, the maintenance of a schedule of

WH&S activities, ensuring adequate resources are planned and in place to support WH&S activities,

and ensuring that managers and supervisors are appropriately trained, supported and consulted.

Dawn House Executive Officer monitors and acts on WHS issues with the support of the staff team.

WHS is a standing agenda item on the monthly staff meeting.

1.5 Policy and Legislative Context

The Executive Officer of Dawn House is governed by the policies and procedures of Dawn House and

is responsible for ensuring all policies are adhered to within Dawn House services.


Email from Client

Hi, Mel,

Dawn house gave …… and I not only a safe place but also all kinds of support. There were plenty

of food and Christmas presents when we first arrived here which made me feel at home.

You were the first person I contacted from Dawn house and my solid support ever since.

You helped me to reset my visa which is very important for me to stay here, …. my coming

conference about parenting plan from legal Aid and other things, like encouraging me all the time.

Helen has tried to help me to get a transition house and a public house. I'm appreciated even

though she said she was the "nasty" person to tell the truth. I should be prepared for my situation.

Ban has been helping a lot for ……, including childcare subsidy application and playgroups. She

arranged many activities for all the kids to have fun during school holidays.

Fran and Tahnee helped me to get Centerlink payments which I never thought I could because I

am not a PR even now.

Sheree, Kay, Sally are responsible and helpful workers as well.

I think the reason why I can do many things, like going shopping, seeing a dentist for …….., joining

in some Melaleuca activities, going to some playgroups, is that I treat Dawn house as my home,

especially when I am in difficulties. Please forgive me I rely on Dawn house like a baby. I know I

should grow strong soon. Thank you all for everything.

Dawn House services are governed by a range of legislative requirements, in particular –

Privacy Act (1988)

Privacy Amendment Act (2012)

Information Privacy Act (2000)

Equal Employment Opportunity Act (1995)

Workplace Health and Safety Act (2012)

The Domestic and Family Violence Act

Dawn House also has funding and service agreements with [Commonwealth] and [State] funding

bodies, and must demonstrate compliance in line with these agreements, including compliance with

practice instructions, operating frameworks and the provision of reports and data.



Windsor


2. Presidents Report

Strategic Plan and Development of reporting against Business Plan

Cath Holmes has assisted in the reporting against the Governance Committee Business/Action Plan.

This is to ensure that all parties work to, and are accountable for, achieving the strategic priorities of

the organisation. A number of recommendations were put to the September meeting, including:

(1) The Governance Committee (GC) review the documents referred to under the NTG’s

strategy/policy and discuss at a dedicated meeting;

(2) Active recruitment of GC members to take place to ensure sufficient members to meet

organisational needs, and in particular, that the suit of skills mix required is actively targeted through

recruitment. A gap analysis of skills should be conducted annually; the first of which was completed

earlier this year and highlighted the opportunity to build capacity within the GC membership in the

area of financial management;

(3) the establishment of a Register detailing GC members’ experience in governance and/or training.

This was delegated to a governance committee member to determine what training members of the

committee may need;

(4) That the GC undertake a systematic policy review to ensure that the policies of Dawn House

continue to reflect current and good practice and support he daily operations of the organisation;

and

(5) The GC Chair draft a framework to evaluate the performance of GC members for the

consideration of the GC committee.

Communications Strategy

Thank you to Lynne Allen and Natrisha Barnett for the work undertaken on the communications

strategy. This Strategy is a key deliverable of the Dawn House Strategic Plan 2018-2022 and the

draft sets out guidance to staff and GC members when responding to media, seeking funding and

consulting and informing key stakeholders and the wider public. The draft is to be discussed at a full

meeting prior to being endorsed which is expected to take place in October.


Operational

Covid-19

The Covid pandemic has brought its own issues to Dawn House. In response to the pandemic and

the expected increase in domestic violence and demands on the service, the GC formed an Executive

Committee which met weekly during the height of the pandemic. The Executive Committee was

Cath Holmes, Lesley Merritt, Susan Crane and myself. This allowed decisions to be made quickly and

expediently during the height of the pandemic. In consultation with staff and the Executive

Committee, Susan developed a ‘work from home’ strategy to ensure staff could work safely. The

number of women and children in crisis accommodation was limited to ensure social distancing

could be appropriately maintained, necessitating increased use of hotel-based emergency

accommodation. Susan ensured sufficient appropriate accommodation was available to meet

anticipated needs.

Federal government funding was provided by way of Job Keeper, BAS payments and emergency

relief to meet anticipated need.

Staffing

Staff management was efficiently dealt with by Susan with changes as required. Performance

management of a staff member was required and vacant positions were recruited to. Funding was

obtained for 15 months for a Counsellor with the recruitment process involving the executive

director and a member of the Government committee.

Staff and Governance Committee

I am deeply appreciative of the significant work Susan and the team at Dawn House put in to

maintain the delivery of a high quality, relevant and critical service; the only Northern Territory DV

service to receive national accreditation. On behalf of the GC, I extend my gratitude to Susan for her

support and leadership, including the facilitation of the meetings and pro-active reporting to the GC.

She keeps the service running flawlessly and manages problems efficiently as they arise. The staff

work tirelessly to support women and children in crisis and their dedication to this difficult task is

valued enormously by the GC. The GC members have contributed to decision making and advancing

our strategic priorities, including participation in seminars and other events, to ensure a Dawn House

presence. This has been very helpful in spreading the load.

Cathy Spurr

President

16th September, 2020


3. Executive Officers Report – Susan Crane

The current staff of Dawn House are as follows;

Ban Dieu Children’s Support Worker Commenced 12-2-2018

Ciara Hoy DV Intervention Worker Commenced 06-2-2017

Fran Windsor DV Intervention Worker - part time Commenced 19-7-2011

Fran Bennett DV Counsellor Commenced 07-9-2015

Bridget Eklund DV Counsellor (limited tenure) Commenced 22-6-2020

Sally Cotton Housing Support Worker Commenced 24-8-2020

Helen Treacy Women’s Support Worker Commenced 29-1-2019

Tahnee Hunt DV Intervention Worker (casual) Commenced 0-12-2019

Kate Munro Finance Officer Commenced 15-8-2011

Kay Solley Office Manager Commenced 09-6-2015

Melanie Fleet DV Intervention Worker Commenced 14-1-2019

Nicky Fearn Team Leader Commenced 22-7-2013

Gillian Rudd Living Skills Worker Commenced 04-8-2020

Sujay Kentlyn Community Educator Commenced 31-8-2020

Susan Crane Executive Officer Commenced 11-3-2013

Thank you to staff that have left over the last financial year including Sheree Haami, Sue

Brownlee, Joan Brown and Helen Mc Millan. Thanks to the Dawn House team for the

continued amazing work that you do to in the domestic and family violence space and

thankyou to our canine team members Monty and Gert for your continued work in

promoting a sense of well-being at work.

Kate Crawley and Leslie Merrett resigned from the Governance Committee in the last year

and we thank them for the work they did whilst on the Committee. We also welcome

Hermei Fong, Natrisha Barnett, Lynn Allan and Nina Lemos to the Governance Committee.


Dawn House staff and Governance Committee continue to work together to align with the

Dawn House Strategic plan. The 4 key areas of the plan include the following;

Advocacy and Networking

Effective staff and Governance Committee

Evidence and needs based service delivery

Sustainability

A business plan for Dawn House Operation and the Governance Committee was been

developed which is in line with the strategic plan and this is reported against at each

Governance Committee meeting to ensure that Dawn House is on track to meet its

commitments detailed in the strategic plan.

Dawn House Community Educator continues to facilitate the Darwin Domestic and Family

Violence Network (DFVN) every six weeks and this is well supported across the greater

Darwin region. There are currently over 130 individual members of the network.

Dawn House also continues to be a strong advocate and continues to be contacted for

comment around issues of domestic/ family violence. An example of this was changes to the

tenancy law enabling women experiencing domestic/ family violence easier passage to

being removed form leases.

Dawn House continues to attract quality and professional staff and Governance Committee

members with a broad range of experience and knowledge with potential employees stating

they wanted to work at Dawn House as it has a reputation for quality service provision and

supportive working conditions.

Dawn House has successfully attracted additional funding and donations throughout the

year including a $60 000 donation from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

Dawn House has again met the requirements to be nationally accredited.

Like many organisation, Dawn House faced many challenges as a result of the onset of

COVID – 19 in February/ March. A 4-stage action plan was developed quickly and measures

were put into place in a short time frame to enable staff to work remotely enabling social

distancing in the workplace.

Thank you to all staff for your flexibility throughout this time. The Governance Committee

were quick to respond in providing advice and supporting the Executive Officer to affect the

action plan.

There was a dramatic downturn in the numbers of referrals in March – May probably as a

result of women being unable to leave the house due to perpetrators being at home as a

result of job losses/ working from home and normal social outings being limited due to the

closure of many amenities.

During this time, Dawn House ran a number of Face Book posts saying that the shelter was

open as usual and also providing some general information about what constituted

domestic violence which received over 10 000 views.


There was a spike in referrals following the easing of restrictions in June and referral rates

have now returned to normal. Dawn House is now running as usual with a COVID – 19 plan

in place and is in a good position to work remotely at short notice if required.

Dawn House was generously supported financially by the Territory and Commonwealth

governments to meet costs of setting up staff to work remotely and also the extra costs

incurred as a result of needing to accommodate women and their children offsite in hotel

accommodation for long periods due to the shelter only accommodating one family in each

of the shelter houses instead of two.

The extra funding also allowed Dawn House to install wi fi in all of the shelter houses on site

to support children in on line learning if required as a result of the pandemic. This has been

really well received by service users

Dawn House continues to proudly be an organisation with strong feminist values providing

strength based, professional and high quality support to women and children experiencing

domestic and family violence.

We are a strong team who support each other and have shared values and will continue to

do so in the future.



Windsor


4. Finance Report 2019-2020

As Executive Officer, I present the Finance Report for 2019-20 as there was no Treasurer at the time

of reporting. The Special Purpose Financial Report for the year ended 30 June 2020 was prepared by

our auditor Adam Dohnt.

Dawn House had an even year in terms of income and expenditure, delivering a surplus of $141,861.

This is an increase in the surplus for 2018-19 which was $41,632. The increase can be explained by

an increase in revenue from both the Commonwealth and Territory governments’ response to the

Coronavirus pandemic. This includes the Job Keeper allowance, Australian Taxation Office stimulus

package and a number of one off payments to support Dawn House response to COVID-19 including

accommodating clients in extended hotel accommodation during the lock down phase from March -

June. This demonstrates the sound financial management by the Dawn House Executive Officer,

supported by regular financial reporting.

Revenue

Income from government grants has increased $168,091. This is a somewhat inflated figure due to

one off grants being received in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and time frames for the

acquittal of the grants being extended until December 2020.

Wages indexation of 2% and a CPI factor of 1% was applied in 2019-20.

Expenditure

Expenditure has slightly increased by $82,810 compared with the previous year, reflecting a slight

increase in salaries and COVID – 19 expenditure. This is consistent with stable funding and service

delivery.

Future Financial Outlook

The NT Government is experiencing a reduction in income from the Australian Government, as well

as reduction in other revenue. The effect is that there is little likelihood of funding being available

for expanded or new services. Furthermore, current and future grants paid by Territory Families are

now subject to an efficiency dividend of 1%

Dawn House is also restricted by the size and layout of our current premises, noting that we have

already made several changes to the property to maximise use of the space.

Thank you

Many thanks to Debbie Wilson who prepares the monthly financial reports for the Governance

Committee and Dawn House management.

Our Finance Officer, Kate Munro manages the day-to-day payments, and we thank you Kate for your

prompt help and response to queries.

Susan Crane

Executive Officer.


5. Yearly Summary

243 clients came through Dawn House in the year 2019-2020 even though we had nearly 6 months

where we could only accommodate half of our capacity due to distancing restrictions required by

the COVID 19 pandemic.

5.1 Demographics

This year we had 18 different Nationalities accommodated at Dawn House

Non Indigenous

30%

Indigenous45%

Bulgarian1%

Chinese2%

Congo2%

Hong Kong0%

Indian1%

Indonesian4%

Iran1%

Italian1%

Malaysian0%

New Zealand3%

Pakistan0% Philipines

3% Russian1%

Thailand2%

Torres Strait

Islander1%

Vietnamese2%

Demographics

Australian Aboriginal Bulgarian Chinese

Congo Hong Kong Indian Indonesian

Iran Italian Malaysian New Zealand

Pakistan Philipines Russian Thailand

Torres Strait Islander Vietnamese



Windsor


5.2 Unassisted

During the year, Dawn House had 781 Unassisted Persons. Why services were not provided is

disseminated as per below.

5.3 Contacts

Dawn House Domestic Violence Intervention workers are very busy during the year. This year the

workers had 2384 contacts with clients. The numbers this year reflect the larger than normal

amount of phone calls to clients due to staff working from home. Face to Face appointments were

minimized during the COVID restrictions

Contact Type Total Contacts Drop In 149

Transport 22

Meeting/appointment 60

Accommodation support 159

External Other 18

Client meeting 31

Email/text/social media 276

Correspondence 16

Centre-based Other 62

Outreach 7

Case coordination 808

Appointment 174

Informal interaction 68

Phone 365

Home visit 69

Unsuccessful contact attempt 100

Total 2384

5293

6128

81

1272

2401

20625

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Person did not accept service

Agency was in the wrong area

Agency had no other services available

Wrong target group

Person did not meet criteria

Other

Unassisted


5.4 Exits

The Outcomes this year for our clients has been hugely impacted by the COVID19 pandemic.

Outcomes have only been measured up until the start of the pandemic due to the difficulty in not

being able to follow up where a women has gone. Unlike previous years more of our clients have

opted to return to the perpetrator.

Territory Housing14%

Moved to another inter/ State/Country

16%

Returned after perp left9%

Moved in with Relative5%

Evicted7%

Returned to Perp18%

Private Rental22%

Other agency9%

Exits

Territory Housing Moved to another inter/ State/Country

Returned after perp left Moved in with Relative

Evicted Returned to Perp

Private Rental Other agency



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6. Men’s Behaviour Change Program

Helen Treacy is the Women’s Safety Worker at Dawn House. The Men’s Behaviour Change Program

is facilitated by Catholic Care with Helen supporting the partners of the men going through this

program.

In the last year 50 women have been contacted to be supported.

37 of these clients engaged with the services of the Women’s

Safety Worker. They all completed written safety plans which

Were updated and amended as a women’s circumstance changed;

For example when a women left her partner or had to move

Interstate for her and her child’s safety.

All of the clients that participated had a risk assessment completed while being supported.

During the year 1,245 distinct contacts were recorded with clients, which means that there is an

average of 33 contacts per person during the support period. This ensures comprehensive case

management. Referrals are also made to other relevant services that each client may individually

need.

42 Men’s Behavioural Change Program meetings were attended between the Women’s Safety

Worker and the Men’s Behaviour Change Facilitators. The meetings are held at Catholic Care in

Berrimah.

The Women’s Safety Worker attended monthly successful supervision meetings. Her direct manager,

the CEO of Dawn House, Susan Crane, kept up to date with the program with regular check-ins and

an open door policy. Susan attended ongoing meetings with Steven Lendrum, Senior Contract

Manager at Catholic Care.

Due to Co Vid 19 in April, the Women’s Safety Worker started working from home and successfully

completed all her contacts with clients, services and Dawn House via phone or Zoom meetings. She

is currently in the process of returning back to work at Dawn House.

One quote was chosen from the program;

“Hi Helen, Thanks very much for your continued

support over the last few months. I feel so lucky

and grateful for having so many special people

like you around me willing to support me

during this difficult time.”


7. Community Education

Sadly our amazing Community Educator has retired from

Dawn House. Sue Brownlee has achieved some extraordinary

outcomes during the last year as per below. We are excited to

announce that our new Community Educator is Sujay Kentlyn.

DFV Network

DFVN Terms of Reference were reviewed and endorsed

DFVN Conflict of Interest Policy was developed and endorsed

August 2019_Submission to the NT Gender Equality Framework

Letter written to and copied to several relevant politicians with objections to the

Parliamentary Inquiry into Family Law and the appointment of Pauline Hanson as Co-Chair

Adapted to Covid-19 restrictions from March to June 2020 by using Zoom to conduct

meetings as scheduled

Prepared submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy

and Legal Affairs - Inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence

Prepared submission to the NT Government Domestic and Family Violence Risk

Assessment and Management Framework (RAMF)

Lobbying of both Commonwealth and NT politicians about the plight of women with

temporary visas experiencing or escaping domestic or family violence

Guest speakers from both government and non-government agencies provided

information to the Network

Growing membership of 146 government and non-government agencies and strong

attendance at meetings

DFV Workshops

Covid-19 restrictions meant no community education sessions were available for 4 months

from 4th March until 30th June 2020. Workshops were held with a number of organisations

including:-

Australian Dental Association members

NT Legal Aid Commission staff

Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education students

NT Police Recruits (60) and NT Police General Duties Officers

Jacana Energy staff Royal Darwin Hospital Midwives

Central Intake Team, Child Protection, Territory Families

Young Mums, Strong Mums’ studying Cert III in Community Services

City of Darwin staff Islamic Society Darwin


With nurses, midwives and Aboriginal Health Workers upgrading WWHU qualifications with NT Family Planning

Service providers in Darwin followed by Family Safety Framework training delivered by NT Police

Service providers in Nhulunbuy in collaboration with Crisis Accommodation Gove

Child Protection workers professional development in collaboration with Territory Families

Charles Darwin University GP Medical Students

Community Education

Small but enthusiastic collective met 5 times in preparation for Candlelight Vigil 2020.

Gender Equality Grant application was successful. Unfortunately, Covid-19 restrictions

meant plans were cancelled, but funding was carried over to be used in 2021.

Networking

Facilitated the NT DFV Distribution List – 268 members across the Northern Territory

Refugee and Migrant Support Network (attend meetings)

NTLAC Strengths in Conversations Steering Committee (active member)

National Advocacy Group (lobbying for women with temporary visas experiencing

domestic or family violence)

8. Continuous Improvements

Although there were only a few improvements this year at Dawn House, they have made a major

impact on the way staff continue delivering quality service, working from home. Changes have been

made to facilitate the smooth transition at the start of the Corona Virus outbreak. Staff with their

own laptops had the remote server put on them by Jithin at Area 9. 5 new laptops were purchased

that included the remote access.

Red Oxygen a SMS software application was also installed by Jithin at Area 9. This means that staff

can SMS from their Office Outlook software to clients and have the return SMS arrive through their

emails. This has enhanced the tracking and recording of conversations that can be added to client

files.

Wi-Fi has been installed throughout Dawn House administration and accommodation service.

Originally this was installed in case of lockdown so that the women and children in accommodation

would be able to have a less stressful time, if the need for quarantine happened, this included

children being able to complete schoolwork, entertainment through Netflix and access to

documentaries and being able to keep in touch with family via their phone applications that use

video feeds.


9. Accreditation

Accreditation

ISO – International Organisation for Standardization

As you are probably aware, we were reassessed for our ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management

Systems accreditation on the 19th of August. We were originally supposed to have had the audit in

March however with the boarder closures this was rescheduled.

This year, we did not need to update our Policies and Procedures as these had previously been

consolidated as per ISO 15489 Records Management as closely as possible.

Dawn House needed to generate a risk register to adhere to AS/NZ 4360:2004 Risk Management, as

well as ISO 31000:2009 Risk Management Principles and Guidelines. We managed to get this done

on the day of the assessment, so we did not need to wait to implement any recommendations

We had already generated a WHS Manual that incorporated the Northern Territory Work Health and

Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2012. This included the Hazardous Chemicals and Products

preferred use as per NT Worksafe Safety Management guidelines.

We received the email on the 2nd of September:-

I am pleased to advise that Dawn House Inc has been awarded full accreditation against the

following sets of Standards:

Australia Service Excellence Standards

Accreditation is for 3 years: 19 August 2020 – 19 August 2023



Windsor


10. Website

Dawn House has had 24,574 visits over the last year. 459 People used our website to obtain our

phone number to call us.

Dawn House Website is accessible through

the computer, tablet and on a mobile

phone


Total Direct traffic per month, during April, at the beginning of COVID 19 we had a large spike in

visitors to our website.

The graph below is showing that more than half of the visits to our website (in yellow) are now made

by mobile phones.

As usual our site has been visited from people all over the world last year. We totalled 24,574 visits

which led to 33,886 page views


The majority of visits came from Australia 10,587 closely followed by the US and UK. In total 140

countries visited our Website mostly accessing “What is domestic Violence” (8,169 visits) “Myths

about domestic violence” (5,354 visits) and or safety planning booklet (4,675 visits)

11. Client Feedback

Due to the small amount of feedback forms returned due to the COVID 19 this year, a

comprehensive analysis has not been conducted as per previous years.

All of the feedback forms that were returned, were all positive about the services of Dawn House.

The professionalism of Dawn House workers and the generating of individual case plans that

achieved good exits and outcomes for the clients was mentioned.

This year we received a number of thank you cards to Dawn House.


12. Covid19

Dawn House has been considerably impacted by the pandemic.

Not just the costs associated with organising people to work from

home, but also the extra work and stress in the logistics of doing this.

We have set up extra hand sanitizers in the crisis accommodation

And at the entrance of Dawn House.

13. Finances



Windsor

2019-2020 · 2020. 11. 23. · Mel Clarke – Body Shop bags Melanie & India Secondis – 65 Shoe...

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Transcript of 2019-2020 · 2020. 11. 23. · Mel Clarke – Body Shop bags Melanie & India Secondis – 65 Shoe...