Yooralla Annual Report Web viewYooralla Annual Report 2014 ... Much of the past 12 months has been...

Yooralla Annual Report 2014 | 1

ContentsWelcome to the 2013-14 Yooralla Annual Report 3

Message from the Chair 8

Financial short report 2013-14 13

Reporting against our strategic plan 18

A National Disability Insurance Scheme – the first year 22

Year in review 2013-2014 24

Accommodation 30

Case Management & Coordination of Supports 37

Children’s Services 40

Day Services 43

Employment 48

Self Advocacy 54

Therapy 57

A focus on volunteers 59

A focus on fundraising 63

Yooralla people update 66

Staff profile 68

Staff profile 69

Our board 70


Welcome to the 2013-14 Yooralla Annual Report Establishedin 1918 by Miss Evangeline Ireland (Sister Faith) our organisation has a long and proud history of working to build a world where people with disability are equal citizens.

Sister Faith recognised the inequalities provided to people with disability when she discovered a child with disability penned inside a chicken coop. The young girl had been left there while her parents were at work. Like many working class parents at this time, they had no access to welfare or support services and at the time the government didn’t support people with disability.

Since then, Yooralla has played an active role in improving public awareness and progressing the nature of disability support in Australia.

A key player in the creation of a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Yooralla is now thinking forward. Our direction is clear and we are ready to embark on our course with the Yooralla vision directly in our sight. We welcome you to join us on our journey, if you choose. Choose Yooralla, choose equality.

Annual Report objectivesThis document reports on Yooralla’s activities, achievements and financial performance during 2013-14. The report is written for the people Yooralla supports, our customers, families and carers, staff, volunteers, government, corporate and community organisations and donors.

Yooralla is a public company limited by guarantee and is registered as a company under the Corporations Law of Victoria.


Vision statement

A world where people with disability are equal citizens.

Our vision reflects our aspiration for a world where people with disability are seen for their ability, it’s a world that is fair and accessible, where people with disability have the opportunity to participate as equal citizens and exercise control over personal outcomes. Yooralla is passionate about the role it can play in achieving this vision and the difference it can make in the life of individuals.

Mission statement

To provide quality, sustainable and flexible services that uphold human rights and create opportunities, empowering individuals to live the life they choose.

Our mission is a statement about how and what we will do to support a world where people with disability are equal citizens. It is a summary of our purpose and highlights our focus on human rights and the provision of choice and control. Our mission is at the core of every service and function that we deliver.

Values

In all our work, our values are at the centre of everything we do.

Customer focused in our service, creative in our solutions.

Courageous in speaking up, determined in facing challenges.

Authentic in our relationships, honest in our conduct.

Accountable in our work, responsible for our actions.

Respectful of choices, embracing of diversity.

Passionate about our work, driven by our vision and values.


Message from the Chair In a time of great change in our sector, 2014 has been a crucial year for Yooralla as we listened to the experiences of people with a disability in the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). It has been our challenge to design a new way forward, to focus and coordinate our efforts in an increasingly competitive environment.

At the same time, we have sought to remain true to the Yooralla values and continue to be driven by our vision for ‘a world where people with disability are equal citizens’.

Much of the past 12 months has been focused on building a strategy that will focus Yooralla’s energy and resources on a number of pivotal objectives.

When accomplished, these objectives will respond to our customer’s demand for high quality, innovative and diverse services. It is a strategy that must reflect the need for service transformation and productivity that is compelling to both customers and staff.

The result is Yooralla’s SMART Choices: Agenda 2020, a strategic plan that outlines the direction Yooralla will pursue for the remainder of the decade. It is a distinctive and progressive framework for a bold and exciting future that will cement Yooralla’s position in the disability services landscape.

SMART Choices: Agenda 2020, comprises:

Services – Yooralla is investing in quality infrastructure to support our business into the future and to ensure that customers have access to quality services and facilities. Our systems will leverage the digital and mobile environment, to enable greater access for customers.

Markets – Yooralla will build partnerships and leverage best practice knowledge to generate new outcomes across the sector. Through partnerships we will progress Yooralla to a sustainable and competitive enterprise, offering benefits to customers.


Access – customers will connect easily to the supports they want and will have the flexibility to move in and out of services. Staff will deliver increased productivity because of process improvement, discipline and consistency across the organisation.

Reputation – Yooralla will continue to influence community opinion, disability policy and decisions and leverage its position of influence to improve equality and ensure human rights are upheld.

Talent – Yooralla will build and retain a workforce of engaged, responsive staff who are customer focused and who uphold the Yooralla values in delivering service excellence.

Yooralla today is a vibrant and strong organisation with solid foundations to build upon. The opportunity now is to realign its business structures and operations, to ensure it is a sustainable and competitive service provider in the future.

As leader in service provision, a champion of research, an advocator for change, and a creator of partnerships, the future is bright for Yooralla to continue serving the disability sector for decades to come.


Peter Langkamp, Chair


Message from the Chief Executive OfficerAs Chair Peter Langkamp has mentioned, this year has been a journey of change for Yooralla as we prepare for the full implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Now 12 months into the NDIS, it is important that our momentum does not waiver. As an organisation, Yooralla must re-assess what it stands for in this new world. Through the launch of our Smart Choices: Agenda 2020 strategic plan, Yooralla has outlined a new direction for the organisation that will ensure we are well positioned in an NDIS world and prepared to confidently enter a competitive disability services market.

Our focus on customer safeguards and wellbeing continues to drive our culture. We have invested heavily in fortifying this focus to ensure our standards are of the highest regard and benchmarked against international best practice. Yooralla has conducted external audits, certification and enlisted specialised expertise in the organisation, to ensure that our customer safeguards are rigorous. The organisation has undergone significant work to ensure that procedures in place to maintain customer safety are strong, tested and stringently followed across the organisation.

Our vision has evolved — we no longer just want a fair go for people with disability. It’s not about what is fair. The shift toward the NDIS means that customers will become active participants with the power of choice. This power means that customers participate as equal citizens. Yooralla strives for a world where people with disability are equal citizens.

What does equality mean? It means having the power and control to make plans, to access services and infrastructure. This vision captures exactly what Yooralla strives to achieve and our focus is two-fold: we must deliver exceptional services to our customers and we must uphold the human rights of the people we support. This is our new vision.

Our commitment is to build an individualised approach to every interaction and to preserve a person-centric approach in every engagement. Yooralla staff deliver services that respect customers for


who they are and what they want to achieve. This is something we deliver on a small scale to each individual, in order to progress our ultimate goal of equal citizenship for people with disability.

Yooralla is underpinned by true values that make us a strong service provider of choice for many people with disability. Yooralla is customer focussed, with the goal of addressing the individual’s needs and being creative in our solutions. We are courageous in approaching challenges and speak up when things don’t seem right — in our organisation and in our community.

We are authentic in our relationships and pride ourselves on our honesty and integrity. We are accountable in our work and for our decisions and our actions.

We are respectful of diversity and of the choices that our customers make during their time with Yooralla. And ultimately, we are passionate about driving ourselves to stay true to our vision and values.

Yooralla’s direction is clear and we are ready to embark on our course with the Yooralla vision directly in our sight. We welcome you to join us on our journey, if you choose. Choose Yooralla, choose equality.

Sanjib Roy, Chief Executive Officer


Financial short report 2013-14

Financial performance management is critical to ensuring Yooralla is a viable organisation and able to deliver on its mission of providing quality, sustainable and flexible services that uphold human rights and create opportunities, empowering individuals to live the life they choose.

The 2013-14 Financial performance management is critical to ensuring Yooralla is a viable organisation and able to deliver on its mission of providing quality, sustainable and flexible services that uphold human rights and create opportunities, empowering individuals to live the life they choose.

The 2013-14 year saw Yooralla record an operating deficit of $4.4 million (2012-13: $2.5 million). Revenue from operations increased by 5.6 percent to $103.6 million, whilst expenditure increased by 7.5 percent to $108 million.

Revenue and expensesIncreases in government revenue for 2013/14 continued the trend of previous years — that revenue increases provided to Yooralla do not compensate for cost increases.

Sources of income from government bodies continue to provide Yooralla with the majority of our income stream. The support that we receive from Department of Human Services, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Commonwealth Department of Social Services is imperative to providing quality services to our customers. The government derived income has amounted to $86.2 million for the 2013/14 financial year.

The revenue trend (chart five) shows another positive year of revenue growth in line with preceding years. It is through strategic mergers that Yooralla has achieved revenue growth above indexation.

The revenue by services (chart one) illustrates how revenue in our service areas has required careful management. Yooralla has made positive gains overall in revenue from operations with significant increases occurring in residential and respite, as new services came on


board. Increases also occurred in lifestyle services due to the inclusion of the former EDAR services acquired on 1 July 2013.

Other areas of the business were slightly below the prior year but are expected to improve over the next financial year as development opportunities are realised.

Net assetsThe net assets of Yooralla at the end of the 2013/14 financial year were $56.3 million. This included a $3.5 million gain on net assets from the EDAR acquisition. Excluding this one-off EDAR acquisition gain, the net assets were $52.8 million (2012/13: $55.8 million).

Yooralla has embarked upon a program of asset improvement in line with the transition to NDIS, creating a solid financial base that can now be used to make strategic investment in information technology and infrastructure assets. This development will enable Yooralla to be well positioned to provide enhanced services to our customers as the NDIS is implemented over the coming years.

Yooralla continues to rely on the generosity of the public in the form of annual donations, bequests and trusts. On behalf of the customers of Yooralla, we wish to thank all our financial supporters. It is only with this additional support that Yooralla is able to ensure the continuation of its services to people with disability across Victoria and maintain the financial strength of the organisation.

For a full and detailed financial report, please visit our annual report online at www.yooralla.com.au/annualreport


http://www.yooralla.com.au/annualreport

Reporting against our strategic planIn financial year 2013-14 Yooralla operated a two level strategy. The first level focused on completion of the last five-year strategic plan, while the second level focused on laying the foundations for the new strategy period, longer term sustainability and success in a NDIS world.

The following overview highlights outcomes for each objective from the first five-year strategy.

01 High quality services

Objective:

To strengthen Yooralla’s capacity and capability to deliver high quality services to people with disability, their families and carers, with a particular focus on rights, well-being and safety.

Key outcomes include:

- two audits conducted by Health and Disability Auditing Australia (HDAA) into recommendations from the Joyce Report. The audits demonstrated that the recommendations had been met and that Yooralla’s approach was in line with recognised best practice for safe guarding an individual’s right to be free from abuse.

- joint research initiatives established with leading universities to create evidence based approaches towards service delivery, program development, wellbeing processes and measures.

- centralised capture and monitoring of all customer complaints and feedback. Appointment of an in-house investigator to facilitate timely resolution of all incidents.


02 Employee development

Objective:

To continue to develop our staff by investing in their skills, knowledge, values and employment arrangements.


- alignment of Yooralla’s values with expected behaviours and levels of expected customer service delivery.

- increased focus on occupational health and safety to protect staff and customers, resulting in a 25 percent reduction in premiums paid by Yooralla.

- increased communication and knowledge sharing with all staff through the delivery of an interactive staff intranet and discussion forums.

03 Building a better business

Objective:

To redesign and build the business models, systems, infrastructure and processes to create an efficient and sustainable organisation, prepared for service delivery in the next strategy period.


- upgrades to Information and Communication Technology infrastructure to enable a more flexible and mobile workforce and improved connectivity between services.

- organisational restructure to unite all operational areas under a chief operating officer enabling greater consistency, efficiency and customer outcomes.

- greater transparency and consistency of information is being implemented through business intelligence tools and the application of technology.

- new accommodation models have been developed and are being implemented with business partners, to improve the power and choice for customers.


04 Inclusion and empowerment

Objective:

To enable the inclusion of people with disability in mainstream services and the community.


- ‘Life Skills’ and ‘My Rights’ programs established to empower individuals to develop the skills and confidence they need to speak up when something doesn’t feel right.

- creation of an advocacy advisory group to provide feedback on program development and strategy.

- improved connectivity between education options, workplace experience and skills development creates improved employment opportunities through Yooralla’s business and social enterprises.

- a new UCAN Cafe in Williamstown, a catering kitchen in Footscray and consolidation of cafe operations in Altona to create greater inclusion and more diverse employment options.

05 NDIS readiness

Objective:

To undertake a year-long planning process to develop a strategic plan for the next strategy period.


- development of a new strategic plan SMART Choices: Agenda 2020, to be implemented during the 2015 financial year.

- partnership with key disability service providers formalised including co-location of facilities in Geelong with the Guide Dogs Victoria and joint business opportunities with House with No Steps (NSW).

- repositioning of services to align with the NDIS structure and to simplify services for current and potential customers, families and carers.

- established relationships with local providers in trial sites around Australia to gather operational intelligence and inform future service delivery.



SMART Choices: Agenda 2020 Yooralla’s new strategic plan, SMART Choices: Agenda 2020, has been developed to prepare the organisation for the full rollout of the NDIS. SMART Choices is the result of a long term consultative and planning process over the past four years. This process has drawn on the experience we have gained during our extensive involvement in the initiation and subsequent creation of the NDIS, in conjunction with people with disability, family, carers, government and the wider community. SMART

Choices reflects Yooralla’s core belief and the direction of the NDIS, that people with disability

A National Disability Insurance Scheme – the first year Imagine a world where there is no Disability Support Register for people to wait for years for resources to become available. A world where people with disability can talk about their needs, goals and aspirations and can expect that all things necessary and reasonable to support them will be funded. A world where people with disability can expect support to access education, equal employment opportunities and increased independence.

This is the vision that Australia is making reality with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Yooralla played a key role in establishing the NDIS as recognised by Andrea Coote, Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services, who stated that “Yooralla’s leadership and coverage were essential components in the development of the National Disability Insurance Scheme”.

1 July 2014 marked the first anniversary of the NDIS operating in four trial sites across Australia. An additional three sites commenced on 1 July 2014, expanding the NDIS to all states and territories except Queensland. There have been many positive outcomes reported following the end of this initial trial period.

More than 460 000 participants will be supported by the NDIS at the end of the full scheme roll out. 7316 participants across the country had an approved plan at the end of the first year and 26 000 people will be active participants by the end of the trial period in July 2016.

In the Barwon area alone, more than 250 people who had previously been waiting on the Disability Support Register for years are now receiving supports funded through the NDIS.

The average time taken to determine a potential NDIS participant’s eligibility has been reduced from 29.7 days in the first six months of the scheme to 13.3 days in the second six months.


Nationally, the satisfaction level for the scheme across all states is sitting at 90 percent – quite an achievement for a social reform of such magnitude.

At the end of the first year, the NDIS is on budget and is within the projected cost for the full roll out. The average annualised package cost is $34 600* which is within the $35 000 per package cost estimated by the Productivity Commission. In general, average annualised committed supports have been trending downwards across all trial sites, some of which can be explained by the phasing schedule.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) expects that there will continue to be variability in the quarterly average package size due to different groups of participants being phased into the scheme each quarter.

Yooralla is well on the way to preparing for the commencement of the full scheme roll out from 1 July 2016. We recognise there is an urgent need to ensure our services are prepared to support the choice and control of an NDIS market. Our SMART Choices: Agenda 2020 outlines our approach to making this a reality. The key areas of our development can be classified into four project areas: information technology and infrastructure, workforce, quality and data.

During this transition phase, Yooralla is working hard to provide our customers, families and carers with sufficient information about the NDIS, its progress and the changes taking place at Yooralla. We want to ensure they are well informed and ready to harness the opportunities that the NDIS will provide.

If you would like to talk with us about the NDIS or attend one of our NDIS forums, please contact Stacey Star, Yooralla’s Manager of Stakeholder and Community Relations, on 03 9666 4584 or [email protected]

* Number excludes the Stockton large residence * Figures are correct at 30 June 2014 22 - ANNUAL REPORT * Source: NDIS website


mailto:[email protected]

Year in review 2013-2014

July 2013

EDAR amalgamation

On 1 July 2013, Yooralla amalgamated with EDAR, a respected disability service provider supporting 115 people with disability in the Kew/ Balwyn area. EDAR was established by a group of parents in 1979. The service bought to Yooralla deep experience in lifestyle support, continuing education and personal development for customers, their families, communities and staff. Both organisations share philosophies and values around choice and a customer centric approach.

August 2013

Independent Living Expo: Geelong, Bairnsdale & Horsham

Yooralla held a series of Independent Living Expos across Victoria to showcase the latest innovations in assistive equipment, aids and technology. Product suppliers, equipment demonstrations and interactive workshops gave expo visitors access to the up-todate information and the opportunity to test the latest tools to assist with everyday living. The expos were sponsored by Gandel Philanthropy.

September 2013

RIDE Expo

The 2013 RIDE Expo featured more than 80 service providers and extensive disability respite information for expo visitors. The annual wheelchair soccer tournament once again attracted a great crowd whilst other attendees took advantage of the pampering tent featuring an array of luxurious treatments.


October 2013

UCAN Cafe Williamstown opens

UCAN Cafe Williamstown opened its doors to the community, featuring cafe ambassador, celebrity chef and La Luna Bistro owner Adrian Richardson. The UCAN Cafe provides employment to young people with disability, building their skills in hospitality and food preparation.

November 2013

Yooralla Media Awards

The annual Yooralla Media Awards were held at the National Press Club in Canberra. Showcasing print, broadcast and photography reporting on disability, journalists from across the country joined with Yooralla and the Minister for Social Services, Mitch Fifield, to acknowledge positive reporting of disability in the media.

November 2013

Yooralla & University of Melbourne – NHMRC partnership grant

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) awarded a grant to the partnership between Yooralla and the University of Melbourne to fund research into models of support for children with disability and their families. The grant of $578 216 was provided to the partnership over four years.

December 2013

Gold Medal Winner - Deana Horvat

Yooralla supported employee Deana Horvat wins three gold and one silver medal at the Asia Pacific Games for athletes with intellectual disability. Deana is a passionate swimmer and active participant at her local swim club in Essendon. Deana received a congratulatory swimming cap from one of her favourite swimmers, Stephanie Rice.


December 2013

Yooralla College graduation

Yooralla College celebrated at the annual graduation of students from their courses at the Melbourne Town Hall. Graduates were presented with certificates by Yooralla’s Chief Executive Officer and asked to prepare a few words of thanks to fellow students, staff, family and friends.

January 2014

Yooralla’s Life Skills program

The Life Skills program is delivered to Yooralla customers, to support people with disability to speak up in order to keep safe and have their opinions and feelings heard. The program is about empowering people with disabilities to know they can raise any issues they have without fear.

January 2014

Supported Accommodation Innovation Funds Project

Yooralla, together with the Summer Foundation, Mission Australia Housing (VIC) and Monash University secured federal government funds to jointly construct six new properties for people with disability in the Frankston region. Yooralla will be the sole provider of service provision to the properties when they are completed.

February 2014

The VALID ‘Having a say’ expo

Yooralla participated at the 2014 VALID Having a Say Conference, which aimed to empower people with disability to have a say about issues that affect their lives and celebrated individual and shared abilities and achievements.


February 2014

Yooralla establishes a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with House with No Steps

Yooralla established a MOU with House with No Steps – the largest not-for-profit disability service provider in New South Wales. The MOU will create opportunities for exploring avenues for cooperation to improve our preparation for the NDIS.

March 2014

Fran Vicary - published internationally

Yooralla blogger Fran Vicary writes an edgy and clever article on her experience with sexuality as a woman with disability. Fran’s article is published online on The Guardian, and goes viral to publications in the United Kingdom, and across the globe. Fran raises awareness of this topical issue amongst the disability sector and the general public.

April 2014

International visit from the Singaporean Delegation

Yooralla and House with No Steps host delegates from the Singaporean National Council of Social Service. The purpose of the visit was to share information and ideas on quality assurance and best practice service delivery for community services. Yooralla also helped to facilitate the delegation’s meetings with various government and service providers in Victoria and Queensland.


May 2014

My Rights/VALID training partnership

Self advocacy program ‘My Rights’ is developed by the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability Inc. (VALID) and delivered through Yooralla. The course supports individuals to develop the skills and confidence they need to speak up when something doesn’t feel right. The program also supports individuals in goal setting and planning for their future.

June 2014

YoorallaTEE

Yooralla’s annual t-shirt design competition is launched, aiming to encourage positive images of disability through design. The competition received close to 1500 entries from around the world. YoorallaTEE culminated in an exhibition at Federation Square for the ten winning designers.


AccommodationScottie McGuiness Scottie McGuiness is a very determined manwith a great sense of humour. Scottie hasa severe form of cerebral palsy where hismovements are uncontrolled and his speechis restricted. It takes a while for Scottie todeliver a complete sentence and patienceto interpret that sentence — but don’t letthat fool you into thinking Scottie hasnothing to say.

Scottie lives in a residential unit in Box Hill run by Yooralla. This is one accommodation optionprovided by Yooralla, supporting individualsto increase independence and participation incommunity life.

Scottie’s room is a man cave, an inner sanctumfull of photographs, paintings and assortedmemorabilia, including his beloved model boat.

After moving to Box Hill, Scottie began toexplore his neighbourhood and discoveredSurrey Park’s ornamental lake ‘Surrey Dive’and the Model Boat Club. He became aregular visitor but for the first two years wasknown by club members only as ‘the guyin the wheelchair’.

It wasn’t until his chair broke down that themembers came to know his name. They wereuncertain about how to approach him butwere quick to offer help when they saw hisdistress at the broken chair.

They discovered that Scottie liked to watch theboats as he found it relaxing. He also liked thecamaraderie between members. Soon Scottiewas experimenting with the members’ boats,even though the equipment wasn’treally suitable.

Around this time Scottie met Joel Hunter, adisability support worker with Yooralla. Whileat the park with his family, Joel saw Scottiewatching the model boats. The following day atwork, Joel asked Scottie if sailing a model boatwas something he wanted to try. His face lit up.It was a long-held dream.

Joel worked with one of Yooralla’s occupationaltherapists and an engineer to make thisdream a reality. There was one last challenge— money. The electronics took over a yearto fund, design and build with the help ofYooralla’s technical people. During this time,Scottie received


the heart-warming news thatthe club had built him a boat and donated aremote control.

Two years after the initial idea, ‘Scottie’ the littlered and yellow tugboat hit the waters of SurreyDive. His relationship with fellow club memberscontinues to flourish and he is a regular atmeetings where he actively contributesto club business.

Arts & Recreation Brianna GeorgeYooralla’s Arts & Recreation program specialises in providing recreation services to people of all ages and disability. Activities can be fun, adventurous or relaxing. They can be group activities or they can support individual goals and pursuits. They may be day activities, a weekend camp, a week away, or even longer. Art Circle is one such initiative.

Brianna George is an accomplished artist with Art Circle — Yooralla’s Arts initiative that creates opportunities for artists with and without disability to work together, providing an inclusive network for expression through visual, musical and performance art.

Brianna has been taking classes with Art Circle for 18 months and since starting, has developed her technique to a high standard. She is now exhibiting her work and teaching her skills to others.

“I really like the school workshops. I have sold a lot of my artwork and exhibited my work in many exhibitions,” says Brianna.

Brianna has expanded her training across a variety of mediums including marbling, landscape painting and sculpture. She finds her strengths are in cutting and ruling straight lines to create dramatic line-work pieces.

Manager of the Yooralla Art Circle, Melanie Cass, says Brianna is proud of her work and enjoys presenting her achievements in various exhibitions.

“She is an incredibly talented and artistic woman. Her use of colour and composition is highly aesthetic, this emphasises a high level of technical skill and creativity.”


“An example of Brianna’s dedication is her selfmonitored development of drawing straight lines. To many this may not seem a substantial achievement, but for Brianna, who has space awareness difficulties and a limited amount of depth perception, the perfection of such a technique is highly empowering,” says Melanie.

Brianna’s mother Suzie has also noticed the change in her daughter.

“Not only has she learnt a number of skills and techniques, she has also developed new forms of communication through her art practice,” says Suzie. “Her confidence has grown substantially and she is becoming more confident in expressing her opinions and feelings.”

Brianna’s latest exhibition was held in July at the Art Circle Exhibition in the Docklands. Next she hopes to showcase her artwork at a range of exhibitions across Victoria.

Her focus now is on developing a calendar of art events across Melbourne so that she and her fellow artists can broaden their knowledge of their practice by attending events.

We look forward to seeing more of Brianna’s work on display across Melbourne!

Assistive Technology & Equipment Sanaya & Nirupa Sanaya Gunawardena and her mother Nirupa arrived in Australia in 2009 when Sanaya was just five months old. Sanaya was born with microcephaly (due to polymicrogyria), and later diagnosed with spastic quadriplegia. It was on a visit to her new doctor in Melbourne, that her mother collected a Yooralla brochure from her doctor’s office.

“I called the number to enquire about support for Sanaya and the first person I spoke to was Meredith,” says Nirupa.

The duo hasn’t looked back.

Meredith supported Nirupa with the application process to secure Sanaya a place at the Glenroy Yooralla Early Intervention Centre and


later at the Glenroy School, where Yooralla specially provides equipment, therapy and education inclusion support to children in a school setting.

Nirupa said that Sanaya’s goals were to improve her ability to sit independently and her supported standing and walking. For this, she was going to require assistive equipment that would enable her to build her strength and support her physical development.

One of Sanaya’s therapists suggested she obtain a piece of assistive technology used for communication called a head switch. The therapist was able to secure one for Sanaya on loan.

“She did a good job with her head switch. Still she uses her head switch at school to communicate,” Nirupa said.

Located at the Independent Living Centres, the Assistive Technology and Equipment team are therapists that specialise in enhancing people’s lifestyle and communication ability by providing information about and access to assistive technologies and equipment.

Nirupa remembers the first item Sanaya borrowed from the equipment library at the Independent Living Centre was a bright red tubleform chair. “Since then we have borrowed lots of bits and bobs. There have been standing frames, a bathing chair, and special restroom chairs.”

Nirupa says that the staff at the Independent Living Centres are always very supportive in assisting them to get the right equipment at the right time. “The staff are so helpful and very good at communicating with families,” said Nirupa.

Sanaya now has a wheelchair which Yooralla assistive technology specialists specially fitted for her family’s vehicle. They often visit Sanaya to ensure that her equipment is adjusted to fit her properly and is providing her with comfort.

Nirupa says that Sanaya has grown up with Yooralla supports and equipment and that she is now more confident in Sanaya’s future.

“We have seen her develop and grow over that time. I would like to thank the staff at Yooralla for providing such a great service and access to equipment. It is a great service to families and people with these needs.”


Case Management & Coordination of Supports Steven & Yorka Steven and Yorka have been working together for the past year. Steven, who has autism and an intellectual disability, together with his parents Anne and Paul, previously received services from another organisation, but reached out to Yooralla for more specialised case management services when times became difficult.

From the outset, Yooralla case manager Yorka worked to build a strong relationship with the family through consistent communication, information and advice.

Anne agrees, “Communication has been the main thing.”

“Yorka has a great understanding of the situation and of Steven. She has a lot of hands-on experience and that was the main difference.”

Yorka is passionate about her role in supporting people with disability and their families to make informed decisions about the support and options available to them.

“I totally believe that keeping the family informed first and foremost is so important. We are all part of a team working together holistically. It’s about making that connection with the family and building that relationship so we can all be on the same page.”

Yorka hit the ground running to support the family by advocating for the transfer of their services and worked with them to overcome a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) guardianship order for access to services and accommodation placed by a hospital, after Steven had presented with issues on a regular basis.


The placement of the VCAT guardianship order was a significant stress for Steven and his family, who feared Steven would be placed in shared supported accommodation away from his family and without his consent.

“We want to look after him and Steven wants to stay in his own home, he’s happy here. He would have been devastated, we would have been devastated and who knows what the outcome would have been,” Anne said.

Yorka advocated for the family, working with a range of professionals and drawing on experience with the system, to develop a plan that would best support Steven and demonstrate to VCAT that the order was not in his best interests. Anne says that the reversal outcome was a huge weight off all of their shoulders.

Today, Yorka continues to support Steven and his family to identify the best steps forward. “We’re exploring day time activities for him and the aim is to have him engaged in a groupbased day service hopefully by the end of the year or an individualised model of one-on-one in the community — whatever works best for him. It is about him doing what he likes and enjoys, in an environment that he chooses,” Yorka said.

Anne is happy with how things are progressing in working with Yorka to support Steven’s goals.

“The outcomes have been great since Yorka has come along. It’s been a few months and Steven is really happy.

It’s a case of two steps forward, one step back. It’s not perfect, and there’s still a lot of work to do but we feel that with the support of Yooralla we really can move forward and create a good outcome for Steven,” Anne said.


Children’s Services Zaineb Houssien On Tuesday morning, eight families are gathered in a toy-filled room. Zaineb is sitting with her mother Ammoun, singing along to some of her favourite nursery rhymes. “Zaineb loves music,” says Ammoun.

Zaineb was born with a rare bone disease and underwent a bone marrow transplant at five months old. Zaineb was in isolation for six months after her transplant, which was successful, but she was left with a physical disability and severe visual impairment.

At the age of one, Zaineb was unable to sit and, following a referral from her oncologist, started working with Yooralla occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

“The staff have been excellent and really helpful — particularly when organising equipment,” says Ammoun.

Now five, Zaineb is learning how to walk. Ammoun sees Zaineb’s physical development as a sign of her strength and determination.

“She wants to walk — you can see it. Our family’s next goal is to see her walk unassisted,” says Ammoun.

Every week, Ammoun and Zaineb come to Glenroy to attend MyTime, a Yooralla group that provides support for parents and carers of children with disability or chronic medical condition. As one of Yooralla’s play assistants runs a session with the children, carers gather to socialise and get information about the services and support in their area.

This focus on carers is what makes MyTime unique, and it’s something Ammoun appreciates.

“I fit in at MyTime,” says Ammoun. “The other parents are more understanding because they know what you’re going through.”

Zaineb will start at Glenroy Specialist School next year. When she does, Ammoun and Zaineb will no longer attend MyTime. Ammoun is excited about this new chapter, knowing that the relationships they’ve formed


with other families, as well their relationship with Yooralla, will continue into the future.

Day Services Ann Mina Ann Mina has been supported by Yooralla since she was a young girl. She has an intellectual disability and an undiagnosed physical disability. Now a 37 year-old woman, Ann attended the Glenroy School as a child where she worked with Yooralla support staff and therapists, and later joined Yooralla’s Day Services at St Albans.

Yooralla’s Day Services support adults and young people by providing a range of planned programs that support individuals to develop their lifestyle skills and focus on increasing their life choices and independence. This nature of support compliments each person’s own informal support from family and friends.

Yooralla provides 17 Day Services across Melbourne and regional Victoria, each providing a variety of community-based program options.

For Ann, St Albans is her preferred location because it’s so close to home. “Being close to home is good for me and for my mum and sisters,” she says.

At the Day Services, each person is assigned a key worker. Ann’s worker is Margaret, whom she is very fond of. When something is bothering Ann, Margaret is the first person she wants to talk to. Together Ann and Margaret have established a person-centred plan for Ann that helps her with her personal care needs and also to identify her own goals and activities.

“I want to stay at a hotel and order room service,” Ann says. She and Margaret have talked about this goal and will endeavour to make it happen.

Ann is currently participating in programs to increase her literacy and her general computing skills. With support of staff at the service, she has learnt how to access the internet, Facebook and other social media websites. She also enjoys emailing her friends.


“I like sending emails to friends and to staff at Yooralla’s head office — I can ask them for help!”

Margaret says that through her improved literary and communication skills, Ann has also built a new found confidence within herself. An example of this is Ann’s new creative outlet — rehearsing for a play to mark International Day for People with Disability.

“Ann was shy when I first started working with her, but now I am able to work things through with her. She’s a lot happier and is looking forward to the performance,” Margaret said.

Recently, staff at St Albans have encouraged Ann to use her literacy and communication skills in a new role as a receptionist. It has meant a whole new perspective for Ann who enjoys this interaction with both staff and the community.

“I am answering the phone and I write down notes for staff when they are busy” says Ann. “It’s always busy around here!”

Education Christyl Cabanban Yooralla regards education and training as central to supporting the individual to achieve greater independence, choice and control in their lives. Yooralla College, our Registered Training Organisation and Yooralla’s Learning Hub offer a range of accredited and pre-accredited education and training options designed to support people with disability, to meet their individual goals in a supported environment. Our courses are structured to help students to develop confidence and provide them with the skills and knowledge that will support their preparation for work or other vocational activities.

Christyl Cabanban has a dream of becoming a receptionist. For more than 10 years she has been working with Yooralla’s Business Enterprises and recently she commenced study with Yooralla College to complete her Certificate I in Work Education.

“I’ve been trained in answering the phones and doing filing. I really like reception work and I’ve enjoyed getting some new skills,” Christyl said.


Christyl has an intellectual disability, which she acquired when she was young.

“It was really hard when I was young. I still remember when I was a kid, I couldn’t remember how to spell my name and I struggled to write. My mum would say something to me and I wouldn’t remember it properly.”

“I’m used to it now. Maybe if it had happened when I was 31 I wouldn’t have handled it so well, maybe it’s better that it happened when I was young, because I’ve gotten used to it.”

Christyl’s studies currently include writing, time management, safety management, using technology and how to work well with others.

In her time with Yooralla, Christyl’s skills and confidence have grown significantly.

“The first time I was here, I thought ‘Am I going to survive this place? I didn’t know if all the people were going to be nice to me. “

“Now I can tell that everything’s going well, we have a lot of new jobs and it’s really exciting.”

Christyl says her confidence has improved since studying with Yooralla. “I used to be shy, now I’m very talkative. One of my friends always tells me I talk too much!’”

Christyl is also one of the occupational health and safety representatives for the Business Enterprise site, looking out for safety issues, reporting problems and highlighting the importance of safety at team meetings.

Yooralla regards education and training as central to supporting an individual to achieve greater independence, choice and control in their lives.

After she completes her studies and increases her skills, Christyl hopes to work as a receptionist.

“I’m working here to gain more skills, so that later when I want to move on, I can put this on my resume. For example, if a person interviewed me I could say this is what I’ve done at this place and this is my resume.”

“I’m enjoying learning now and this is my stepping stone.”


Employment Glenn Lockyer On an average day, you won’t find Glenn Lockyer sitting still for very long. Forklift driving, pallet wrapping, driving, there’s always something to be done at Yooralla’s Business Enterprise in Footscray.

“I’m the main man,” he admits, laughing.

Glenn has worked at Yooralla’s Business Enterprise for 23 years, where he has been supported to achieve his goals. It hasn’t been an easy path for Glenn, but he is driven to succeed and a dedicated team player.

Glenn has an intellectual disability following a stroke in 1996 and is unable to use his left hand. It hasn’t stopped him from going for and getting both his forklift and driver’s licenses.

He completed 100 hours of forklift driving practice and took the test orally. A work vehicle was modified with a spinner steering wheel, enabling him to do delivery drop offs to suppliers.

Glenn loves coming to work, chatting with his colleagues and learning new skills.

“It gives me something to get up for, get out of bed, come to work and achieve something. Without it you would sit at home and do nothing. You lose confidence if you don’t meet people or have something to do.”

“Before I came here I was very shy, I’m still shy, but since coming to Yooralla I’ve opened up and started speaking,” Glenn said.

Glenn is passionate about sport. He played basketball before his stroke and more recently has taken on tenpin bowling and bocce.

In February, Glenn went to Newcastle for the Asia Pacific Games, competing against other athletes with disability in tenpin bowling. He goes bowling every Thursday with a group of friends and once a month with the Special Olympics team.

“I’m not too bad, my average is around 130,” Glenn said.


“The way I’m treated say at tenpin bowling… they treat you as equal, they don’t even look at your disability, which is very good.”

Most weekends, you’ll find Glenn watching his beloved Richmond Tigers, attending virtually every game.

He’s also been taking cooking classes once a week, learning how to use a range of assistive devices to allow him to prepare and cook, which is part of his plan for the future to live independently.

Yooralla is committed to creating lasting and diverse employment opportunities for people with disability. With the support of the NDIS, improving access to and equality in the workplace for people with disability is a key area of reform.

Respite Prakashni Reddy As a family who have journeyed through many obstacles, Prakashni Reddy and her family wanted to help other families facing challenges.

It was this motivation that led Prakashni to answer a Yooralla call for volunteer respite carers. “I had always wanted to be a foster parent and a change in personal circumstances made me reassess my personal goals,” said Prakashni.

Yooralla’s volunteer respite carers provide fulltime, part-time or shared care for children and young people with disability, through family based respite placements at no cost to the family.

Her first respite placement was a rewarding one. Prakashni and her family met Uli in 2005. They would go on to provide him planned respite care for one weekend a month in their family home for seven years, until Uli turned 18 and new opportunities presented themselves.

Uli loved to meet new people and participate in family activities with the Reddy family. “He was a big part of our family” says Prakashni, “but of course our respite support also provided Uli’s family with a much-needed, planned break every month”.

In 2013, keen to again provide respite support to a family in need, Prakashni met Jack, a seven year old boy with cerebral palsy and


high support needs. With the support of her three children, Prakashni entered into a shared care arrangement, caring for Jack during weekends, whilst Jack would spend weekdays with his father and grandmother.

Prakashni’s volunteer respite care support means that Jack gets the opportunity to extend his network and friend circle and, at the same time, his father gets some much needed downtime.

“Jack is an exceptional young boy who instantly bonded with our family and developed a tremendous connection with my children. Jack even has one of my sons completely wrapped around his little finger!” said Prakashni.

Weekends in the Reddy home are planned around mealtime — Jack’s favourite time of day. “We love variety and eat meals in different rooms of the house, use different equipment, have sing-alongs and watch Playschool,” said Prakashni.

Also a qualified physiotherapist, Prakashni provides Jack with opportunities to facilitate his responses through movement.

Prakashni attributes her passion for volunteering as a respite carer to the opportunities that living in Australia has afforded her and her family. “Being able to support another family has been an incredibly rewarding experience” she says.

Self Advocacy Stephen Loy Stephen Loy is a 31 year-old man with cerebral palsy and a mild intellectual disability. He has been attending Yooralla’s St Albans Day Service for the last seven years, where he has a number of friends and converses easily with the Yooralla staff. However when he goes out in the community, Stephen feels uncomfortable meeting new people and is worried by the thought that they may not accept him.

So it was a big deal for Stephen to agree to step out of his comfort zone and attend a training program, titled My Rights.


My Rights is a self advocacy program developed by the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability Inc. (VALID) and delivered through Yooralla.

Yooralla is passionate about self advocacy and supports people with disability to increase individual empowerment through a range of programs, supports and networks.

Education is a powerful means for increasing empowerment and provides individuals with the tools needed to promote, protect and ensure their full and equal rights as citizens within their own community.

The My Rights program supports individuals to develop the skills and confidence they need to speak up when they’re not happy or when something doesn’t feel right. The program also supports individuals in planning for their future, in setting goals and thinking about how they can achieve their goals.

Trainers Jon Slingsby and Heather Forsyth say the My Rights program has been life changing for so many of the participants. “Teaching people to use their voice and make eye contact can really help to get a point across,” says Jon. “It gives people more confidence to open up, speak up and ask questions.”

“The program is life changing because the participants feel that they are listened to and valued,” says Heather.

Stephen was nervous about attending the course. “I always feel shy meeting new people,” he says.

Stephen worked with Heather and Jon to practice speaking up in situations that made him uncomfortable. By talking about this and putting strategies in practice, Stephen found that he wasn’t so shy and has a new found confidence.

“People used to speak for me and I didn’t like it,” he says. “Now I can talk to people on my own, I don’t need someone else to do it for me.”

In the last session of the training, Stephen worked with Jon to establish his short and long term goals. They included being able to spend more time with his fiancé so they can prepare for living together, and undertaking work experience in a sports shop to support his goal of one day having a job.


“I’ve had the best time ever working with Jon and Heather,” says Stephen. “I’ve learnt so much and I hope there are more programs where I can develop my skills like this.”

Therapy Anastasia TryhphonosAt 18, when many young people are full of hope and dreams, Anastasia was extremely unhappy and found it difficult to communicate with others. At her lowest, she was an outpatient in an adolescent mental health unit. This was largely because of speech dyspraxia, a neurological condition which affects planning and coordination of the fine motor movements for speech.

Anastasia had a form of elective mutism, developed through acute stress in her inability to speak. Anastasia had never been able to make herself understood through speech, and eventually gave up.

Anastasia started at a mainstream primary school, but the decision was made to send her to a special school because at the time she had the speech level of a two-year-old. She never considered herself as a person with disability and the decision only fuelled her distress.

Unhappy and feeling misunderstood, Anastasia didn’t know what choices were available to her. It was at this point that Yooralla came into her life.

Janet Wilson, a speech pathologist with Yooralla, received a letter from a psychiatric registrar asking if Yooralla’s therapy service could offer any groups to build Anastasia’s social skills.

“When we met, Anastasia was frustrated and unhappy. She came to Yooralla under sufferance because she didn’t think of herself as having a disability. I showed her that there were many ways of communicating other than speech and we could explore these options.

What clicked with Anastasia was the comment that choice and outcomes were her decisions, not the doctor’s, not her family’s and not mine. I could help her, but she would have to do the work,” Janet said.


Anastasia laughs at the memory of it now. “I wanted more for my life!” she said, measuring her words carefully. “I didn’t care about anything else.”

The challenge for Anastasia was to accept that while there were things that she could do, she needed to build her confidence in order to do them.

Through Janet’s unwavering support, Anastasia began to speak and to use language to stake her claim in society. It wasn’t easy for Anastasia, but the need to realise her dreams was a powerful driver.

Every obstacle that Anastasia confronted she overcame. They took their toll but through the tears and the set-backs, she emerged stronger and more determined.

Today, the 29 year-old lives with her family in Northcote and has an impressive list of courses from Yooralla College under her belt, covering technology, literacy, business, food handling and office skills.

Anastasia now works at the Catholic Education Office. She also gained her learner’s permit but isn’t sure that she wants to get her probationary license. “I don’t think I want to drive,” Anastasia says, “but knowing I can makes me feel good.”

“I feel positive about the future,” Anastasia says. “People were happy for me to be myself. People encouraged me to be better.”

A focus on volunteers Beryl NeweyBeryl is a woman who has always cared for others. Formally an aged-care nurse, beryl started volunteering at Yooralla’s Carlton Opportunity Shop following her retirement.

“I needed to do something for the community,” she says.

Volunteering on Saturday mornings, Beryl asked why the store was closed every Wednesday. After being told there were no available volunteers to open the shop, she responded, “Well, I’m here now.”

Five years later, Beryl volunteers at the store five days a week and is an integral part of the Carlton community.


Yooralla’s volunteers play a significant role across all services and contribute in a great variety of ways.

“I feel like I’ve made it a community-base. I’ve always been a people person. It goes both ways, I get a lot of support from our regular customers. If you care, people care back— that’s it in a nutshell.”

It does indeed go both ways, with customers describing Beryl as ‘indispensable’ and ‘a Carlton treasure.’

A steady stream of people come into the shop during the day, greeting Beryl and her dog Scarlett as they sift through the racks or drop off donations. But the store serves a greater purpose. “Some people come in just to have a talk,” says Beryl. “Everyone needs someone to talk to.”

Beryl is one of a group of loyal Yooralla volunteers who work together to ensure the store runs effectively. They come from a variety of backgrounds and reflect the diversity of the community — giving as much time as they can. “We currently have a high school student helping us, as well as a woman who works full-time but volunteers on Saturdays,” says Beryl.

Beryl’s favourite part of her job is helping people. “I find it very rewarding. A store like this is not just for Yooralla to raise funds, but to help people doing it tough. It’s such a pleasure to see people able to get things they couldn’t otherwise afford,” she says.

“I don’t do it for a reward. I do it because I can, and I want to spend my time helping others.”



Yooralla is always seeking new volunteers!Volunteering is a great personal and social commitment and a great way to participate in various activities that increase the independence of people with disability.

Anyone aged over 16 can volunteer with Yooralla, it doesn’t matter how much or little time you have to give. No special skills or qualifications are necessary. All volunteers are required to undergo a criminal history check (Police Check) and may be required to hold a current Working with Children Check card.

We look for a range of qualities and attributes in volunteers.

These include being:

• reliable• patient• positive and with a friendly attitude• honest and ethical• respectful of customers and staff confidentiality• able to respect diversity.

A focus on fundraisingOliver de baizeOliver de baize, affectionately known as Ollie, is a 36 year-old man with a love for comedy and sport. He particularly enjoys bowling and balloon football, and he was recently selected to attend the ‘brownlow’ of the balloon football clubs. Ollie also has cerebral palsy and quadriplegia, and relies on his wheelchair to get himself around.

Ollie, who has been supported by Yooralla since he was young, attends Yooralla’s Day Service at Noble Park, and it was there that his mum Monique, and Yooralla staff, started to notice that Ollie’s wheelchair just wasn’t providing him with the comfortable support he needed.

“Overt ime the shape of Ollie’s back had changed” says Monique. “His old wheelchair was just no longer suitable. Not only was it uncomfortable for Ollie, but it was difficult for me and his other carers to push.”

Yooralla contacted local community sponsor Bendigo Bank, who was pleased to take on the challenge of raising funds to purchase Ollie a new wheelchair.

CEO of Bendigo Bank’s Community Enterprise Foundation, Callum Wright, said that when the Bank’s staff found out that Ollie’s family needed less than $4000 to purchase the new wheelchair he desperately needed, everyone pitched in to help.

“It started with a call from Yooralla to the Bank’s head office and pretty soon we had donations coming in from staff in our Melbourne, Adelaide and Queensland offices,” Callum said.

A whip around resulted in staff donations of $3159 which made up the short fall required to meet the $12 960 cost of Ollie’s wheelchair.

“We were pleased to be involved in making life a little more comfortable for Ollie and his family.”


The remaining money was secured by Yooralla through the State-wide Equipment Program (SWEP) and Oliver’s Individual Support Package.

Ollie’s mum Monique says the new chair has made a huge difference to Ollie and those who support him, providing comfort and ease of mobility.

“The new chair is much lighter, so it is easier for us (his parents) and his carers to manoeuvre. The back and seat have removable covers which make it much easier to clean and the chair is not as wide as his old one which makes it easier to get in and out of places such as the car,” she said.

“He also loves that his new chair glows in the dark and that the new chair mould has made it much easier to sit for long periods of time.”

Yooralla’s Fundraising team work hard to ensure that every donation is used to actively support people with disability, their families and carers, in all their diversity, to live the life they choose.

Yooralla’s Fundraising team says that despite the NDIS, there is still a strong need for fundraising in the disability sector.

“The NDIS won’t cover everything — it won’t cover us being able to run additional development programs, support groups and social occasions for people with disability.

We need people to continue giving generously so that these valuable opportunities can be offered to our customers in years to come.”


Yooralla people updateReflecting on the past year at Yooralla, it has been a journey of change, challenge and celebration for Yooralla staff.

We started the year celebrating the reality of the NDIS, following years of hard work and support for the Every Australian Counts campaign. No sooner had the party finished, then the hard work commenced in preparing Yooralla for a different future.

Early preparation for the NDIS has meant that an assessment of our service efficiencies was critical in ‘preparing our house’ for migration to a competitive disability services market. Several of our services have undergone a restructure to ensure they will remain viable in the NDIS world, and we are realigning investment and business structures to grow our services in areas that customers will demand in the NDIS future.

During the process of restructure, many staff have faced times of uncertainty. Throughout this time they have displayed patience and resilience and continued to show genuine commitment to their customers. For this we are thankful and believe it is a testament to the quality of Yooralla staff.

Change has also provided opportunities for improvements to the supports we provide staff and ultimately to the benefits we offer to the customers.

Yooralla is a safer place to work than it was just 12 months ago, with the establishment of a Safety Leadership Team and improved mechanisms for the reporting and follow up of each incident. An injury management and early intervention model is also providing positive results for staff and customers.

We have introduced the centralised capture and monitoring of all customer complaints and feedback, and appointed an in-house investigator to facilitate more timely and cost effective resolution and follow-up of the more serious matters that come to our attention.


We have built a new staff intranet portal and created forums for discussion and knowledge sharing amongst the Yooralla community. A new weekly e-Newsletter and CEO update is seeking to increase communication across all services and keep the Yooralla community informed of news and information.

We have refreshed the induction program, will shortly be launching a ‘new manager induction program’ and have commenced development of a ‘practice leadership development program’ to increase staff development at every level. Late this year we also delivered a new eLearning system, providing staff a greater variety and more engaging material for self-directed learning.

The great opportunity going forward is for Yooralla to build a workforce that is engaged and inspired to deliver customer focused services to people with disability. One of the five pillars of Yooralla’s Smart Choices strategy is ‘Talent’ and the delivery of our new Workforce Planning and Development Strategy underpins this.

Our strategy will deliver a heightened focus on the improvement of systems that enable staff to be more productive, such as online rostering, mobile connectivity and personnel systems that ensure every individual has unhindered access to information and learning.

We will continue to develop clear career pathways, improve our succession planning and re-develop our staff recognition program, to capture more regularly the exceptional efforts of staff who provide outstanding service to customers.

We will strengthen supports to casual staff members by improving mentoring and development opportunities, and by providing them more regular communication from the Yooralla community.

With much still to be done to remain a key service provider in the disability sector, the year ahead will no doubt provide continued change and challenges, but the opportunities are in our favour. With a shared vision of creating a world where people with disability are equal citizens, Yooralla will continue to be a preferred workplace, as we continue to support Yooralla staff to live our values and uphold the quality and safeguards of our customers.


Staff profileDavid RelfDavid Relf is an outstanding person, a natural born leader and the Service Manager for Yooralla’s Millawa Avenue service and Alfrieda St service in St Albans.

David’s efforts, commitment and enthusiasm towards his role have been recognised by residents, families, Yooralla management and the local community. He has become well-respected for his compassion and dedication to improving the quality of life and participation for residents at Millawa.

David has directly improved quality of care, increased community inclusion, championed customer rights, encouraged a positive culture, and improved family relationships.

“I am proud to work with Yooralla” says David, “because I agree with the values and the organisational drive for continual improvement.”

David has a particular interest in supporting people who display complex behaviours of concern and enjoys the process of trialling a range of strategies to improve their level of active participation, community involvement and ultimately, their quality of life.

“It’s really inspiring and rewarding watching the people we support learn new skills and interact positively in new environments and with new people.”

As such, David was awarded Highly Commended at the Victorian Disability Sector Awards 2014 in the category of ‘Personal and Community Support’.


Staff profileRosina SavinoRosina is a Senior Disability Support Worker for the Yooralla Day Service in St Albans. Her motto is to ‘look beyond the challenge to what is possible’.

This year, Rosina successfully secured a Promoting Dignity Grant from the Department of Human Services, enabling her to commence a project that will improve the wellbeing of people at Yooralla’s St Albans service.

Her project focused on mindfulness and reflective practices will assist in promoting the rights and dignity of people with disability that Rosina and her peers work with at the St Albans service.

Through Rosina’s efforts, staff will be able to teach customers strategies that support mindfully choosing alternative behaviours when feeling distressed. These alternative behaviours will lead to an increase of independence and uphold the dignity of customers.

Rosina says that the goal of the project will be for staff to feel confident in supporting customers with mindfulness techniques and strategies, with the aim of reducing behaviours of concern and uses of mechanical restraint.

“This will help customers to gain a new set of skills that can be used both at day services and in their personal lives,” says Rosina.

“It is my hope that the project will enable other services to have shared learnings of how employees can support customers both in residential and day service settings.”


Our board

Peter Langkamp, ChairPeter is the former Chief Executive Officer of Callista Software Services. He previously held senior roles in Irongroup, Novare Asia Pacific and Australian Strategic Information Services. His passion to understand the disability sector and contribute to better outcomes was initially driven by his son who has disability. After joining the Yooralla Board, Peter saw an opportunity to use his skills in technology management and marketing for the benefit of the organisation. Peter holds a PhD, MAgrSci, BAgrSci, Grad Dip Acc &Fin, and is a longstanding Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Peter stepped down as Chair from August 2014.

Fiona Smith, Deputy ChairFiona is the Policy & Research Adviser with Trust for Nature. Her appointment to the Yooralla Board follows many years of experience in Victoria as a public interest lawyer. Fiona is recognised as a creator in social justice practice and regulatory innovation across the human rights, consumer and community sectors. In 2008 she completed a four-year term as Chairperson for the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Fiona is also a trustee of Reichstein Foundation.

Barbara Alexander, AOBarbara is a long-standing supporter of disability rights, both personally and as Mayor of Benalla. She helped found the Benalla Support Group for Children with Special Needs and held roles on school council, Ballandella (Central Access) and was President of Benalla and District Hospital for five years. Barbara was President of the Victorian peak body representing families and children, the Association of Children with Disabilities for five years and has also held roles on state and national advisory committees on disability. Barbara currently sits on the Australia Day Advisory Committee. She has a Diploma of Business Studies.


Claire Keating, Chair, Finance, Audit, Infrastructure & Risk CommitteeClaire is a Chartered Accountant and Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) with over 20 years experience specialising in financial services and a broad range of internal and external audit roles. She is a former member elected Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers Superannuation Fund and has held a number of management roles within PWC, including Human Capital Partner and Assurance Services (Risk & Quality) Partner for the Melbourne Financial Services Assurance Practice.

Wayne Ramsey, AM CSC, Chair, Service Delivery & Quality CommitteeWayne has had more than 25 years experience in medical management and has recently retired as Executive Director, Medical Services & Quality with Southern Health, Victoria’s largest and most complex health service. Wayne’s interests lie in the field of clinical and research governance. He holds an MB, BS, B Med Sc, MHA, Grad Cert Higher Ed & FRACMA. His previous senior appointments include Director General Defence Health Service, Director Clinical Governance ACT Health, and Adjunct Associate Professor of ANU Medical School.

Sanjib Roy, Chief Executive OfficerSanjib previously held positions with Victoria Police, the Departments of Treasury and Finance, Manufacturing & Industry Development, Transport, Human Services, The Port of Melbourne Authority and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service. He is Vice President of National Disability Services, and is a strong advocate for closer relations between disability service organisations, nationally. Sanjib holds a B.Sc.Hons, M.Econ, BA, and Dip. Corp. Directorship and is a long-standing fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.


Ian Silk, Chair, Governance & People CommitteeIan is the Chief Executive of AustralianSuper, the largest superannuation fund in Australia with around two million members and more than $45 billion in members’ assets. Ian is a member of the Australian Government’s Financial Sector Advisory Council, and the Government’s Financial Literacy Advisory Board.

Robert WalkerRobert is a Partner in the Melbourne office of Baker & McKenzie where he advises on information technology contracts, telecommunications, intellectual property and e-commerce-related agreements for both customers and suppliers. With over 20 years’ experience, including Partner roles at Andersen Legal and Senior Legal Counsel at IBM Australia, Robert is recognised as a premier IT lawyer.

Phillip SlaterPhillip has more than 25 years management experience in manufacturing, consulting and business development. Phillip holds qualifications in engineering from the University of NSW, management from Monash University, and financial management from the Australian Institute of Management. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2011 Phillip and his wife Mercedes, established the Initiate Action Community Fund to support educational initiatives and causes that work to break the cycles of disadvantage in the community.

Phillip retired from the Yooralla Board in February 2014.



The Yooralla Personality.By providing uncompromising quality and a range of smart service choices, Yooralla is a passionate supporter of customer wellbeing, dignity and human rights.Through SMART Choices Yooralla will be:

Accessible. Inclusive. Passionate. Brave. Inspiring.

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