Foundation House
The home of The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture
6 Gardiner Street
Brunswick, 3056
Ph: (03) 9388 0022
Fax:(03) 9387 0828
Email: info@foundationhouse.org.au
www.foundationhouse.org.au
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Message from the Chair, Lynne Haultain
Twenty-three years ago, Foundation House “started with one house and a pile of dreams”, to quote Director Paris Aristotle.
In 2010, not only have those dreams become a reality, the reality has far exceeded those dreams.
From one, to 10, to 24 and to now more than 100 staff, it seems we have not lost our momentum for a second!
Our recent achievements include the delivery of direct services to 4105 clients from more than 50 countries in 2008-09; an ever-expanding complementary therapies program; new and improved capacity building activities for services in rural areas; a comprehensive training and professional development program and a pioneering service innovation program, which continues to strengthen the ties between refugees students, families and the wider community.
A new year brings with it a fresh opportunity for collaboration and teamwork with government at all levels as well as NGOs and other colleagues in the hope that we can continue delivering the highest standard of programs and services to individuals, families and communities from refugee background.
In this edition of HouseNotes you will read about the formation of a new Humanitarian Settlement Services program (HSS), which the Government hopes will provide a more “flexible” and “client-centred approach” for Australian settlement services.
There is also a summary of events from the recent Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma’s (FASSTT) fourth national conference, which Foundation House hosted. With 221 participants from Foundation House and FASSTT agencies around Australia, the conference was a great success and presented an excellent opportunity for workers from across the agencies to share work practices, ideas and information.
We are a busy bunch here at Foundation House and are fortunate enough to be supported in our work by a number of individuals, organisations and government bodies, whose assistance makes a monumental difference to refugee families and their communities every day.
Happy reading.
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Diary Dates
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Foundation House's Course for Counsellors has recently been endorsed by the Australian Psychological Society (APS). The course will attract 14 Specialist Professional Development points for members of the following APS College: Clinical & Counselling. Members of other APS Colleges and non-College members may claim the equivalent generalist points. The next course will run on May 6th ..
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In this Edition
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The Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT) has urged the Australian Government to reverse its decision to suspend the processing of new applications from asylum seekers originating from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
FASSTT is a network of Australia’s eight specialist rehabilitation agencies (including Foundation House) that work with survivors ..
Foundation House was presented with the Victoria Police Multicultural Community Exemplary Award at Victoria's Multicultural Awards for Excellence at Government House in November 2009.
Presented to Health Sector Training and Professional Development Worker, Arna Stewart, by Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Simon Overland, the award was in recognition of the training Foundation..
A cooking program involving Afghan women teaching teenage Afghan boys traditional recipes provided an opportunity for the young men to share and connect with women in their own community.
The cooking program, which took place over three days during the January school holidays, is just one aspect of a broader group program working with recently arrived young people from Afghanistan...
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has announced that it will be seeking tenders to provide initial settlement services to humanitarian clients through the new Humanitarian Settlement Services program (HSS) formerly known as the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Services program (IHSS).
The HSS, which will be delivered in 24 contract regions across Australia, wil..
A report on specialist health services for refugees, which was commissioned by the Department of Human Services and undertaken by the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture, is available for download online.
The report, which documents existing care pathways for refugees requiring specialist health services in Victoria in order to determine the most effective models of care,..
Foundation House hosted the Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma’s (FASSTT) fourth national conference in February this year.
Entitled ‘From Surviving to Thriving: FASSTT Agencies Supporting Individuals, Families and Communities’, the FASSTT National Conference 2010 was held at the Silverwater Resort in San Remo and attracted 221 partic..
The library of the Australian Parliament has issued a Background Note to clarify the social security entitlements of refugees as compared with those of other Australian residents.
Entitled ‘Australian Government assistance to refugees: fact v fiction’, the note follows the circulation of a series of emails in recent years claiming that refugees in Australia receive high..
Foundation House has been included as a case study in a recent publication on ‘good philanthropy’ published by The Myer Foundation.
‘Time Will Tell: Showcasing Stories of Good Philanthropy’ is a collection of 11 case studies of projects and organisations supported by five philanthropic organisations: the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, Reichstein Foundation, M..
Foundation House has developed a new resource to assist schools in providing assistance and support to their students from refugee background and their families.
The ‘Talk’s In’ resource booklet outlines a myriad of strategies in which schools can welcome families of refugee background into the school community.
This includes a set of four workshops for fami..
Three young students hailing from West Papua, Iraq and Liberia, are the latest recipients of the Quentin Buckle Study Grant, with one student being awarded a special one-off grant honouring the memory of Cesar Benalcazar, a doctor who escaped persecution in his native Colombia and who later joined the Foundation’s Committee of Management.
Sam Hartly Roem, James Dawood and Ali..
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