Annual Report - RTSSV · Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 3 Contents — 04 Chairman’s Report 05 Chief Executive’s Report 06 Counselling and Support

Annual Report2016 — 2017

3Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017

Contents— 04 Chairman’s Report

05 Chief Executive’s Report

06 Counselling and Support Services

08 Art therapy

10 Fiona Reidy

11 Maria Smart says farewell

12 Education Services

14 Kelly Fletcher

15 Malcolm Pollitt

17 Volunteer Services

18 Cris Feely

19 Emilia White

20 Kellie Bishop

21 Volunteers

23 Shine a Light on Road Safety

26 Time for Remembering

28 Road safety wishes

29 Subcommittees

30 Treasurer’s Report

31 Auditor’s Report

32 Financial Report

34 Supporters

Our vision To reduce the incidence and impact of road trauma.

Our purpose

Road Trauma Support Services Victoria (RTSSV) is a not-for-profit organisation contributing to the safety and wellbeing of Victorian road users. We provide counselling and support to people affected by road trauma, and address attitudes and behaviours of road users through education.

Our values Caring — We are committed to serving our clients with empathy and compassion. Integrity — We display integrity, respect and dignity in all our dealings with clients, stakeholders and members of our workforce. Quality — Our focus is on the people we serve, and we strive for excellence in service delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement. Accountability — We are accountable for our actions in working to deliver our services and our mission.

Our history

RTSSV was founded in 1994 by a small group of people whose lives had been directly impacted by road trauma. These people understood the need for a specialist service where support could be offered to those who, like them, were suffering because of the injury or loss of a loved one on the roads. They joined with professionals working in the area to provide counselling and support. From this humble beginning 22 years ago, RTSSV has grown to offer state-wide counselling, support and education services to any Victorian affected by a road incident. RTSSV now comprises a team of staff and volunteers who provide support and education services to more than 3,000 people annually.

Chairman’s Report

Chief Executive’s

Report

As another year comes to a close, we take time to look back on the events that helped shape our organisation and direct our work.

The work we do is challenging and, despite our best efforts, perpetual. People continue to be killed, injured and traumatised by the use of transport – an action so common and taken for granted.

Despite improving infrastructure and modern vehicle technologies, the demand for our services has never been greater and our capacity to respond continues to be challenged. Yet there seems to be a lack of outrage at an epidemic that compounds itself. Is it that we as a community have benignly accepted traumatisation as an inherent risk of moving ourselves from one place to another?

Sometimes it takes an extraordinary event to wake us from our complacency. The tragic event that occurred in Bourke Street on 20 January 2017 propelled the intimacy of tragedy and nature of human vulnerability into a very public domain. It united and fortified us as a community and reinforced the importance of our purpose.

In the past year our volunteers selflessly supported all functions of RTSSV, in particular, influencing drivers’ attitudes so that the roads might be safer for all. Our counsellors supported more than 2,000 Victorians through counselling, peer support and art therapy so that some sense may be made of their unspeakable hurt. Our educators guided thousands of Victorians in a growing suite of programs designed to engage youth, assist errant drivers and support people who practise unsafe and recidivist driving behaviours in a process of positive change.

In November, our Time for Remembering ceremony created an atmosphere of friendship and compassion as the community gathered in remembrance of loved ones lost and people injured on the state’s roads. The strong architecture of Queen’s Hall, Parliament House, formed a safe enclosure for the expression of feeling and process of quiet reflection – and at the same time seemed to be humbled by this. Time for Remembering is a sentinel event in the calendar, providing people an opportunity to gather as one community, often many years after the support following a crash has dissipated.

This year, our annual Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign welcomed new supporters and sponsors. Our Melbourne community walk moved to Albert Park Lake and, despite cold blustery weather, attracted strong attendance, providing us another opportunity to welcome the community to an event in which friendship and advocacy are pivotal. The Horsham community created a similar event that enabled regional Victorians to learn about and promote road safety – critically important given the elevated risk of country driving.

Simply put, our work is transformational: from risk to safety, from despair to calm and from isolation to connectedness, we are finding new and better ways to support people impacted by, and at risk of, road trauma.

In this we thank our supporters and partners. The friendship and support of Victoria Police, the Magistrates’ Courts of Victoria and VicRoads are enduring, and appreciated by all who work for RTSSV and the people who use our services. The ongoing support of the TAC is exemplary. The TAC increased our funding

for counselling in 2016 by 10 per cent. Its promotion of our services in all media forms, through our events and in many incidental ways, shows that our work is valued and necessary. Such support tells us that RTSSV fills a critical gap in the road safety industry.

With our chairman, I want to acknowledge and thank our people – the staff and volunteers – for providing your skills, expertise and dedication. To our clients, both within the counselling and education areas, we thank you for entrusting us with your vulnerabilities and painful experiences, and allowing us to be part of the journey.

Finally, I pose a challenge: when you feel – as we all do – the frustration of another delay caused by road works, lament the cost of a speeding fine or feel the rush of anxiety when approaching a mobile booze bus, do you recognise that you can choose your response? Are these to be seen as obstacles put in your way by revenue-raising bureaucrats, or are they placed in your path to mitigate risk and enable people’s safe passage to their destinations? The choice is yours – and mine – to make.

Be safe this year and every year. I look forward to your ongoing support.

Cameron Sinclair CEO

On behalf of the Board I would like to acknowledge and commend our staff, volunteers and supporters who since 1994 have worked with us to reduce the incidence and impact of road trauma. To our partners –whether they be employed by us, engaged with us through voluntary work, supportive of us through sponsorships and funding, or by participation in one of the many RTSSV offerings – I thank you.

In particular, I would like to thank the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) for its ongoing encouragement and support. In July 2016, the TAC responded to increasing demands on our counselling services, and acknowledged our expertise, by boosting its grant to this organisation by 10 per cent. To the Magistrates’ Courts of Victoria, Victoria Police and VicRoads, I express our great gratitude. Your partnerships and friendships are invaluable, and help to make a difference to the people either affected by, or at risk of causing, road trauma.

RTSSV continues to extend its reach in the community. We engage more people through our counselling and education services than ever before. Our community road safety forums, education programs, counselling and support services, Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign, and Time for Remembering annual ceremony are making us more accessible than ever before to the people who need us.

We continue to be buoyed by our corporate partners, who place such confidence and trust in our work. Thank you to EastLink, Maurice Blackburn, Stillwell Motor Group, Shine Lawyers, Slater and Gordon, Transurban, Grainger Legal and Narva.

Our achievements this year have included:

• 2,468 contacts were made to people affected by road trauma

• Conducting the 16th Time for Remembering ceremony at Queen’s Hall, Parliament House

• Increasing referral rates for counselling

• 1,175 people attending Road Trauma Awareness Seminars (RTAS)

• Extending RTAS into more regional communities

• Diversification of education programs, including the Accelerated Insight Program and Drive to Learn program

• Strengthening partnerships with Victoria Police through the delivery of Workplace Wellbeing Sessions

• Delivery of community road safety forums in metropolitan and regional communities

• National delivery of the Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign.

This year the Development and Communications Subcommittee was temporarily disbanded due to the resignation of the committee’s chairwoman.

The Board and entire team have approached challenges with vigour and, as a result, have achieved growth across the organisation. We are in a period of sustained optimism, which is reflected in financial performance. This year RTSSV generated a $20,451 surplus attributable to strong management control, program diversification, and effective community and corporate engagement strategies. Our balance sheet has strengthened and we have maintained a stable cash flow.

Once again we thank our partners: the TAC, Victorian Government, Victoria Police and Magistrates’ Court of Victoria for their ongoing belief in the efficacy of our work. We are indeed fortunate to have the support of many individuals, road safety agencies and corporations.

In closing, and on behalf of the Board, I thank our people: the volunteers who support all functions of the organisation, and our staff. Our work is challenging but vitally important for the wellbeing of all Victorian road users.

Justin Flynn Chairman

4 Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 5Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017

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Counselling and Support ServicesRTSSV’s Counselling and Support Services were over-extended this year, making 2,468 contacts with people impacted by road trauma - an increase of 53 per cent on the previous year.

Our mission is as important today as it was when the organisation began 22 years ago as a community support organisation. Our goals are to ensure that our services are responsive to people’s needs; that we work with people to prevent long-term complicated responses to trauma and grief; and that we continue to raise community awareness about road safety.

The counselling team has continued to offer an exemplary service in connecting with people when they are at their most vulnerable, lost or desperate.

Counsellors are here to support people who are struggling to manage their responses to situations that are often horrific and life-changing. We aim to provide a safe, caring and non-judgemental space where clients feel they can trust us enough to show their vulnerability and share their stories. We hold their trust of us with enormous respect.

Staffing

Staffing in the counselling team has been stable this year. Connie Ogan has settled in and the team continues to be cohesive and supportive of each other. The counselling team and wider staff group recognise the importance of mutual support, respect and a shared vision for the future.

Maria Smart submitted her resignation in January 2017, effective from 30 June, after deciding to retire from the workforce. Maria began working with RTSSV in January 2007, first leaving in 2009 to take up a full-time position elsewhere, and rejoining in 2012. She is a skilled and highly valued counsellor and has been a wonderful colleague, always supporting her team members and sharing her sense of humour. The team will miss Maria very much, both personally and professionally. We wish her well in her retirement.

Counselling services

The counselling team comprises four part-time counsellors and a full-time manager. The manager and three counsellors work from the Blackburn head office. Counselling that was offered in Niddrie has ceased due to the

loss of premises. We continue to offer counselling one day a week in Geelong with sessions conducted at Kitchener House, courtesy of Hope Bereavement. We acknowledge the kind generosity of this organisation for allowing us to use its rooms free of charge.

Our figures indicate that 63.7 per cent of all counselling was conducted on the telephone and 22.9 per cent face to face at either Blackburn or Geelong. We have also continued to offer the Art Therapy Group at Surrey Hills once a month. This group supports people impacted by road trauma.

Bourke Street incident

On 20 January 2017, Melburnians and Australians generally, had their sense of safety and security challenged after a man deliberately drove a car into pedestrians in the Bourke Street Mall. Six people died from the injuries they sustained and many more were seriously injured. This incident shocked the nation and left hundreds of people traumatised.

The incident was quickly declared a state emergency. Over several weeks RTSSV worked closely with the TAC and the Victim Support Agency to ensure that anyone who was impacted had access to appropriate and timely support. All Victoria Police referrals were managed centrally through Victim Support, and many people self-referred to this organisation for months afterwards.

This tragic incident was the first of its kind in Australia. From the start, key organisations such as Victoria Police, the TAC, Victim Support and WorkCover worked together to ensure that people were being taken care of both physically and psychologically. RTSSV became part of this unified process by providing information and support to these organisations plus direct support to many people impacted.

Networking and professional engagements

We have continued to take part in a range of associations and reference groups, including the Loss and Grief Practitioners’ Association, attending a trauma and grief workshop; Victoria Police eReferral reference group; professional development and group supervision with Dr Rob Gordon, clinical psychologist specialising in trauma; individual

supervision with the counselling manager; Training in Complex Trauma session (Delphi Centre); a grief webinar with the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement; and a first aid and CPR course.

In partnership with our education program, counselling services also conducted the following education and training sessions: training at the Road Policing Investigators’ Course, Workplace Wellbeing sessions and e-referral training all for Victoria Police; and sessions for the Preston office of the Victim Advice Program ( VAP), the TAC, and restorative justice for serious driving offences.

We acknowledge and sincerely thank all the volunteers who continue to give up their time for this organisation. Our personal speakers are the key element to all the education sessions we conduct in relation to the impact of road trauma.

Counselling evaluations

It is important to seek regular feedback from our clients to ensure that we continue to offer a valuable, accessible and effective service. Two counselling evaluations were conducted over the past 12 months.

The evaluations sent in July 2016 indicated that more than 91 per cent of people surveyed thought our counselling services had directly addressed the impact of road trauma on their lives. About 95 per cent of respondents also indicated that they experienced an improvement because of the counselling received.

In June 2017 another round of evaluations was posted to past and current clients who had not received an evaluation in the previous two years. Of these 89 per cent indicated that our counselling had directly addressed the impact of road trauma, and more than 94 per cent said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the counsellor’s ability to develop a respectful and supportive relationship with them.

Although the response rate was about 23 per cent, we were pleased to know that these clients overwhelmingly valued the services received and believed our counselling had addressed their personal situations.

Revised intake assessment forms have been developed by the Research and Evaluation Subcommittee and will be implemented on 1 July 2017. The committee is now reviewing our evaluation process, and we hope to have a new system in place for 2017-2018 that will ensure a more systematic approach in regularly capturing people’s feedback.

Strategic planning

The counselling team took part in the organisation’s strategic planning day in October 2016. We understand the value of developing a plan that provides RTSSV with the optimal structure for fulfilling its mission. We were delighted to see so many of our volunteers and people from the education team attending, plus some of our clients. Input into planning by these important members of our community helps the organisation to remain relevant, accountable and effective. The strategic planning process is a valuable way for us to recognise our unique strengths and the challenge of our limitations; and for us to determine where we would like the organisation to head.

The staff and program reports provided to the CEO and Board now address each area of the strategic plan on a regular basis, helping to ensure that the organisation’s direction is kept in focus and the plan is a usable document.

A final word

RTSSV’s Counselling and Support Services aim to provide a safe and healing space for people impacted by road trauma. This space looks different for everyone. We do not underestimate the importance of showing empathy and compassion, and we listen attentively so that people feel heard.

The counselling team would like to thank the volunteers, staff, CEO and members of the Board for their support, and we acknowledge the united effort of all our people in working to reduce the incidence and impact of road trauma. As we look forward we hope to further develop counselling services and be continually responsive to the individual needs of all clients.

Bernadette Nugent Manager, Counselling and Support Services

“Thank you for your wonderful service to make a horror situation a little bit more bearable.

2,468contacts

2,231referrals

661clients received counselling

3.7average number of sessions

Anonymous – evaluations July 2016

76 Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017

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Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017


A safe place for healing after traumaArt therapy

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The RTSSV counselling and support team offers clients the opportunity to participate in art therapy sessions as part of the recovery process after road trauma. The counsellors have recognised the use of art as a healing medium since the Art Therapy Group was established in 2012, and it has continued to meet since then at the Surrey Hills Community Centre, Melbourne.

Many of the creative works from this group can be seen at the organisation’s Blackburn office, helping to soothe and inspire clients and other visitors, and affirming the place of creativity in healing after traumatic experiences.

Barbara Joyce, an art therapist, facilitates the monthly creative sessions in partnership with the counsellors. They are designed so participants may discover the feeling of gathering in a safe place; so they may relax and explore creative processes. Materials and instructions are provided, and members are encouraged to find what they need to find and develop their self-expression.

In 2016 the Art Therapy Group explored a floral garden theme using felting processes in the creation of a mural to be exhibited at the Time for Remembering ceremony last

November. Towards the end of the art making, the group created the mural’s title of The Heartfelt Garden - where love and loss abide.

Members decided that the vision for the floral display symbolised dedication, love, devotion and honour. They explored the techniques of wet felting and needle felting in creating the group mural plus made more than 180 flower brooches as gifts for people attending the Time for Remembering ceremony. The work of pulling apart the soft fibres and bringing them together again in the felting process may be seen to mirror a person’s internal healing process after trauma.

Art therapy participants are at different stages of recovery, which means they can observe the range of feelings and experiences associated with traumatic loss, and the possibilities for recovery and self-renewal. Sometimes the energy of post traumatic growth will lead participants to create projects beyond the group, showing how the benefits of art therapy may be ongoing.


We learnt to wear masksFiona ReidyCounselling client

The last time that I talked with my beautiful 16-year-old son Rory McCaffrey was in the evening on 28 December 2011. It was a casual conversation and, amongst other things that I now find hard to remember, I pressed him to get to bed and have an early night’s sleep. Earlier in the month he had completed his year 11 studies and then picked up his first job as a lifeguard at a local water park on the Bellarine Peninsula. It was soon to be his 17th birthday on New Years’ Eve. His long summer holidays were stretching out in front of him. I was working between Christmas and New Year and relishing the idea of having most of January off with Rory and the rest of the family.

I subsequently learnt that Rory didn’t have an early night that night. He went to his room and played some games on his laptop and somewhere after 1am received a text from friends who asked him to come for a drive to get some take away food. They were around Rory’s age and unlicensed. In the still of an early summer’s night they drove around the Bellarine Peninsula until the driver lost control of the car on a section of gravel road whilst driving at over 200 km an hour. The car hurtled through a fence, into a paddock and crashed into the only tree within view. Rory was killed instantly and my life, and the lives of my family friends and his friends, were irrevocably changed forever.

Around 5.30 on the morning of 29 December, my husband and I were woken by loud knocking on the front door of our home. It was the local Police who had been given the unenviable task of coming to inform us about Rory’s death. When my husband came to tell me what they had said I experienced a level of disorientation, desolation and disbelief unlike anything that I had ever felt. The shock of this news was so absolute that I was only taking in random words that seemed disjointed and surreal. He was still at the accident site – did we want to go there, or maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea? He would be taken to the Coroner’s facility in Melbourne and we would need to go and identify him the following day – did we have someone who could drive us there? The major collision unit officers would be coming to the accident scene and would then call by our house later in the day – did we want a cup of tea? It was literally gut wrenching.

The hours and days after Rory’s death were unbearable and I don’t know how any of us got through them. We made the phone calls that no parent should ever have to make to explain why we wouldn’t be at work and why Rory wouldn’t be at work; to seek solace from friends and family who were struggling with the unbearable news themselves. We planned a funeral instead of a birthday party and learnt

to wear masks that said, “we’re OK” when we really weren’t. We woke every morning in utter disbelief that this had happened and that we had no power to claw the clock back and intervene – to change the outcome. Isn’t that what parents are supposed to do?

I will always remain grateful to my manager, and friend, who connected us to the RTSSV. At first, we had phone counselling with Christine Rawson and then we would catch up – sometimes at home, sometimes out somewhere but always where we felt able to manage. Christine saw us individually and worked with us together and her calm, supportive manner helped us in ways that are hard to describe. Through her connections with others who had experienced road trauma, we came to feel connected and less isolated in our deep and unabating grief. Even though our contact lessened over time, Christine and all the RTSSV counsellors were always available. They gave me a significant amount of support when I wrote a book on my experience of road trauma. They connected me with other women who had lost children which made me realise that, through road trauma although our stories are unique, they reflect very similar experiences of the brutal impact of road trauma and the ways in which we choose to piece our lives together again.


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Maria Smart says farewell

Counsellor

I have been fortunate to have had two stints working as a counsellor at RTSSV. I first started in early 2007 where I worked three days a week, a position that dovetailed nicely with my other role of bereavement counsellor at the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement.

During this period this organisation responded to the Kerang train crash and the Burnley tunnel incident besides managing all other road trauma referrals.

I had been drawn to the field of loss and grief for many years, leading me to undertaking post-graduate studies in the area in 2005-2006. Loss and grief touches all of us on many levels and in different areas of life.

In February 2009 Victorians experienced a series of horrific bushfires. Later that year I was asked to take on a full-time role at the grief and bereavement centre prompting me to resign from RTSSV, with much sadness. Nevertheless, I stayed connected to the organisation and my former colleagues.

“To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to

comfort always.

- Hippocrates

Then just as I was planning to wind down and look for part time employment, a counselling position was advertised here and I was fortunate to secure the role, rejoining the staff in early 2012.

This is a unique organisation in the way it responds to anyone impacted by road trauma (including incidents involving trams, trains, buses, bicycles and planes). We work with first responders, witnesses, the injured, drivers and of course with bereaved individuals and families. At times we also provide counselling to people working in the emergency services. It is the diversity of the work that brings both rewards and challenges.

To be able to offer a quiet, safe place for those traumatised and in pain is a humbling experience. Clients share their fears, vulnerabilities and so often their raw feelings. We need to be able to offer them warmth and calm understanding; to sit with whatever emotions and experiences they bring; to provide space for the tears, silences,

anger and sometimes the guilt; and the sense of being held and feeling safe for a time within their shattered lives, always free of judgement.

It has been a great honour to have been a small part in the journey of pain and loss of so many people; in assisting them to keep living and to find ways to rebuild their shattered worlds.

I have been touched by many people over the years and have gained wisdom from clients and colleagues alike. I write this as I am heading for retirement at the end of June 2017. Once again I am bidding farewell to RTSSV, however, I am sure to remain connected in some way.

Working here has been a profound and enriching experience; an inspiration and an honour.

Education Services

At RTSSV we aim to deliver programs that meet the needs of individuals, thus tailoring our programs to meet the needs of the group. We want people to have a personal connection and for the education to be meaningful.

Our programs are delivered locally involving people who know the area, the issues and the particular needs.

Our group facilitators are highly skilled and knowledgeable, and bring with them varied experiences. This has been important in making connections with participants when only a short time frame is available.

Facilitating a safe space encourages people to have discussions and share and learn from each other, plus allows us to challenge thinking and behaviours leading to risky driving behaviour.

We are noticing an increase in age and risk taking behaviours in all our programs. Our facilitators continue to adapt to the changes and to “expect the unexpected”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Managing Speed, states that “excessive and inappropriate speed is among the key risks for road traffic deaths and injuries, contributing to around one third of road traffic fatalities in high-income countries and up to one half in low- and middle-income countries. Safe speeds are among the four main elements of the ‘safe systems approach’ to road safety, along with safe roads and roadsides, safe vehicles and safe road users. In Australia speed is a factor in 30 per cent of road deaths.”

In the past financial year in our RTAS program, 32 per cent of all participants had speed related offences. In our Accelerated InSight Program the equivalent rate was 49 per cent.

We highlight the seriousness of speed as part of our education sessions, where we have an opportunity to help change beliefs, and to encourage drivers to be more willing to support speed reduction measures and other road safety interventions.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE STATE North West Metro Karen Robinson, Regional Coordinator

• Quarterly meetings with Melton’s ‘Road 2 Zero’ steering committee.

• Monthly meetings with RoadSafe Westgate Community Road Safety Council.

• Melton’s community road safety forums.

• Strathmore Secondary College school presentation.

• 774 ABC Melbourne radio interview.

• Involvement in Melbourne Magistrates’ Law Week Open Day.

South East Metro Gillian Scaduto, Regional Coordinator

This year brought the retirement of Ann Proud who has been with us since August 2011, mainly as a facilitator in Traralgon before becoming the Regional Coordinator for Southern Metro. Since then we have combined the Southern and Eastern Metro regions into one entity, coordinated by Gillian Scaduto. Gillian has been working hard to connect with key stakeholders across the combined region, and has joined the Road Safe eastern group.

Volunteers Chris Latimer and Alistair Barrett managed a stand at the Whitehorse Spring Festival, plus RTSSV was very proud to be the recipient of both the City of Whitehorse Award and the Community Organisation Award for 2016, from the Whitehorse Business Group.

Hume Brett Taylor-Parkins, Regional Coordinator

In the past 12 months, the focus has been to set up venues across the region to be more accessible to traffic offenders needing to attend RTAS. Brett has been working with local people in assessing the region’s road safety needs.

Gippsland Robyn Eaton, Regional Coordinator

In the Bairnsdale and Latrobe regions, Robyn presented to the CFA and SES on the impact of drugs. Meanwhile, her presentations to Community Corrections and Rotary groups brought new volunteers and donations to RTSSV. Another highlight was her involvement in the youth program for Orbost Secondary College year 10 students with a local driving school and the Emergency Services.

Loddon Mallee Mal Pollitt, Regional Coordinator

• Organised and ran a program for staff at Able Australia in Camberwell.

• Joined the Bendigo Safety Committee, with representatives including the Bendigo Mayor, Community Corrections, Anglicare and Bendigo Health.

• Attended Loddon Prison, Castlemaine, to discuss and implement the Accelerated InSight Program at the prison.

• Developed a Drive to Learn program specifically for young indigenous people and delivered the program at the Goolum Goolum Cooperative in Horsham.

Grampians Andrew Davidson, Regional Coordinator

Our sincere gratitude to Kelly Fletcher for putting on a Shine a Light on Road Safety community event in Horsham. Horsham Rural City Council and the Horsham East Rotary Club were instrumental in achieving the various activities, including school yellow dress day, crossing supervisors giving out Shine a Light on Road Safety stickers, and the HorshamTown Hall being lit in yellow for one week.

Ballarat continues to run the region’s Accelerated Insight Program for repeat traffic offenders, which is supported strongly by community corrections staff regionally.

Barwon South West Genevieve Saxby, Regional Coordinator

• Presented to Community Corrections case workers at Geelong, Werribee and Moorabbin on RTSSV’s offender programs, plus a safer driver session for staff.

• Delivered a program to year 11 and 12 students at the Timboon P-12 school as part of its safety day.

• Engaging stakeholders, such as giving presentations at Deakin University O-week.

• Planning with Headspace to deliver a Drive to Learn program, plus a culturally specific program for the young African community.

THE PROGRAMS Drive to Learn (DtL)

This program aims to intervene early and to look at the causes behind the behaviour that has participants attending.

A Sentencing Advisory Council report, Re-offending by children and young people in Victoria (December 2016), stated that in 2015,

fewer than one per cent of 10- to 17 year olds were sentenced for criminal offences, but once in the youth justice system the re-offending rate became high; 40 per cent of children reoffended within two years and 61 per cent of children reoffended within six years.

Arie Freiberg, chair of the council, said: “This study suggests that sentencing alone cannot address the root causes of offending by young people. The best way to protect the community is to invest in measures that prevent or interrupt the criminal pathways of children who would otherwise go on to commit a disproportionately high volume of youth crime.” He cited the need for early intervention with at-risk children.

Early intervention in the area of traffic offences is the aim of RTSSV’s Drive to Learn program, which is specifically aimed at diverting young people from further entry into the justice system, working with the Children’s Court Youth Diversion Service and Victoria Police. It is now presented regularly in Melbourne, and in Horsham a DtL program has started for young indigenous people.

Road Trauma Awareness Program (RTAS)

This program is delivered with the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria to traffic offenders as part of sentencing options. RTAS has been growing for more than 10 years and is delivered in 26 venues across Victoria each month.

Participants commonly start the program displaying disinterest, bravado and lack of remorse. However, due to the program’s focus on behaviour change rather than blame, participants typically show a noticeable shift in attitude. They are empowered to make choices toward being a safer road user.

“Thanks to the Road Trauma Awareness Seminar I have taken away that I need to be more aware of the people around me and to think about the consequences of my actions and how it could impact other lives in a major way,” said one participant, Lachlan.

Meanwhile, Stephen said: “This program has taught me never to drink and drive again but, more importantly, I will be educating my children about the importance of road safety and setting an example.”

The Road Trauma Awareness Seminar program was delivered to 1,175 participants by 18 facilitators across the state.

Accelerated Insight Program (AIP)

This is a two-session program delivered to repeat offenders in conjunction with Community Corrections. The program educates participants on the dangers and long-term consequences of careless driving and road trauma.

In a small group of up to 10 people, participants are guided by a trained facilitator to discuss previous driving offence/s and what events have brought them to the program. A dominant theme was participants feeling ‘unlucky’ that they had been caught.

• 84 per cent of participants are male, with 28 per cent aged 41 years and over.

• 43 per cent of participants have offences of unregistered, disqualified or suspended licences.

EMERGENCY SERVICES

Road Policing Investigators’ Course: We continue to present to Victoria Police, aiming to support members in their work with people impacted by road crashes, including death notifications and referring drivers to education as a way of reducing at risk driving.

Workplace Wellbeing sessions: These sessions have continued this financial year, with state highway units. They provide police with an opportunity to stop and reflect on their sense of wellbeing; look for signs and symptoms; and to hear about self-care and the support that is available.

State Emergency Services/Country Fire Association: We have presented to units in regional areas about the work of RTSSV, providing ‘After the Crash’ cards to hand out, and talking to workers about their roles and the need for self-care.

COMMUNITY GROUPS

• We continue to work in all regions, by talking to local groups about RTSSV and road safety.

• We work with young people in schools, and this year have had 469 young people attend sessions.

• We work with organisations as part of their OH&S responsibility. Lube Mobile was one such organisation, where the manager said the greatest risk within the job was “driving”.

If you are interested in booking any of our programs please look at our website.

Chris Harrison Manager, Education Services

In the past financial year, 32 per cent of RTAS participants had speed related offences.


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26venues state-wide

More than

2,000people participated in our education programs

18facilitators



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Shining a Light in the WimmeraKelly FletcherEducation Team

I am the Regional Coordinator and Facilitator for Road Trauma Support Services Victoria for the Wimmera region comprising Horsham, Ararat and St Arnaud and everything in between. I cover five local government areas – Horsham Rural City Council, Hindmarsh Shire, Yarriambiack Shire, Northern Grampians and Southern Grampians.

I have worked hard since October to raise awareness in our community of the impact of road trauma on the whole community both through my involvement in conducting Road Trauma Awareness Seminars and our recent Shine a Light on Road Safety – Wimmera Event.

A group of committed individuals worked together to conduct a Shine a Light on Road Safety event, at the Wimmera Trade Training Centre on Sunday 7 May. This project engaged sporting clubs, emergency service personnel, young people, council, businesses, community service groups, schools, sponsors and RTSSV volunteers.

The activities included:

• An opening statement by the Mayor of Horsham, Cr. Pam Clarke highlighting the impact road trauma has had on her life and on her community.

• A road safety family feud quiz with participants from the audience responding to key road safety questions.

• A panel discussion with key stakeholders (Council, Police, SES, RTSSV coordinator and volunteer) discussing their role in road safety and road safety wish for the community.

• A wall activity – where all participants at the venue wrote down their road safety wish and placed it on a Shine a Light on Road safety wall.

• Pledge to slow down – all participants took this pledge.

Throughout the week, the following activities coincided with the community event:

• Horsham Town Hall was lit up for the whole week.

• Horsham school crossing attendants were given stickers for their uniforms, and these were also provided to students in the mornings, along with key messages around pedestrian and school crossing safety.

• Morning tea at Federation University with approximately 70 students.

• Support from St Michael and St John’s Football and Netball Club.

• Strong media coverage, in which RTSSV volunteers told their stories.

A passion for road safety

Malcolm PollittEducation Team

A teaching background and an array of positions promoting road safety led me to the RTSSV education staff and role of Regional Coordinator for Loddon Mallee.

I enjoy working with young people and am passionate about road safety.

I was born into a family of three older sisters in 1950 at Powelltown. My father had a fleet of trucks carting logs into the Powelltown timber mill. In the interests of road safety he strongly objected to the newly created Forest Commission vehicles being painted green, hence the current and slightly more visible colour of yellow.

My education was at Powelltown and Ringwood primary schools, and Ringwood High School. At La Trobe University, Bundoora, I studied economics and secondary teaching, leading to appointments at Inglewood, Kyabram College, Lavers Hill and 21 years at Golden Square Secondary College. I moonlighted during that time as a lecturer/tutor at Bendigo TAFE and La Trobe, Bendigo; driving trucks and buses; breaking-in and shoeing horses; and pruning, picking and general work in a winery.

In about 2005, Chris Harrison, RTSSV’s manager of Education Services, contacted me through mutual friends and I began delivering RTAS programs in Bendigo. I resigned from teaching at the end of 2007, thinking I would work in a variety of jobs rather than one main one. In 2008 I was appointed as Road Safety Officer for RoadSafe Central Victoria in a half-time position, which continued until June 2016. In this time the group won the Frank Green Award as the best community road safety program in Victoria for the delivery of the Fit2Drive program in every year 11 class in five municipalities.

In 2008 VicRoads asked me to add RoadSafe Central Murray as an additional half-time position. This group also went on to win the Frank Green Award for a program involving a road safety poster competition for primary school students. The winning posters were displayed on mobile billboards throughout the areas. I remained with this group until June 2015.

In 2012 I was also appointed the central Victorian regional community representative on the newly created Victorian Community Road Safety Partnership Program.

During my time with the RoadSafe groups I was a Regional Coordinator for the Fit2Drive program and was involved in getting the program into year 11 classes from Corryong, in the north east, to Robinvale and Edenhope, in the west.

As part of the Fit2Drive team I spent five days a week for a month delivering a road safety program to the nine units of the Parkville Youth Justice Centre.

In December 2015, the Fit2Drive organisation restructured and I chose not to be part of the new model, which meant I had some spare time. However, on hearing this, Chris Harrison decided she needed a new Regional Coordinator for the Loddon Mallee area and I was it.

Apart from organising and delivery RTAS and Accelerated Insight programs, I have particularly enjoyed developing programs for young members of the Indigenous Cooperative in Horsham, for fleet drivers of various businesses, and recently adapting the Drive to Learn program for indigenous young people at the Gollum Goolum.

Overall it is a pleasure to work with RTSSV’s dedicated team.



Volunteer Services

Volunteering is the foundation of our organisation.

I first came to hear of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria through an advertisement on a volunteering page. I was looking to give something back to the community, and when I came for the interview and saw what an outstanding organisation this is, I felt hooked.

That was in October 2016, I am now fortunate enough to be employed full time as the new office manager at RTSSV in Blackburn.

The dedication of people here and ethos of the organisation are what I most admire. Giving support and comfort to people impacted by road trauma is the reason the organisation came into being, and is the continued focus of the counselling team.

Meanwhile, education about road trauma provides a wonderful benefit to the community. The majority of the work done by volunteers is through our education programs, in which people speak of how road trauma has affected their lives. Their stories provide something that road safety facts or figures cannot convey, which is personal experience. I feel very privileged to work with such people.

RTSSV could not continue to grow and help educate road users without the outstanding commitment of its volunteers.

Volunteers also work in fundraising, administration support, and marketing and communications.

RTSSV would not be the organisation that it is without the work of this core of people who give so freely of their time. Volunteers enable RTSSV to grow in its support and education of people.

Virginia Cummings Office Manager

“Volunteering is at the core of being a human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s helpHeather French Henry

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Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 17Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017

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I was looking for a purposeCris FeelyVolunteer

My role as a monthly volunteer speaker with the Moorabbin Road Trauma Awareness Seminar has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

I will never forget the young woman who entered a seminar with the biggest chip on her shoulder and only participating because she was ordered to by a judge. At the end of the seminar she came up to me with tears in her eyes and told me she would always remember my story. She would make positive changes for the sake of her little girl.

I am a volunteer speaker, hopefully to help others make changes in their behaviour and save lives by sharing my own personal life experiences.

My road trauma story is a sobering one. As a very small child I was witness to the terrible injuries my father and uncle received after their car crashed into a light pole. When I was

15 years old I witnessed my grandfather being hit by a car while crossing the road. In both cases they were to survive but with very serious injuries.

At the age of 32 I witnessed the immediate aftermath of my mother’s death. She had been walking across the Nepean Highway. It was Remembrance Day 1988, before the existence of RTSSV. It is, of course, indelibly imprinted on my mind. The shock of witnessing such a horrific scene and the death of the most important person in my life, and the images that go with it, have always been with me.

I was also witness to the negative effects such incidents have on witnesses and emergency workers. Such tragedies have a never-ending ripple effect.

Road trauma has played a major role in my life, and I am so grateful for the existence of an

organisation such as RTSSV and the support it provides to people in times of tragedy and hardship. I only wish that it had existed in my time of need but am so glad it does now.

I never expected that the most tragic episode in my life would lead to me volunteering for RTSSV. In January 2016 after a long recovery from illness, I was looking for a purpose in life when I spotted a request for volunteer speakers. I had no idea what would be involved and whether I’d be up to the task.

The seminars are an excellent way of drawing people’s attention to the far-reaching implications of their actions while in control of a vehicle. If my talks can lead to participants thinking twice about taking risks behind the wheel, then I am proud to be part of such a proactive and supportive organisation.

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You get back so much more

Emilia WhiteVolunteer

I began working at head office in June 2016. What began as me looking to do some meaningful volunteer work ended up being so much more. I never imagined how much I would enjoy my time at RTSSV.

As an administrative assistant, I was privileged to work with people from many different areas. The team in the office made me feel immediately at home, and I was impressed by the genuine friendliness and acceptance of me. In particular, the outgoing office manager Brenda Wathall was an inspiration and taught me so much. From the beginning, she mentored me and showed me how to transfer my existing skills to the many and varied tasks performed. She encouraged initiative and showed complete trust in me to do the jobs she delegated. Her patience, easy going manner and dedication to RTSSV and its people were remarkable. Brenda always made me feel like a valued colleague and our working relationship was one I will treasure.

I was inspired by the wonderful work by the counsellors, with their empathy and genuine care for people needing to find some peace in their lives in the event of road trauma.

I gained a great appreciation of the volunteers who give so generously of their time to speak at the Road Trauma Awareness Seminars, including emergency services workers. As I became more involved in the administration of the seminars, I was humbled by the volunteers’ capacity to re-visit painful emotions and memories. Time and again, when we reached out to ask someone to fill a spot at a venue, we would see the generosity of these speakers as they offered to provide their services. As one volunteer said to me: “Even if my speaking changes just one person’s attitude, then it has all been worthwhile.”

To all the people above, I say “thank you”. You have shown me a generosity of spirit that I didn’t realise existed in the community. It’s so very true: when you volunteer, you get back so much more than you give.

“Even if my speaking changes just one person’s

attitude, then it has all been worthwhile

- Anonymous volunteer


Siblings need more supportKellie BishopVolunteer

I am a person whose life has been impacted by road trauma. My only sibling, my younger brother, was aged 18 when he was killed in a road crash in which the driver was over the limit and speeding. The ongoing effects of this trauma and my experiences led me to want to make a difference somewhere, somehow. I came across RTSSV and asked to use my story in the work it is doing.

I first filled my role as a volunteer speaker at a Road Trauma Awareness Seminar in the Southern Metro region some eight years ago, and was immediately impressed with the standard and the obvious change the education was encouraging. I felt my very personal and emotional story, alongside the particular facilitator presentation and the emergency services talk, was a recipe for success in altering the attitudes of the people attending the session. I feel certain that each attendee takes something away from these seminars and won’t forget what was shared with them.

After speaking at some seminars many years ago, I took a break to focus on my young baby and to move to a new area of Melbourne.

This year I recommenced my volunteer position with RTSSV in the Southern Metro region, speaking of my personal experiences once again. This time around I was provided with training beforehand; training that I found invaluable in not only preparing me for my speaking position but also as a time for healing.

I attend the entirety of each seminar and usually do my talk towards the end. I often help the facilitator with simple tasks like writing name cards for attendees on arrival and then sit quietly; I am often taking in the vibe in the room, listening carefully to each participant talk about what experiences have brought them to the seminar. The information I gather is often used in my speech in terms of where I focus my talk and perhaps by reflecting on something shared in the room. I also like to mention the emergency service workers, and there is usually one in attendance ready to speak after me.

Then comes the moment when I begin talking and I see faces change and emotions show – and I know attitudes are shifting. It feels great! There is no doubt these sessions make an impact on those who attend.

I would like to see Road Trauma Awareness Seminars rolled out in secondary schools. The combination of the facilitators’ skills, the volunteers’ lived experiences and the close involvement of schools, (particularly in offering support to students afterwards) would make a big difference.

I would also like to see a specific counselling service offered to people who lose a sibling in a road crash; sibling support is often overlooked and needs extra attention. This matter is very personal to me and I have a very deep sense of desire to help young people following the death of a sibling.

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Volunteers


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Adrian Benson — Adrian Gervasoni — Alistair Barrett — Amanda Pollard — Andrew Knowles — Andy Calder — Anna Kirpichnikov — Anthony Beech — Anthony Johns — Bill Hodges — Bruno Aquila — Caitlin Little — Carmel O’Brien — Carole Reid — Carolyn Cole-Sinclair — Cassandra Roadknight — Chris Parkin — Chris Stuhldreier — Christine Latimer — Christine Mair — Clinton Licht — Coral Robertson — Cristine Feely — Damian Sumner — Daniel Reader — Danny Anderson — Darryl Crowley — Daryl Silvey — David Bedford-Lee — Diana Billingsley — Donna Parsons — Elodie Nugent — Elva Board — Emilia White — Fiona Umbers — Francine Davy — Gary Chandler — George Greaves — Geraldine Harley — Glenn Dunn — Graeme Rust — Graham Milner — Ingrid Williams — Irene Ackland — Irene Harrington — James Dalgliesh — James Thompson — Jan Dilworth — Jasmine Bedwell — Jason Kisielis — Jason Naumann — Jayson Hirt — Jennifer Gibson — Joel Thompson — John McTaggart — Judy Della — Justin Flynn — Karen Robinson — Kat Kranz — Kate Drain-Parkin — Kellie Bishop — Ken Jones — Kerry Ann Norton — Kerry Kornhauser — Kevin Pettit — Kristine Papworth — Kristy French — Leigh Booth — Luke Cupitt — Lynne Glennon — Manny Marchesin — Maree McCabe — Margaret Millington — Maria Harkins — Mark Cartledge — Mark Cattell — Mark Musgrave — Mark Welch — Martin Wrangle — Matthew Armour — Matthew Pope — Melinda Krause — Melissa Felton — Mellisa Lane — Merryn Henderson — Michael Hellwege — Michael Perkins — Michael Stillwell — Narelle Bowden — Natalie Stanway — Norman Lingwood — Pam Knight — Paul Illman — Paul Sabo — Peter Aldersea — Peter Thomson — Reg Stott — Richard Watkins — Robert Carter — Robert Ewing — Roger Astell — Rosie Johnston — Russell Harley — Samantha Barker — Sandi Hearn — Sandra Fenske — Shane Jayasinghe — Sherry Pratt — Simon Bolles — Simon Coverley — Sophie Van Den Akker — Steven Holmes — Stuart Morris — Sue Cox — Tanya Lando — Tara Stark — Tarli Bogtstra — Tim Nolan — Troy Milner — Vernon Board — Wendy Bowler — Wilma Felton — Yeksan Altun — Yvonne Upton.


Making a difference

togetherShine a Light on Road Safety

The fourth Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign, which for the first time launched near the Melbourne CBD at Albert Park Lake, reached more than a million Victorians.

The 2017 campaign, part of the United Nations Global Road Safety Week (#SlowDown), raised more than $40,000. These funds will make a significant difference to the work that we do.

We would like to thank all those participants who fundraised in memory of someone special, which is such a brave and generous thing to do.

Walking together

Hundreds braved the cold to join the campaign launch and community walk, held at Albert Park Lake on Sunday 7 May 2017.

The event was officially opened by the Hon Luke Donnellan, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, Victoria Police.

Speaking out

Speaking out against road trauma and challenging complacency is pivotal to our work.

We are very grateful to our volunteers and supporters who bravely shared their stories with major media outlets across TV, radio, social media and newspapers, reaching an estimated million plus Victorians.

‘‘If what I am sharing helps one person to avoid or to cope better in the aftermath of their own crash, then everything I have been through has been for something,” said Julie Metaxotos. “Shine a Light on Road Safety is such an important means of getting the message out to be safe.”

Lighting up the state

The campaign achieved extraordinary visibility and reach with the simple and powerful message to “turn on your headlights for road safety,” thanks to the support of VicRoads, CityLink and EastLink.

JCDecaux also generously donated space on large format digital screens in Melbourne Central, Southern Cross and Flinders Street stations helping to inform public transport users about the campaign and our services.

Buildings illuminated in yellow for road safety included: Melbourne Arts Centre, Ballarat Town Hall, Bolte Bridge, Box Hill Town Hall, Royal Exhibition Building, Frankston Arts Centre, Horsham Town Hall, M80 Commemorative Wall, Melbourne Star Observation Wheel, Melbourne Town Hall and State Library of Victoria. Many landmark buildings in other state capitals were similarly illuminated.

In honour of family and friends

We were very moved by the many messages we received from motorists who turned on their headlights to honour loved ones. This simple but profound gesture helped shine a light on the importance of road safety and on our work in supporting people impacted by road trauma.

In the Wimmera

In the Wimmera sporting clubs, emergency services, young people, council, businesses, community service groups, schools, sponsors and volunteers came together during the week for a series of road safety community events. This included a morning tea, family feud quiz, a raffle and panel discussions.

Working in partnership

We are proud of our enduring partnerships with organisations that are committed to supporting and raising awareness of road safety and our services. This campaign is actively supported by all the key road safety agencies including the Victorian Government, the TAC, Victoria Police, and VicRoads.

Special thanks must go to our sponsors and partners who provide so much more than financial support; they help raise awareness, reach new communities and make a profound difference in walking beside those impacted by road trauma. Thank you to EastLink, CityLink, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Shine Lawyers, Slater and Gordon, Stillwell Motor Group, Narva and Grainger Legal.

Next year we will be asking motorists to turn on their headlights for road safety on Friday 4 May 2018. The community walk will be at Albert Park Lake on Sunday 6 May 2018.


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24 25Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017

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Time for Remembering

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This annual event is held to remember those who have died, those who continue to suffer, and the impact of road trauma on our community.

Our Time for Remembering ceremony is held at Victoria’s Parliament House on the third Sunday in November, which is the United Nation’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. This day is dedicated to remembering the many millions killed and injured in road crashes, their families and friends and the many others whose lives are affected. It is also designed to give thanks to emergency services and all who work tirelessly to reduce road trauma.

We are very grateful to RTSSV’s Art Therapy Group, members of which worked throughout the year to create ‘The heartfelt flower garden - where love and loss abide’, an artwork that was exhibited at the ceremony.

We warmly thank the Reverend Andy Calder for leading the ceremony, Harriet Shing MP for delivering a message from the state government, and Elva and Vern Board for sharing their story.

The heartfelt flower garden - where love and loss abide

Out of shared darkness and pain, we offer the tender beauty of a blooming, hand-felted flower garden.

We members of the Art Therapy Group of RTSSV have created this heartfelt landscape in shared understanding of the terrible human cost of road crashes.

We are the hurt people who stand behind the numbers of the road toll.

We can never be the same, but we are learning that it helps to try to express our complex emotions by working with our hands and creating something together. In the shared act of making, we are able to tell our stories and to offer each other true understanding.

This year has been about the healing power of flowers. We have tried to voice what flowers mean to us now: our abiding love and devotion; a healing balm for our raw senses, able to touch something soulful that goes beyond language; an honouring of our loved

ones, expressing the joyous spirits in them and in us; colours and motifs standing-in for those we have lost, or for something lost in ourselves.

The heartfelt flower garden is dedicated to our loved ones and to all people who have been killed or injured on our roads. Like flaming candles, the flowers bloom here because they cannot.

Thank you to all who contributed to this special event, including Tim Naughtin, TAC; Chief Magistrate Peter Lauristen; Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, Victoria Police; Justin Flynn; Julie Metaxotos; Jeanette Suhr OAM; Michael Johnson; Christine Rawson; Barbara Joyce and the Art Therapy Group; the Brunswick Women’s Choir; Wendy Bowler and Manny Marchesin.

We are grateful to the TAC for its ongoing support of Time for Remembering.


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Art and art-making have the power to heal. As we experience the arts, we learn that none of us is alone.

When we take our pain out of ourselves and transform it into a poem, a song, a painting, a dance, it becomes outside of us, which enables us to deal with it in a way we couldn’t when it was locked inside.John Caddy

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Finance, Risk and Audit Subcommittee

This subcommittee met bi-monthly throughout the year with good effect.

The committee works with the CEO to review our risk registers and ensures that all significant risks are assessed and managed appropriately. The committee also provides recommendations and advice to the Board so that fiduciary obligations are met.

Strong management controls have ensured a responsible approach to expenditure whilst simultaneously creating innovation and diversity in revenue streams. This has resulted in a profit of $20,451 enabling reinvestment in the business, which in the coming year will see growth in staff positions and organisational capacity.

We attribute our strengthening position to support from the TAC, growth in our education services and the success of our annual Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign. These have significantly strengthened our ability to engage communities and create strong and mutually beneficial partnerships.

We thank the committee members for their oversight and guidance and we are reassured that our management team will continue to deliver strong results in the coming year.


Appointments and Remuneration Subcommittee

This subcommittee meets as needed to review CEO performance and salary, and to monitor the performance of the board’s directors. We have embarked on a series of education sessions, delivered with board meetings, to ensure all directors’ skills are current and competent.

This year we farewelled Maree McCabe, who provided expertise, sound guidance and support. We thank her also for her leadership of the Development and Communications Subcommittee.

Given our strengthening financial performance, increasing referrals to our counselling services, and growth in diversity and attendances at our education programs, we anticipate a review of the staffing structure. We will work with the CEO to bolster organisational capacity in the coming year.

Although this committee meets on an ad hoc basis, we are confident its functions continue to strengthen the Board’s position and that of RTSSV. We look forward to ongoing growth.


“The fourth annual Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign was a great success and reached more than a million Victorians. We would like to thank everyone who participated; the support is greatly appreciated.

Road safety wishes Board Members & Executive Team

28 Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 29

Subcommittees

—Board Members Executive Team

“That people drive with care and respect, and no further lives are lost on our roads.Justin FlynnChairman

“That road trauma be relegated permanently to the archives of history.Michael Stillwell

“That we can safely assume all our journeys will be free from harm.Cameron SinclairCEO

“Wouldn’t it be great if everyone felt as safe on the roads as they do in the arms of their loved ones. That’s what I wish for.Ingrid WilliamsDeputy Chairman

“That all transport systems protect all travellers against injury and death at all times. Richard Watkins

“My wish for road safety is for each person using our roads to drive with the specific intention of keeping themselves and everyone else safe.Bernadette NugentManager, Counselling and Support Services

“My wish for road safety is that courtesy and common sense replace ego and impulse.Mark MusgraveTreasurer

“That all forms of transport be completely incident free.Rob Ewing

“My wishes for road safety are that we at RTSSV continue to bring people together, to raise awareness and concerns in assisting our communities for change; for people to recognise we each have a responsibility to create safer roads and to believe that we can reach zero deaths and injuries. Through our education programs we are in a great place to raise awareness among drivers, in the wider community and to assist our government partners in creating change.Chris HarrisonManager, Education Services

“That no parent should ever fear losing their child on our roads.Clinton LichtSecretary/Public Office

“My wish for road safety is simply that fewer people are killed and maimed on our roads, particularly among the youth and very young – two cohorts which are overly-represented.Simon Bolles

“All people, at all times, regardless of time or mode of travel, reach their destinations safely and without incident.Kerry Kornhauser

“A zero road toll.Virginia CummingsOffice Manager


Treasurer’s Report

A key objective for 2016-2017 was to improve the organisation’s long-term profitability and sustainability. This has been achieved through a combination of a significant increase in funding from the TAC and continuing increases in RTAS revenue.

The TAC increased our funding for Counselling and Support Services by 10 per cent, or $45,000 annually over the life of the new three-year contract, with additional annual increases linked to inflation. This has ensured that the counselling services are self-sufficient. We value our relationship with the TAC highly, and are very appreciative of its ongoing commitment to RTSSV.

RTSSV has returned a profit of $20,451 (more than $15,000 better than budgeted) at 30 June 2017, which has enabled reinvestment in the business for the coming year in terms of staff positions and organisational capacity. Control of expenditure remains a key focus for the organisation.

In 2016-2017 we have progressed a number of technology projects that have improved our digital presence, updated our systems and infrastructure.

Our balance sheet at 30 June 2017 was strengthened by $20,451, resulting in total members’ equity of $266,287. Our cash flow has also improved, which is an important measure of the financial health of the organisation.

During the year we appointed new auditors, LDAssurance Chartered Accountants. We would like to thank them for their services, and are happy to advise that we received a good report card for our internal controls and quality of financial record keeping.

Our performance continues to be strengthened by our partnership with corporate sponsors, interest in our Shine a Light on Road Safety campaign and growth in our education programs in terms of diversity, location and attendances.

As Treasurer, I would like to thank our CEO, Accountant Theresa Cocking (who provided the day-to-day financial support), and the entire RTSSV team for its tireless efforts in improving our services, raising revenue and carefully managing costs. I look forward to continuing successes in the coming year.

Mark Musgrave Treasurer

Auditor’s Report

aspects, with the financial report from which it was derived. For a better understanding of the scope of the audit, this auditor’s report should be read in conjunction with our audit report on the financial report.

LDAssurance Chartered Accountants

Stephen O’Kane, PartnerDated: 18 August 2017

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Report of the independent auditor on the summary financial statements to the members of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Incorporated.

The accompanying summary financial statements, which comprises the summary statement of financial position as at 30 June 2017, the summary statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows are derived from the audited financial report of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Incorporated for the year ended 30 June 2017. We expressed an unmodified auditor’s opinion on that financial report in our report dated 18 August 2017.

The summary financial statements do not contain all the disclosures required by Australian Accounting Standards for the financial report. Reading the summary financial statements, therefore, is not a substitute for reading the audited financial report of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Incorporated.

Board members’ responsibility for the financial report

The members of the Board are responsible for the preparation of a summary of the audited financial report in accordance with the Australian Accounting Standards (including the Australian Accounting Interpretations).

Auditor’s responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the summary financial statements derived from the audited financial report of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Incorporated based on our procedures, which were conducted in accordance with Auditing Standard ASA 810 Engagements to Report on Summary Financial Statements.

Auditor’s opinion

In our opinion, the summary financial statements derived from the audited financial report of Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Incorporated for the year ended 30 June 2017 are consistent, in all material


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Financial Report


Income 2017 2016

Fees and charges $464,913 $439,078Grants $519,666 $454,694Fundraising and other income $57,057 $70,231Donations $40,173 $34,932

Interest $12,075 $9,422

Total $1,093,884 $1,008,357

Expenses 2017 2016

Advertising, branding and business development $1,080 $3,334

Accounting and audit fees $2,960 $1,920

Bank charges $5,823 $6,747

Cleaning $2,915 $3,063

Minor equipment, service and maintenance $54,374 $26,620

Client support projects $4,614 $3,874

Postage and stationery $29,567 $14,915

Depreciation $9,770 $13,515

Entertainment and gifts $2,397 $1,765

Fundraising expenses and commissions $9,293 $6,170

Security and insurance $10,053 $10,502

Office / business consultancy expenses $13,628 $11,411

HR recruitment, meeting and other expenses $7,958 $12,559

Rent and venue education $60,024 $54,150

Salaries and wages $712,990 $673,271

Time for Remembering $8,363 $9,131

Superannuation $61,646 $58,682

Support groups and memberships $2,812 $2,409

Telephone and communication $21,948 $24,603

Training and development $3,902 $5,495

Travel, accommodation, parking and motor vehicle expenses $19,494 $24,693

Volunteer expenses $3,307 $5,299

Utilities and permits $9,525 $10,570

Work cover $14,990 $14,963

Total $1,073,433 $999,661

Profit/(loss) for the year $20,451 $8,696

Other comprehensive income NA NA

Total comprehensive income for the year $20,451 $8,696

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Current assets 2017 2016

Cash and cash equivalents $387,124 $337,628Trade and other receivables $14,470 $20,897Other assets $21,233 $15,484Total current assets $422,827 $374,009

Non-current assets (property, plant and equipment) $21,172 $30,942

Total non-current assets $21,172 $30,942

Total assets $443,999 $404,951

Current liabilities 2017 2016

Trade and other payables $74,725 $64,841

Provisions $54,018 $56,011

Total current liabilities $128,743 $120,852

Total non-current liabilities $48,969 $38,263

Total liabilities $177,712 $159,115

Net assets $266,287 $245,836

Members’ funds 2017 2016

Retained profits $266,287 $245,836

Total members’ funds $266,287 $245,836


34 Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 35

SupportersWe would like to take this opportunity to thank the Transport Accident Commission for their support since 1999, and the following supporters.

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Acton Print — Ambulance Victoria — Annie Norrish — Arts Centre Melbourne — Austwine Viticulture — Barbara Joyce, Art Therapist — Belinda Clark, MUARC — Bendigo Bank, South Melbourne — Bowerman and Bowler Family in memory of Jesse — Brunswick Women’s Choir — Bunnings Nunawading — CFA — Chris Gill, Sentencing Advisory — Christine Rawson — City of Ballarat — City of Melbourne — City of Whitehorse — Claire Coulter in memory of Chris Boyden — CoHealth Niddrie — Doug Fryer, Assistant Commissioner, Victoria Police — Dr Christine Durham — EastLink — Elva and Vern Board — Federation University — Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal — Frank Amato Photography — Frankston Arts Centre — Give Crock-a-Dial — Grainger Legal — Harriet Shing MLC, Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Services and Member for Eastern Victoria Region — Hope Bereavement Services in Geelong — Horsham Rural City Council — Hume City Council — Hume Global Learning Centre — IMES Social Club — Ingrid Williams — inSync Surveys — Jan Webb, Melton Road Safety Officer — JCDecaux — Jeanette Suhr OAM — Jennie Oxley, MUARC — Jim Giddings — RoadSafe Westgate Community Road Safety Council — Julie Metaxotos — Junior Chamber International (JCI) Eastern — Keane Marsh in memory of Catherine Judith Marsh — Kim Britten in memory of Gai — Leadership Ballarat and Western Region — Luke Gillman — MacDonalds Horsham — Magistrates’ Court of Victoria — Marchesin Family in memory of Jack — Mark Robinson — Mary Bergin, Humanist Society of Victoria — Maurice Blackburn — McColls Transport — Melbourne Star Observation Wheel — Melbourne University (Lou Harms) — Melton City Council — Michael Johnson, Harpist — Montano’s Patisserie Café — MUARC — Murray Davies, Faith Communities Council of Victoria — Nadine Ahfat

Narva Automotive Lighting — Neighbourhood Justice Centre — Overton Catering — Parliament of Victoria — Pasq Monacella — Peter Lauristen, Chief Magistrate — Phil Downey — Readings Cinema, Chirnside Park — Recording Artists Against Drink Driving (RADD) — Red Earth Florists — Rev. Andy Calder, Disability Inclusion, Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania — Rev. Ian Smith, Victorian Council of Churches — Dr Rob Gordon, Clinical Psychologist — Rotary Club of Prahran — Royal Exhibition Building — RTSSV Art Therapy Group — Rybazoid — Sam Triglone — SEN 1116 FM — Serco — Shine Lawyers — Slater and Gordon Lawyers — State Library of Victoria — Stillwell Motor Group — SysOp Support Australia Pty Ltd — Tom Wuthipol Uj, Melbourne Brought Me Here — Tomorrow Agency — Transport Accident Commission (TAC) — Transurban — VicRoads — Victoria Police — Victorian Arts Centre — Victorian Government — Victorian State Emergency Services — Vitronics — Volunteers Victoria — Wimmera Trade Training Centre — YMCA Horsham — Youth Justice.


© Road Trauma Support Service Victoria, 2017

Suite 2/109 Whitehorse RoadBlackburn VIC 3130www.rtssv.org.au

T: 8877 6900 — F: 9877 9799E: [email protected] — 1300 367 797

Documents

Annual Report - RTSSV · Road Trauma Support Services Victoria Annual Report 2016–2017 3 Contents — 04 Chairman’s Report 05 Chief Executive’s Report 06 Counselling and Support