Doncare was delighted to welcome members and stakeholders to the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 23 October. Andrew Asten, Chair of the Board, presented Doncare’s 55^th Annual Report highlighting the achievements of an incredibly productive year responding to demand in the community.

Andrew was joined by CEO Kylie Scoullar, who reflected on the year's accomplishments under the leadership of former CEO Ellen Matusko and shared her outlook for the coming year. The Treasurer’s report was presented by Board Director Michael Doherty on behalf of Treasurer David Lane.

The audience was also treated to a presentation on Doncare's DAWN program which has been supporting women in recovery from family violence for over 17 years.

CEO, Kylie Scoullar was struck by the uniqueness of the DAWN program when first learning about Doncare, and her conviction about its value has only grown since getting to know it better. "There are people with us today who have been part of its journey and I would like in particular to acknowledge Carmel O’Brien OAM who together with the late Doreen Stoves AM PSM JP conceived DAWN right at the start" she said. Kylie also acknowledged retired CEO, Ellen Matusko for her hard work in securing funding from DFFH to keep the program funded.

Keynote speakers included Daniela Pepe, Doncare’s Manager, Funded Services, Rajie Ramalingam, volunteer mentor with the DAWN Program and Christine Robinson, Principal Strategic Advisor, Eastern Metropolitan Regional Family Violence Partnership. Pictured with former Director of Clincal Services, Carmel O’Brien OAM.

Rajie shared testimonies from some of DAWN's clients, many of whom are either amid or newly free of fighting their battles within the justice system and don’t have many people to turn to for support. Rajie also talked about the support and training she receives from the program coordinators. "The initial training was unique and novel to me and I learnt a lot about what survivors go through before and after their experience. I was struck by how these women are periodically subjected to multi-layered attacks of self AFTER they found the courage to leave their difficult situations. I also realised that the most dangerous time of their life began upon leaving, which often coincides with when support for them stops". You can read more about Rajie and her reflections of the DAWN program here.

In Christine's role as the Principal Strategic Advisor of the Regional Family Violence Partnership, she focuses on systems leadership, driving local area implementation of the family violence reforms and the multi-agency cross sector integrated service response. A key value of the RFVP is ‘recovery-oriented’. Christine Robinson shared her own experience as a DAWN Mentor and said that her work as a Sergeant with Victoria Police as a sexual assault and child abuse investigator provided invaluable insight into the life changing effects of family violence, "in particular how coercive control can diminish a person’s liberty and have devastating impacts on a person perception, personality, sense of self and self-worth, autonomy and feeling of safety and security"

"Programs like DAWN are vital because they allow survivors to build a trusting relationship over time, one from which they can draw strength and support as they navigate a complex and challenging system. The concept of walking alongside is one that keeps being raised by those with lived experience, but we know this is not something that is consistently available to people recovering from family violence. This is the unique value of the DAWN program."

Christine commended the funding bodies who have supported the DAWN program as well as the DAWN Coordinators, Freya and Clara who support the volunteer mentors and clients. "The time has now come for the government to recurrently fund this as a long-term therapeutic support program. Because as our therapeutic working group members noted - when therapeutic work is done with someone for 12 + months, things change" Christine said. Read Christine's presentation..