A message from our Patron, Dr Rosie Batty AO
As I pen this message to reflect on the 2023/24 financial year, many emotions swirl: compassion for so many in our community who have been struggling with the cost of living crisis, increased food insecurity, rising homelessness, loneliness and mental health challenges; frustration and grief that despite 10 years of advocacy and action we are in the midst of a family violence crisis; gratitude for the grit and determination of Doncare in steadfastly supporting their community; and hope – hope for change, hope for government action, hope for women and children survivors and their futures.
Earlier this year I published my second book, “Hope”, a memoir of my journey towards healing through profound grief and tireless advocacy after the shocking murder of my son, Luke. Despite the confronting scale of the domestic violence crisis, maintaining hope is critical and hope is a fitting theme for this year’s reflection.
As I write this piece, National Cabinet have reasserted the Government’s commitment to end family, domestic and sexual violence in a generation and announced $4.7 billion in funding over 5 years to refocus our efforts. This is welcome and will make a meaningful difference. Among its broad suite of services, Doncare has been supporting women to recover from family violence since 2004. Doncare’s Family Violence Recovery programs include the DAWN Mentoring Program, specialist family violence counselling, family violence recovery groups for women and children and the SaSSing choir.
The DAWN Mentoring Program is unique in its approach which carefully matches volunteers to mentor, support and journey with women recovering from the effects of domestic violence. It has been operating with insecure funding for 15+ years, and one of my hopes is that Doncare could secure recurrent government funding to continue and grow this life-changing program. I will leave it to one of the women to convey its impact.
“Being connected with Mary through the Dawn Program for me has felt like arms wrapped around me through those deeply challenging times which can lead one to feel hopeless. Mary is an incredibly generous, intelligent, kind and patient mentor who I am so grateful for. There are so many women who need Mary’s consistent care, support, dedication and commitment. My aim is to one day be in a space where I too can support someone who is facing the impacts of Family Violence .. through my experience there remains a stigma attached to family violence and a pervasive misunderstanding of those who experience it. When it is linked with mental health, substance use disorder, biased systems and organisations that like to talk a lot about being inclusive but actually act discriminatory it compounds and it can feel you will never be able to breathe. This is where the Dawn Program is terribly invaluable and I feel I have a duty to advocate and be of service in this”.
Finally, I feel hope for the future of Doncare. I wish to thank and congratulate retiring CEO Ellen Matusko for her incredible efforts leading Doncare across the last two years, through substantial challenges to successfully secure Doncare’s financial base, a firm foundation for its next chapter of development and growth. Doncare is a unique organisation, part of the fabric of its community, with a thriving volunteer culture and a holistic place-based approach. I am immensely proud to be Patron of this remarkable organisation. Its people are its heart, and I know from long experience the consistency of their compassion, generosity of spirit and empowering approach. I thank and acknowledge them all – paid staff, volunteers and students, for their commitment, compassion, courage and hard work.
Rosie Batty, Doncare Patron 2024