Dear Friends,

I apologise for there being no Friends Newsletter since Winter 2007.  I had a medical emergency in September which put me in hospital for 2 weeks followed by a few months on reduced hours, which did not allow for doing a newsletter.

We have once again had a turnover in staff, and major developments in funding.

Meryl

Friends Editor

The revised building plans have been accepted for the house at 34 Denne St and it is being used to conduct day and night courses while we are in discussion with builders.

LRCCS held a Practical weekend in Tamworth recently and used the Counselling Rooms on Ebsworth St, the Training Centre on Bridge St as well as the Denne St building to house students working on different areas of Counselling Practice.

The Tamworth Consortium of ACS, Centacare and Tamworth Family Support Services have won the tender for operating the Family Relationship Centre in Tamworth, with outreach around the North-West. The FRC will be opening its doors on July 1st. Larry has been attending many meetings and conferences to ensure that the consortium is stable and each participant is aware of their responsibilities.

Accreditation for the Responsible Gambling Fund (RGF), known as Quality Management Systems is rapidly drawing near. Wendy Long (Gambling Project Manager) has been furiously working on the journal ACS has to submit prior to the accreditation.

Staff Changes

Since the last newsletter:

•     Catherine Hungerford (Tamworth) and Frances Mackay (Armidale) have resigned as counsellors. Both have taken positions in Canberra.

•     The Manager of Clinical Services who started in June last year unfortunately had to leave us after a month.  We have not yet been able to find a replacement for her.

•     Kate Green has resigned from her position as Indigenous Liaison in Coledale.

•     Terry Reich has been appointed Finance Officer.  He has had a steep learning curve with frequent phone calls to and from the auditor and our MYOB consultant to get a system in place that will work for the auditor and our daily reporting needs.

•     Robyn Wright is assisting with the Data Entry, enabling that work to get up to date, and allowing Meryl time to develop an internal database, so that we can access the counsellors’ statistics without waiting for government reports.

•     Sharon Kirk is working as Community Education (Courses) Manager and is updating our list of available courses and counsellors able to run the courses.

•     Lynne Collier is working in Moree as Administrative Assistant.

•     Anna Regan is volunteering in the Tamworth Admin building as receptionist a few hours a week.

Manilla Project

Ruth Blakely has been going out to Manilla to counsel fortnightly as part of the Manilla project.  She has been getting 5 or 6 clients each visit, with very few not turning up.

Haidee’s after school group and Mother’s group are both going well, and she is planning a Breakfast Club at the Primary School.

Anglican Counselling Service Board

February saw the first meeting of the newly elected Board of ACS. The member are:

James Croft (Chairman) — Uralla

Larry Apthorpe (Secretary, ex-officio) — Tamworth

Peter Capp — Spring Ridge

Peter Christmas — Tamworth

Paul Davey —Boggabri

Paul McFarlane (ex-officio) — Manilla

Wendy Smith — Tamworth

Liz Tomlinson —Narrabri

Graham Truscott — Armidale

There are two more appointments (one staff ex-officio) to be finalised.

Please keep these men and women in your prayers as they guide ACS in this time of change and growth.

Lois Reid College of Counselling Studies

Earlier this year the college received notification that the Degree and Diploma would no longer be recognised by the Board of Higher Education.

This was a great disappointment after all the work that had gone into preparing the submissions, but has galvanised the new Management Committee into analysing the Governance structure of the college.

They are going to be re-applying for recognition of the Diploma and are looking at ways of moving the students into a Degree programme from there.

Life Skills Courses 2008

•     May

  •     Mental Health First Aid in Tamworth

  •     Know Yourself in Glen Innes

  •     Anger Management in Tamworth

•     June

  •     Anger Management in Inverell

  •     Mental Health First Aid in Walgett

•     September

  •     Know Yourself (TBA)

Prayer

•     Family Relationship Centre (FRC) and associated programmes

•     RGF Accreditation and Wendy Long

•     Travel

•     Rain—famine and flood

•     LRCCS

•     Counselling Staff

•     Administrative Staff

Anglican Counselling Service, Executive Director: Larry Apthorpe

Lois Reid College of Counselling Studies, Principal: Jenny Regan

Financial Counsellor: Faith Boehm

Relationship Counsellors: Ruth, Libby, Sharon, Cheryl L, Caroly, Wendy, Ros, Jenny M, Ran, Bettina, Jenny R, Fran

Other Staff: Cheryl C, Lois,  Meryl, Elaine, James, Joy, Mattie, Bruce, Kathryn, Ann, Robyn, Lynne, Terry, Jane

Volunteers: Colleen, Eleanor, Nancy, Anna

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Last modified: 13 May, 2008