CEO Report
It is my great pleasure to share with you our 25th year of operation at CareSouth. I have had the privilege of leading our strategic direction for the past six years. It has been my most rewarding role especially being surrounded by so many people who care, beyond our expectations.
Fittingly our 25th year has been celebrated by some extraordinary achievements such as winning the Business of the Year in the Shoalhaven Business Awards, along with Employer of Choice and Excellence in Community Services. We were the first Not-for-Profit to win this prestigious award. We were also recognised in our Western Region with Pru McManus awarded Business Leader in the Deniliquin Business Awards. We were also finalists in the Illawarra Business Awards in the Employer of Choice Category.
Sadly, after a quarter of a century leading the organisation we farewell our Chairman and founder Jim McEwan. Jim has been a passionate advocate for CareSouth, those we support and our communities, and his legacy will reach far into the future. Personally, Jim has been my greatest support and I thank him sincerely.
With every ending there is a new beginning and we have been fortunate to welcome our new Chairman John Dorahy in an exciting time for the organisation as we enter our second quarter of our first century. John is highly regarded and has strong ties to the Illawarra, he is compassionate and a perfect replacement to take on the role of filling Jim’s large shoes. Our Board as ever remain diligent, vibrant and truly committed to our vision and purpose.
Looking back on the last year it really has been a mammoth year for CareSouth with our retendering for Permanency Planning and Intensive Therapeutic Care in an environment of great change within the Out-of-Home Care sector. We also commenced the extensive auditing process led by the Office of the Children’s Guardian to achieve Re-Accreditation.
Disability services continued to experience change with our remaining regions coming on board for the NDIS and undergoing Third Party Verification. We are also in the process of Voluntary Out-of-Home Care, Safeguarding Children and White Ribbon Accreditation, all of these processes taking place whilst staff and volunteers continue ‘business as usual’ providing quality services to those we support.
This year we saw the introduction of our CareSouth Connect call centre which allows both staff, carers and the community to have a central contact point and 24 hour support.
We also launched our inaugural Emerging Leaders program to identify and develop future leadership talent. The 12 month work-based learning program supported seven staff from across the organisation considering a career in management and leadership.
CareSouth continued our long tradition of advocacy in the sector by becoming founding members of the Children in Care Collective. The Collective was formed to share information and work collaboratively and proactively on a range of issues for children and young people with complex needs living in Out-of-Home Care.
A huge thank you and acknowledgement of staff, carers and volunteers – they continue to amaze me every day – their resilience, energy and innovation applied in their work inspires and drives me to achieve better, to challenge the status quo.
Debra Tozer – CEO