GenWest were delighted to welcome Natalie Hutchins MP, Minister for Women and Minister for Education, to our Barkly Street office.
The Minister visited to hear about the incredible positive impact our Children's and Youth Counselling team have on the lives of victim survivors of family violence.
We also launched our Counselling Zine, a short publication all about 'what children and young people want you to know about counselling at GenWest'.
The zine is designed to support children and young people to understand how the program works and what they can expect. It also supports workers in other services who are referring clients to us.
We were thrilled to be joined for the event by two of our Children's and Youth Counselling Service's clients, one a mum of a child who had accessed the service, and a young person. They shared their stories with the Minister, telling her how the service had supported them to heal and recover from their experiences of family violence.
Two of our counsellors, Elly and Bonnie, talked through how the program works and demonstrated some of the activities they do with children and young people.
Our Children's and Youth Counselling Service has supported 280 victim survivors of family violence so far this year.
However, wait times for the program are currently around 16 weeks long. We are working towards reducing this, so we can support more children and young people who have experienced family violence to heal and recover.
Our thanks to Minister Hutchins and her team for taking the time to visit.
Find out more about our Children's and Youth Counselling Service, and access the Counselling Zine here.
