Chief Executive Officer Update - December

Hi there, 

Welcome to the last edition of News@Yooralla for 2022.

It's certainly been another big year for Yooralla.

From my conversations across the year with clients, families and frontline staff, there is so much appreciation for the quality services we provide whether in shared services, head office, providing important services to back up the frontline, or whether in a home or hub or working in the community or working with families in their own home. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our teams for the incredibly important role that they play in supporting our clients.

While we have achieved so much in 2022, one of the things I’m particularly proud of is our partnership with Anglicare Victoria - to provide specialist disability support to young people in out of home care. There are hundreds of young people in out of home care across the state, who’ve had an incredibly difficult upbringing. Many of them have a disability, but they have struggled to get access to the NDS and the supports they're entitled to.

Our support, which has been funded by generous philanthropic donors, has allowed them to gain access to funded supports, which will make a real difference to the future lives and hopes and dreams for those young people. I'm proud of that work and I want to thank everyone involved.

I'm also excited about the services that Yooralla is developing to increase choices and options for people with disability. One example this year is our Hospital to Home program. In partnership with most of our major metropolitan public health services, we’ve developed accommodation settings for people who've been stuck in hospital for an extended period of time – supporting them to regain their independence and develop their goals and plans for the future. We're really excited to have provided those options and look forward to supporting more people to transition out of hospital in future, reducing the strain on our healthcare system and supporting the best interests of people with disability.

All of these achievements tie back to our purpose of supporting people with disability to live the life they choose, and it’s been another incredible year as CEO of this great organisation who support so many people. I look forward to continuing to share the inspiring stories of our client’s achievements next year and beyond.

Thank you so much for your support throughout 2022. I hope this holiday season is a time for you to reconnect with family and friends.

Please enjoy this edition of the newsletter and stay safe and well.

I look forward to seeing you next year.

Stay safe and well.

Terry Symonds
Chief Executive Officer