Berry Street Web Docs Berry Street Annual Report 2011 | Page 17

The North and West Region is the most
culturally diverse. It contains 78% of
Victoria’s public housing and four of the
five urban growth corridors. We are very
fortunate to have Regional Director, Craig
Cowie, leading our largest staff group.

Highlights included:
• While we provide a number of similar
services to the other areas in which
we work, the North and West is the
only region where we play a lead
role in delivering family and domestic
violence services. Over the last year,
we worked with nearly 3,400 women
and helped more than 1,300 children
deal with the damage from family
violence, assisted them to understand
their right to feel safe and supported
them to make the choice that was
right for them. Through our innovative
Turtle program, we developed new
ways of strengthening the mother/
child bond, which is so often
damaged through family violence

• In the North and West, we are part
of Child First, an alliance of seven
community service organisations
which aims to divert families from Child
Protection by working with them on
developing their strengths and dealing
with the issues that make their children
vulnerable and unsafe
• We set up a new Focus on Families
program for families under Supervision
Orders ordered by the Children’s
Court. This is not work that has
traditionally been done by community
service organisations but we proved
that we can achieve very positive
outcomes for the families, with nearly
all the Orders being completed
successfully. Through both programs,
we significantly improved the
experience of 240 children
• Strengthened our residential care
program with a new therapeutic
position, supported eleven staff to
gain a certified qualification and
operated an additional three units (in
addition to our core five units) to meet
the specific needs of some of the
young people

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• We continued our close working
relationship with the Victorian
Police through a stronger presence
at Magistrate Courts (where we
supported 963 women) and the
Respect Police Attendance Strategy,
where we contact the woman when
there has been three or more incidents
of family violence over 12 months
• Northern Crisis Advocacy Response
Service (NCARS) won a Crime
Prevention Award. Our skilled staff
delivered 20 community education
sessions and we continued to support
other family violence services through
secondments and consultation

• Received some additional funding
to help reduce waiting lists for our
Children’s Contact Services in
Watsonia and Richmond and helped
191 children to have more positive
access with their non-residential parent

• Initiated an integrated training
calendar for foster carers with other
community service organisations

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