Page 1536 - Week 05 - Thursday, 7 April 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
funding to several mental health and counselling services, including the OzHelp Foundation and Lifeline.
The Stanhope Labor government has always been a strong supporter of Lifeline Canberra and its services. With addictive gambling on the increase throughout Australia, including the ACT, the importance of gambling and financial counselling is paramount. Lifeline gambling and financial counselling services receive $165,000 in funding each year from the ACT government. In the 2003-04 financial year, the service provided over 1,000 hours of counselling and support to problem gamblers and their families. Gambling Care gives people who suffer from problem gambling or financial troubles the opportunity to discuss their problems and identify possible solutions. Counsellors offer long-term advice and help people improve their general financial management skills.
The innovative program Clubcare, which involves Lifeline, 11 Canberra clubs and ClubsACT, is a practical approach to providing problem gambling services. The Clubcare initiative allows anyone who chooses to gamble to do so within his or her budget in a safe and enjoyable way. It provides training for staff, counselling for patrons and professional services to management of the 11 clubs affiliated with Clubcare. With the support of ClubsACT and affiliated clubs, Clubcare has been able to expand its gambling counselling services and provide high-quality training to staff in the provision of responsible gambling.
The government has also provided recurrent funding to Lifeline to continue the Canberra Emergency Accommodation Service in partnership with Anglicare. The service allows people in need to call a single telephone number to receive information and access to emergency accommodation provided by a range of shelters across Canberra. It is such a simple idea and one that has greatly helped those in need of accommodation.
Lifeline Canberra also provides support and advice to Canberra’s young people. In 2003, the Lifeline Youth Network X, or LYNX, was established and Youthline was incorporated into Lifeline. LYNX aims to improve the resilience and general wellbeing of young people in the Canberra region and has so far been involved in training young people in accident counselling skills, in raising awareness of youth suicide and of Lifeline as a support for young people, in educating teachers in ways to engage and support young people, and in developing mentoring and other programs to create resilience in Canberra’s youth community. LYNX is another valuable service Lifeline provides to our community.
Lifeline’s annual autumn book fair begins tomorrow and will run until Sunday. Located in the Budawang Building in Exhibition Park, the book fair is an essential fundraiser for the service. A major portion of the funding required to keep Lifeline’s telephone counselling lines available to the community comes from the sale of donated second-hand books at book fairs. More than 150,000 books are usually donated and the fair is made possible only through the work of volunteers who pick up, sort, prepare and price the books all year round. The book fair’s organiser, Ric Bennett, also works all year round to ensure that the fairs are a success. After the autumn fair, preparations will begin again for the spring book fair, which is due to be held on 23 to 25 September this year.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .