'Art as you see it - paintings & drawings from Our Place'

Our second annual art exhibition ran at Hardware Gallery in Enmore from Thursday October 1st to Saturday October 3rd and was a great opportunity to showcase the work of our clients and volunteers. A spectacular montage of 1, 250 business card-sized artworks was carefully assembled, gridded out and put on display by Deb & Jill (whose hands must have been crippled from applying all that blu-tak!). All in all the work of over 50 artists went on show and the gallery was full of people on opening night enjoying the happy vibe. Some of the artists attended and were persuaded to "take a bow". As a bonus, over $1,500 was raised from sale of works and that money will help stretch our budget further for food and other essentials.
As usual, we extend our grateful thanks to Lew Palaitis from Hardware for his creative energy and his wonderful generosity of spirit and all our terrific volunteers who supplied food, hosted, helped with sales and just generally made the exhibition the success it was. As a postscript, Mollie was very pleased that lots of her little "dog" artworks were in high demand - just goes to show - anyone can do it!

Our volunteer team numbers 45+, with one exception!

Since 2006 we have always relied on a great team of volunteer management and staff, all of whom have helped us to provide a caring and ever-expanding service. In March 09 we recruited our first paid employee, our Welfare Manager, Jan St. John. Since it is crucially important for us to provide both continuity and excellence of care for our clients, we decided the time had come to employ a key manager accountable for all the welfare needs of our clients. Jan came to us with a wealth of qualifications and experience, hailing from Victoria, where she worked extensively in the community services arena, particularly with clients suffering mental illness and/or intellectual disability often exacerbated by substance addiction. Jan has broad experience as a clinician, facilitator and team leader and she is making a big difference to the quality of service we offer our clients. Our fantastic team of 45+ volunteers also bring various skills, talents and capabilities to help us care for our community. We couldn't do it without them.

Thanks to foundation sponsors, Network Ten

Network Ten was our foundation sponsor, offering us the financial security to rapidly expand and grow our services since opening in October 2006. Our two-year funding agreement with TEN has now come to an end and we wish to extend our grateful thanks to C.E.O. Grant Blackley, Community Services Manager, Amanda King, Sports Tonight presenter Brad McEwen and all at TEN for their continuing support and generosity.

Brad has become a great friend of Our Place and is a regular visitor. He is much-loved by community members and volunteers alike and joins in for conversations and card games whenever he can spare the time.

As our foundation sponsor, Network Ten has been a most valued partner and we have achieved much because of our very strong relationship.

PS WE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A NEW CORPORATE SPONSOR - if you have any suggestions for us, they'd be welcome!

Mental Health Forum Balmain Town Hall

Leichhardt Council invited Sue Steedman to be one of five speakers at a Public Forum to discuss the future use of 41 hectares at Callan Park which has now been given over to the Council. This was a reversal of last year's decision by the then State government Planning Minister to hand the land to Sydney University and a victory for the Friends of Callan Park and the many local residents who have campaigned hard to win the old Rozelle Hospital site back.
Consensus was reached at least over the fact that the site must be used to provide services for the mentally ill in our community, the purpose for which the land was originally bequeathed. There will be much discussion over the coming months to decide which specific services are to be located there. Our Place advocates the re-building of a stand-alone psychiatric hospital to cope with seriously ill patients. If you would like a copy of the speech Sue gave on Saturday June 27, please email with "Speech" in the subject line to Sue.steedman@ourplace.org.au. Our Place commends Mayor Jamie Parker and Leichhardt Council for convening the forum and providing the opportunity to speak about such a crucial community resource and need.

Clayton Utz Legal Service - referrals welcome

Clayton Utz runs a free legal clinic at Our Place each Tuesday from 10am. This is an essential service for many of our clients who are dealing with pending legal or court matters or who have disputes with landlords and others. The team of lawyers provide a patient and professional service, averaging about 60 appointments per month. We greatly appreciate their expertise and compassion and thank Clayton Utz for their continuing support as a trusted and valued partner.
Referrals to the clinic are welcome. Call 9516 1002 for more information.

October newsletter out now

If you'd like to subscribe to our newsletters, email us with “Newsletter mailing list: subscribe” in the subject line to sue.steedman@ourplace.org.au, and tell us whether you’d prefer an email/pdf version or a hard copy mailed to you (we’ll need your street or PO address for this of course).
Our current Issue No 6 (October 09) is ready to send now. We look forward to hearing from new subscribers. You can also order back-copies.