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National Values Review Day

Wednesday was a special day for the TASC team as we came together for our Professional Development Day. It was a great opportunity for our geographically diverse team to connect and focus on the behaviours that reflect our values and contribute to our success as an organisation.

With consultant Joan Wilson-Jones leading our workshops, we dove into discussions about effective communication, understanding, and reflection on the impact our words and actions have. We looked at how these behaviours lead to better outcomes for our clients, our team, and ourselves, and brainstormed ways to incorporate them into our daily work.

It was a productive day filled with learning and sharing, and we left with a clearer vision of how to support each other and our goals moving forward. Here’s to putting these insights into action and continuing to grow together.

TASC awarded $149,967 to help combat domestic violence

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                              6 July, 2023

 

TASC awarded $149,967 to help combat domestic violence on Western Downs

The Western Downs will be the focus for a new pilot project aimed at breaking the cycle of domestic violence.

TASC National, a legal and social justice centre which offers legal and advocacy services across southwest Queensland has been awarded $149,967 from the QLD Government to design, develop and implement the innovative program.

TASC CEO, Frances Klaassen OAM said they will initially work with mothers.

“The statistics around intimate partner violence are alarming,” she said.

“Nationally, more than one in three women over 18 have been subjected to violence or abuse in their relationships during their lifetime.”

A woman’s childbearing period has been identified as high-risk for domestic violence, with 22% of women who are pregnant being subjected to intimate partner violence.

“Of these women, for a quarter of them the first time they encounter violence in the relationship is during pregnancy,” Ms Klaassen said.

“What we’ve seen and what the research shows is that violence during and after pregnancy is not only an appalling denial of human rights, it also has a lasting, damaging impact across the entire community.”

TASC aims to break this cycle through an intervention and educational approach based on research showing the impact violence has on parent-child attachment and how that negatively affects children throughout their lives.

Fractured attachments impact the way children grow up to see themselves and the world around them.  Unfortunately, it carries into adolescence, impacting their early partner relationships, resulting in adults who may repeat the patterns they grew up with.

The pilot program will focus on increasing the agency of women who are of childbearing age.

“Society in general has tended to devalue the impact and work of mothers and caregivers, which in turn leads to increased vulnerability for those women when it comes to gender based violence,” Ms Klaassen said.

“We will combat this by increasing the agency and connectedness of women through group work, community connection and demonstrating the importance and impact of the mother – child relationship across a person’s life.”

This is a new approach to domestic violence and program design is still underway, with rollout expected in early 2024.

“Our goal is to work with women, families and communities to help heal some of the trauma behind the violence and bring lasting change.  While the initial focus will be on women and their supports, we will also build an education program for men we hope to roll out in the area.”

While this will be preventative program, through their existing legal and social justice connections TASC is also able to refer women currently experiencing violence to legal and support services.

Tourette Syndrome Awareness Week

 

This week it’s Tourette Syndrome Awareness Week. Did you know that about 1% of our population experience Tourette’s?

But, what is Tourette Syndrome? Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a condition that causes involuntary motor/vocal tics. These include: repetitive movements, unwanted sounds (tics), speaking offensive language, etc. Diagnosed at the early stages of childhood, this syndrome is 3-4 times more common in boys than girls.

This year’s campaign focuses on ‘What’s your first response?’. Let’s work together to change the way Tourette syndrome is viewed by society to be more inclusive.

 

Senior Solicitor Allana Janke Celebrates 11 Years with TASC

Congratulations to our awesome Senior Solicitor Allana Janke, celebrating another work anniversary with us.

Allana joined TASC in 2012 and works primarily in the area of Family Law. In her role, Allana provides people in the Ipswich community with free legal advice about parenting matters, divorce and domestic violence and family violence. She is also on the roster as Domestic Violence Duty Lawyer in the Ipswich Magistrates Court; and provides advice through the Family Relationship Centre as part of its partnership with TASC in Ipswich.

Allana supervises a team of Solicitors across TASC’s network of offices in Ipswich, Toowoomba and Roma. She also represents TASC on groups including the Regional Legal Assistance Forum in Ipswich.

Allana has a Bachelor of Laws and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, both from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). In 2008 she was admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland and to the High Court of Australia.

 

TASC Legal Support

TASC is a long-standing provider of community legal, social justice and advocacy services across a large geographic area in Queensland.

Our solicitors, social workers and advocates can help you to understand and take action about common legal problems or other matters that relate to your human rights, such as abuse and discrimination, but are currently working to capacity, please understand our high appointment demand if you have difficulty or a delay in booking an appointment.

If you or somebody you know are looking for legal or advocacy support but doesn’t have the resources to pay for it call TASC on 07 4616 9700 or visit www.tascnational.org.au to see how we can help you.

*Eligibility criteria apply.

TASC meets rising demand for services

In 2021-22 TASC’s legal services helped with over 16% more problems than in the previous year, with the largest increases coming from people over 50.

This increase is being reflected in the number of people utilising TASC’s SLASS services. Additionally we saw increases in the proportion of indigenous Australians being helped by TASC (increasing to 11.1% from 9.4% the previous year ) and in the number of people experiencing homelessness (8% of people, up from 4.6% the previous year. Proportionally the number of people experiencing financial disadvantage was steady despite an overall increase in volume for 2021-22.

If you or somebody you know are looking for legal, justice or advocacy support but doesn’t have the resources to pay for it call TASC on 07 4616 9700 or visit www.tascnational.org.au to see how we can help you.

TASC Attends CLCA Conference

Our CEO, Frances Klaassen, and Legal Services Manager, David Manwaring attended the National Community Legal Centres Australia (CLCs) Conference in Hobart last week.

This conference is celebrating 50 years connecting Community Legal Centres in eight states and community legal sector peak bodies. The Conference’s theme for this year was “Reconnect and Reimagine” the justice landscape.

Frances and David took the opportunity to connect with colleagues in Community Legal Centres from across Australia attending presentations to explore creative new opportunities for integrated models of service delivery, cyber security risk management, building strong safe workplaces. They also discussed the how and why of the role of governance and leadership in creating a thriving workplace.

A  key take away was Bob Brown’s, Australian Politician founder of The Bob Brown Foundation, definition of the word justice as “everyone’s right to optimism. “ Hope is no good without  action – our job is to change reality.  Our community will come with us to do this if we give them the opportunity”. “Thank you Bob for reminding us that social change requires action and that is what we at TASC are here for”, Frances said.

Community impact the focus for TASC

TASC’s Social Justice team had the chance to discuss the impact their programs are having in Southern Queensland communities earlier this week when senior members of QLD’s Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships visited our Toowoomba office.

Deputy Director General, Max Wise and Director of Specialist Programs Lauren McFarlane were given an overview of our services, with an emphasis on TASC’s disability advocacy and Seniors Legal and Support Services (SLASS).

TASC’s SLASS service exists to help older people who are at risk of or experiencing elder abuse – which it’s estimated affects almost 1 in 6 Australians aged over 65.

Each year our disability advocacy services help hundreds of people living with a disability to enforce and maintain their human rights.

Pictured are Max Wise and Kym Allen with (seated) Lauren McFarlane, Frances Klaassen and Gail Reardon.

TASC receives funding from the QLD Government to provide legal services and disability advocacy to communities in parts of Queensland.   Please visit tascnational.org.au for more information about our advocacy and legal services.

Office on the run

TASC CEO Frances Klaassen caught up on her to do list at Sydney airport this week before her flight to Melbourne for a summit on NDIS Cultural and linguistic diversity strategy.

Frances and Social Justice Manager Gail Reardon were in Sydney for a separate NDIS and Mental Health conference.

Attending these events gives TASC access and input into what’s happening in the disability and mental health advocacy space, including best practices, common challenges and how to overcome them.

TASC provides free mental health and disability advocacy services across South West Queensland and into the Burnett and Wide Bay.

Widebay a focus for TASC advocacy

Last week saw TASC CEO, Frances Klaassen OAM and Social Justice Services Manager Gail Reardon travel to the Wide Bay region to catch up with our advocates and network with other organisations in the sector.

While in Gympie they also inspected possible office spaces for TASC’s Social Justice advocate for the area, Alicia Hawkins.

Stopping by TASC’s Bundaberg office also gave them the opportunity for an in person catch up with Nakayla Murnane who joined the TASC team in December.

Frances and Gail also stopped in at Hervey Bay to connect with other people in the community sector.

The Wide Bay region is an important and growing part of TASC’s Social Justice Advocacy network.

TASC’s disability advocacy and social justice service is free and helps people in parts of regional southern Queensland stand up for their human rights.  If you need advocacy help, contact TASC on 07 4616 9700 or visit tascnational.org.au.

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