Christian Counselling Centre
Levin NZ
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Christian Counselling Centre Levin NZ |
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Practice Manager's Report 2008 LEVIN CHRISTIAN CARE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT 2007 Report from the Board Chair“Thank you for helping me through a rough spot” “Life-changing” “The respect, dignity and nurturing is an important key to healing. The staff are life-savers … they need to be recognised for their community worth” “I have already recommended you” Anonymous client responses These testimonies are typical of many clients who continue to voice their appreciation of help received … a listening ear, a next step identified, issues resolved, conquests gained. For 17 years, the Christian Counselling Centre has had the privilege of serving over 4200 hurting people in the Horowhenua (and beyond) … helping to “heal the wounds of the broken-hearted” by providing accessible, affordable and high-quality counselling services.
The year, 2007, was a momentous one in the history of the Centre with the resignation for health reasons of our manager, Wade Webby. I again want to pay tribute to Wade (and Viv) for 17 years of faithful, dedicated and sacrificial service to this ministry. As the ‘founding father and counsellor’, and ‘founding benefactor and supporter’ we thank the Lord for your vision and passion, and compassion which have served us so well, and have enabled the achievements of the ministry to date … the impacting of multitudes of individuals (and families) for good, and the Kingdom.
Wade’s leaving at the end of 2007 necessitated a succession process to appoint a new manager. We were most fortunate to have an administrator well capable of stepping up to this leadership role in an acting capacity (and later appointed). I want to acknowledge with gratitude Carol Parkinson’s willingness and subsequently demonstrated competence in this role. The Centre’s management is in good hands; thank you … we look forward to the future with great anticipation, in partnership with you.
I would also like to acknowledge the valued contributions and dedicated hard work of all our staff. The Board honours you for your commitment to serve the broken-hearted of our community. There have been some staff changes during the year.
· Ed Duggan left to take up work closer to home · Delwyn Crowther and Raewyn Lamble took some leave of absence, but have subsequently returned with modified hours · Annaleigh Corlett worked as our receptionist over the summer holiday period
Management and the Trust Board have had a fruitful year completing a variety of administrative tasks · a reviewed Statement of Faith has been adopted · the governance and management roles and responsibilities have been reviewed · preparation for a successful Internal Affairs Department audit · the formulation or review of 7 operational policies and procedures · the background work (Job Description and Ideal Person Specification) for the appointment of a Fundraiser-Marketer. Although we advertised and interviewed, no appointment was made, but will be revisited in 2008.
In April, we hosted Ruth Dyson (Associate Minister of Social Development and Employment) and our local MP, Darren Hughes, for an hour-long meeting to inform them of the valuable work of CCC in this community, and the need for additional funding. It was a mutually-beneficial meeting where a number of issues were canvassed; two months later we were blessed with a grant of $15000 from government in recognition of our work, and our financial need.
2007 has been a busy year for the counsellors and social worker; the demand for counselling services continues to increase. The statistics provided elsewhere in this report, demonstrate that we engaged with 313 clients, the highest annual number since 2002. Also, thankfully ‘no-shows’ are down on previous years, and accounted for just 6.5% of all appointment made.
As always, we work in a financially ‘tight’ environment. Our income ($174,000) was the highest ever, and 7% above 2006, but expenditure ($178,000) was also the highest ever, and therefore we made a net trading loss of $4000. Fortunately we have a small buffer from surpluses of the past couple of years. Prudent management of limited resources has always been a hallmark of the Centre; this year was no different. Our greatest resource, out staff, accounted in their remuneration, for 75% of all expenditure.
The four main sources of income continue to contribute in similar proportions to previous years, although Contract Fees (mostly Child Youth and Family), and ‘other income’ provided significant income (See Table – Financial Trends)
Overall, we are again grateful to our God for his many blessings, and grateful to Beverley Page for astute management of our financial affairs
In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all staff, trainees and Board members for your commitment and significant contributions to the life of CCC in 2007. The reputation of this place continues to go ahead of us, due in no small way to the high quality engagement in the lives of clients … relationships restored, skills learned, hope instilled, emotional health enhanced, personal problems resolved.
Assisting with “healing the wounds of the broken-hearted” is challenging … but also a huge privilege … and often very rewarding. I hope we all can feel some of the joy and satisfaction that accompanies this.
We are about to begin a new chapter in the life of CCC; dreaming the vision for the next 3-5 years and implementing it, is the exciting challenge ahead. We will need large doses of wisdom and faith. I’m glad we serve a God who can be depended upon for resourcing both. Malcolm Russell Chairman
Report from the Practice Manager
The challenges keep coming! The beginning of the year began with a family tragedy and I had the misfortune to witness a mid-air plane vs. helicopter crash, plus I have now been in the position of Practice Manager for five whole weeks! I have noticed that time does not stand still and that change and challenges are inevitable! It has been a topsy turvey year for the Centre culminating with the sudden resignation of Wade Webby due to health reasons. However, this has not distracted us from the core work of the Centre. I am deeply appreciative of the sensitive and robust team spirit that has helped with continuity of our excellent services, despite the difficulties and changes. Numbers asking for our help continue to rise; in 2007 we had 261 new contracts which equated to 313 new clients. A distinct area of growth in our work was relationship counselling. To quote a recent workshop facilitator, relationships are a continuous cycle of “rupture and repair.” It goes without saying that 95% of our work is helping people process relationship issues; however the growth has been marked in couple counselling. This is a good sign as people seek help to improve the way they respond in everyday and pressure situations. It shows a desire to do things differently and the willingness of couples to ask for help. Often this couple work then develops into family work with amongst other things, parenting styles and issues being discussed and addressed. To attend to this rise in couple/relationship counselling we have initiated a training opportunity with author, researcher and psychologist Rhonda Pritchard, for the staff. Funding issues continue with us from year to year, yet we survive and indeed are able to meet all our financial commitments. Sustainability is a huge issue for not-for-profit organisations and we continue to lobby Government to increase their support of our sector and essential services. We are again deeply grateful to the philanthropic trusts and committed partners who continue year in and year out to support our programmes and services. Hopefully this area of donations will increase with the new tax rebates offered by the Government for charitable giving. We are looking forward to another busy year which will include its usual challenges and rewards. As we look to the future we greatly anticipate the announcement of new premises for the Centre. Watch this space! This is part of my vision for the Centre, an accessible and relevant multi-disciplinary service to the people of Horowhenua. I ask that you continue to pray for the Board and staff that we will keep on hearing what God is saying and follow accordingly.
Carol Parkinson (1st May 2008) |
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