Welcome to our Spring Newsletter, nothing like spring in our step as we walk into this new season. Spring heralds a time of new beginnings and here at Brothers we are super excited to see the harvest of things we have been working on coming to light and beginning to grow over the next few months.
The last few months have been extremely busy to say the least, growing our teams, and growing our Brothers family whilst making sure we stay in alignment with our vision and values.
OUR VISION
Our vision is to be a nationwide community of Brothers that have transformed the way support is delivered to young men. Our Brothers are true professionals who provide a service that changes the lives of those we care for.
Just providing support is not what we are about or here for. Brothers was created to change lives for the better and finding ways we can best do this is an ongoing process and adventure.
As we reflect on some highlights over the past few months we as always feel incredibly grateful. Grateful for the amazing families we get to be a part of and grateful for the amazing guys we get to call our Brothers.
What's new?
Mothers of Brothers Group
Over the past few months, we set up the Mothers of Brothers Group.
We acknowledge the incredible role our mothers play and understand this can be the most rewarding and amazing role, but it can also be pretty hard and lonely at times. Raising Boys with all abilities comes with so many different challenges that only Mothers in the same boat can truly understand and relate to. It was this understanding that led us to create a group that supported our mums and gave them a place to connect with each other.
We have run our first coffee morning and now really look forward to more special times together and some girl's fun. Our boys are always having fun so it seems only fair that our Mums have some too.
Please join our group HERE if you're a Mother of Brothers.
New Website
We have a new website up and running, thanks to all our boys that let us take some pictures for this. Take a look when you have a minute, I actually think we have some supermodels in the house.
Brother of the Month
MARK
Congratulations to our August Brother of the Month: Mark Johnston!
Mark has really personified our growth mindset by constantly looking for new ways to support our guys and think outside the box. He actively engages and communicates with his teams by doing callouts, check-ins and finding alternate ways to improve our service. Great job living and breathing our values!
Focus of the Month:
Child Safety
Our focus is always on child safety but in particular this month with September 1-7 being QLD Child Protection Week.
Once again this year, we have partnered with the Child Protection Week committee to work together to raise awareness that child protection is everybody's business.
We believe all children should be safe from the trauma of abuse, violence, and neglect. This is something that here at Brothers we are serious about. Every team member at Brothers has undergone NDIS Child Safe Standards training.
NDIS states children with disabilities are at an increased risk of abuse compared to children without disabilities, so it is crucial for our Brothers to be aware and follow child safety requirements.
In QLD, the facts around child maltreatment are so heartbreaking and something we all need to work on changing in any way we can. Raising awareness and talking about these facts is important.
2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study - 2023
In the words of the Hon. Amanda Rishworth MP, Minister for Social Services, and the Hon. Mark Dreyfus KC MP, Attorney-General and Cabinet Secretary:
“The findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study are shocking.”
The study has found that across the Australian population* (16-65+):
32.0% experienced physical abuse
28.5% experienced sexual abuse
30.9% experienced emotional abuse
8.9% experienced neglect
39.6% experienced exposure to domestic violence.
* In childhood before the age of 18.
AWARDS
Brot Support Network WON the Team Award at the 2024 QLD Disability Sector Awards.
These aren’t just statistics. These are the lived experiences of 8,500 people over 16 years of age who have bravely shared their stories to help inform a safer future for all Australians.
Through these stories, we now know that child maltreatment is widespread with 40% of young people having experienced more than one type of abuse and 25% having experienced between three and all five different types of abuse.
We now know that Australian girls experience 2.4 times the rate of sexual abuse and 1.5 times the rate of emotional abuse compared to boys.
We now better know the extent to which child maltreatment continues to be a major problem affecting Australian children and young people today – it is not just something that happened in the past.
We now better know that child maltreatment is associated with severe mental health problems and behavioral harms, both in childhood and adulthood.
We now better know that emotional abuse is much more harmful and damaging than society has understood to this point.We now know that all systems involved in the care and protection of young people can and must do better.
The findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study create an urgent and compelling call for change. Australian Child Maltreatment Studies lead researcher, Professor Ben Mathews states:
We need to turbocharge our prevention efforts. We have a community obligation to build a better society. Change is possible and change is required.The Australian Child Maltreatment Study report and associated materials can be found on the ACMS website.
Together, we can better prevent and respond to child maltreatment. Together, we can help create new stories of hope for Australia’s children and young people.
Coming Up
R U OK day
Please mark September 12th in your calendar.
R U OK Any Day is the national day of action where all Australians are reminded to ask, 'Are you OK? ' and start a meaningful conversation if they think somebody might be struggling with life.
TESTIMONIAL
"My son is always happy to see his Brothers.
Good hearted support workers in the industry for all the right reasons.
Professional, kind and always on time."
- Annette Foun, Brisbane
Reach out if we can help you, stay safe and smile.
The Brothers Team
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