LIFELINE Central Victoria and Mallee has a new chief executive officer, after eight years of leadership by Leo Schultz.
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Rebecca Cornish identified developing the centre’s suite of training programs as a priority.
“We train volunteers to work with help-seekers on the phone. But we also run other sorts of training, as well,” Ms Cornish said.
“We run DV-Alert, which is a training program around domestic violence. We run a suite of different training programs and we want to really build on that.”
Ms Cornish said training was an important way of helping communities become more resilient.
“There’s something unique about the dynamic of Lifeline that I highly value. It’s a community member reaching out to another community member who’s in need,” she said.
“It’s a rich way of responding, both for the volunteer and for the help-seekers.”
The social worker and clinical family therapist said she had gained an appreciation for how much community support Lifeline has since being appointed to the role in August.
“I think we can all be forgiven, at times, for feeling that we’ve lost a little bit of that sense of community,” Ms Cornish said.
“I certainly have been pleasantly surprised to see how much of the community spirit Bendigo does have… a lot of it’s invisible, but it’s there.”
Strengthening and forming partnerships will be part of her focus.
“We’ve got a really good community we’re working in... a community that’s passionate about working with people who need a hand,” Ms Cornish said.
She said there was a lot of commitment to mental health and to increasing the capabilities and resilience of communities.
“We do that best when we partner and we work collaboratively,” Ms Cornish said.
CEO was one of a number of roles advertised at Lifeline Central Victoria and Mallee since the start of the year.
Ms Cornish said Lifeline was recruiting for a number of positions at the centre, including a trainer.
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