TRAUMA-BASED counselling services for victims of crime will still be available to Limestone Coast residents through phone, online and face-to-face delivery despite the absence of a Mount Gambier office, Relationships Australia South Australia says.
The not-for-profit organisation will receive $2.4m over three years to deliver a new counselling service to support victims of crime and expects to open an office in Mount Gambier by the end of the year.
Relationships Australia South Australia manager Luci Lovelock said the funding would allow the organisation to support a counsellor to work from the regional office alongside its existing staff across metropolitan and regional sites.
Ms Lovelock said the organisation was working with the existing Victim Support Service – which will close next month – to ensure a smooth transition between providers.
“We want it to be a seamless transition to make sure the clients feel supported,” she said.
“We expect to open an office in Mount Gambier by the end of the year, but in the interim we will be doing outreach trips to Mount Gambier.”
Ms Lovelock said the organisation’s trauma-based counselling services would be delivered in person face-to-face, phone or through video as suitable for each individual, based on location and preference.
She said counselling support and referrals aimed to help with healing, improvement in wellbeing and resilience, reduction in the likelihood of re-traumatisation and increased post-traumatic growth and recovery.
“All of our counsellors are specially trained in trauma-informed care, which is an understanding of how trauma presents,” Ms Lovelock said.
“It is more specific as it focuses on how trauma affects a person.
“What we are funded to deliver is the counselling and peer support through the different stages of trauma, right from the start of the crime until the conclusion, whatever that may be.”
Ms Lovelock said peer support workers would also be available to draw on their lived experience of recovery and provide practical support, information and effective coping strategies.
“A peer support worker is someone who has been through the criminal system as a victim of crime and is able to support someone else,” she said.
“They are able to answer questions and support the client with what happens throughout the process.
“We also have a referral process if client needs additional support.”
