8th AUSTRALASIAN CLUBHOUSE CONFERENCE A RESOUNDING SUCCESS
From the 14th to the 17th of September beautiful Manly beach was the centre of the Clubhouse world. Pioneer Clubhouse hosted the 8th Australasian Clubhouse Conference at the Manly Pacific hotel. The conference was attended by individuals from most Australian states and territories, New Zealand, Japan and the United States.
We would like to thank all the members, staff and the management committee of Pioneer Clubhouse who worked hard to make the conference a success. A special thank you goes to our principal sponsor Janssen – Cilag as well as our other sponsors namely, the Schizophrenia Fellowship of New South Wales, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Eli Lilly, Elders Real Estate (Manly), the Manly Pacific, Magicdust, Manly Council, the Rotary Club of Manly Sunrise, Northern Beaches Mental Health Support Group, Nicky Hancock and the Hon. Frank Walker QC. Without you and your support this conference would not be the resounding success that it was.
The three days of learning and fellowship began with a beautiful welcome reception in the upstairs foyer of the Manly Pacific hotel. Here guests got to enjoy canapés and beverages and were welcomed to Manly by David Gore the chairman of the Pioneer Clubhouse management committee and by the Federal Member for Warringah the Hon. Tony Abbott.
On Monday the 15th of Sept the conference was officially opened. With Rob Ramjan the CEO of the Schizophrenia Fellowship of New South Wales performing the role of M.C, opening remarks and the acknowledgement of country were presented by Dr. Peter MacDonald mayor of Manly and the patron of the Pioneer Clubhouse Building fund. Following his remarks the following individuals addressed the conference attendees. Paula James, the Director of the Northern Beaches Mental Health Services, Mike Baird the state member of parliament for Manly and the shadow minister for finance youth and energy, Jason Kioko the Director of Pioneer Clubhouse, Joel Corcoran the Executive Director of the International Centre for Clubhouse Development and Stefanie Helich from Pioneer Clubhouse. A surprise speaker was added to the list. This was the Ambassador for Timor Leste who was introduced to us by Dr. Judy Lambert and Anne Lanham. Through them we learned of the great need for a Clubhouse among other things in Timor Leste and out of this, a group has formed to explore the possibility of the Australasian Clubhouse Coalition playing a significant role in the development of a Clubhouse in Timor Leste.
What followed the great opening was two and a half days of plenaries that covered topics such as, “What is a Clubhouse”, “Clubhouse – A leader in research”, “Employment in all its forms”, and “Accreditation and quality improvement in Clubhouses.” In between these plenaries were some lively discussions in all sixteen workshops offered. Thank you to all the members and staff who presented at these plenaries and workshops and of course to the volunteers who kindly gave of their time to facilitate the workshops.
On the final night of the conference most conference attendees attended the farewell gala. The dinner was fantastic and after a few words from the Hon. Frank Walker and the Hon. Barbara Perry the minister assisting the minister for health (mental health) guests enjoyed a fantastic three course dinner and let loose on the dance floor to tunes from a wonderful band “Juke Box Jive.” All in all, a fantastic time was had by all. We trust that everyone who attended learned something new and made a new friend or two.
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Rob Ramjan - SFNSW CEO
Dr Peter MacDonald - Manly Mayor
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