A New Staff Position for Lou’s Place

Lavender and Mahasti at the client Christmas party

Lou’s Place is thrilled to announce the new staff position of Domestic and Family Violence Case Manager. Lavender Bates (previously Lou’s Place Community Services Coordinator) has taken up this 12-month role, which complements her recent completion of a Master of Social Work.

Lavender’s position comes from Lou’s successful application for COVID stimulus funding through Women NSW. Lou’s Place is now able to expand its therapeutic and educational groupwork to clients who have experienced domestic violence. Two new groups have been established:  the first, focusing on boundaries; the second, on mental health and wellbeing.

Lavender has also recently attended MATE Bystander training through Griffith University. MATE stands for ‘Motivating Action Through Empowerment.’ The program educates lay people to feel empowered to act against violence in our community. So often at Lou's Place, we receive calls from community members who suspect violence is happening to a loved one or even a neighbour, and they are unsure about what to do. This program seeks to change that. MATE is an innovative and evidence-based approach to changing domestic violence at a community level - because always leaving change to people who are experiencing violence is no longer considered enough.

We wish Lavender well in what will be a busy and challenging new role!