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12 September 2017 Forum: Agenda and Speaker Biographies

Preventing and Responding to Abuse: Guidance for Victorian disability service providers

Tuesday 12 September 2017

Level 2, Melbourne Convention Centre, 1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf Vic. 3006

Full Agenda

Download pdf agenda

Master of Ceremonies: John McKenna

Time Session Speaker
8:00 – 8:50 Registration
9:00 – 9:05 Welcome to Country
9:05 – 9:10 Opening Address Laurie Harkin AM
Disability Services Commissioner
9:10 – 9:25 What can support workers do to make me feel safe in my service? Lyn Rowe
in conversation with Samantha Dooley
9:25 – 10:30 Making the Most of it: International perspectives on safeguarding frameworks and the move to individualised funding Professor Peter Oakes
Professor of Clinical Psychology, Staffordshire University
10:30 – 11:10 Morning Tea
11:10 – 12:20 Panel: The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability.

Facilitator: Anthony Kolmus, Capacity Development Manager, Disability Services Commissioner

Keran Howe
Executive Director, Women with Disabilities VictoriaEmma King
Chief Executive Officer, Victorian Council of Social ServiceSteve Kinmond
NSW Community and Disability Services Commissioner and Deputy Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman

David Moody
Victorian State Manager, National Disability Services

Rebecca Oliver
Principal Investigator, Disability Services Commissioner

Lloyd Williams
Victorian State Secretary, Health and Community Services Union

12:20 – 13:00 Safeguards against abuse and neglect in Victorian disability services Miranda Bruyniks
Deputy Commissioner, Disability Services Commissioner
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:10 Workshops and Q&A sessions (pre-allocated)
Workshop 1: What is a Zero Tolerance approach? Making an organisational commitment to prevent abuse and empower people with disability.
James Bannister and Liz Collier, National Disability Services

Workshop 2: Learning from reviews of incidents and deaths: strategies for preventing abuse and neglect
Steve Kinmond, NSW Ombudsman

Workshop 3: ‘Staying Safe’ – Freedom from Abuse and Neglect
Jon Slingsby, Zoe Broadway and Heather Forsyth, VALID

Workshop 4: Indicators of Concern: Preventing the abuse of people with disabilities
Professor Peter Oakes, Staffordshire University

15:10 – 15:30 Safeguarding the rights of people with a disability who have no guardian Colleen Pearce
Public Advocate, Office of the Public Advocate
15:30 – 16:00 Afternoon Tea
16:00 – 16:30 Update on the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission Arthur Rogers
Special Advisor, NDIS Reform, Department of Premier and Cabinet
16:30 – 16:50 Minister’s address The Hon. Martin Foley MP
Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing
16:50 – 17:00 Closing address Laurie Harkin AM
Disability Services Commissioner

 

Speaker Biographies and Presentation Information

James Bannister and Liz Collier
Manager, Applied Research Projects and Zero Tolerance Project Lead, National Disability Services

James Bannister and Liz Collier work for National Disability Services (NDS) in Melbourne on the Zero Tolerance Initiative. Zero Tolerance builds the capacity of disability service providers to support the human rights of people with disability, and reduce risk of abuse and neglect.

James is the NDS Manager, Applied Research Projects. He has 15 years experience in the disability sector in government and non-government roles with a focus on empowerment of people with disability. He has a strong interest in self-advocacy and applied research and has an honours degree in French. He is slightly obsessed with Twin Peaks.

Liz is the Victorian Project Lead for the Zero Tolerance Initiative. She has worked in the disability sector for twelve years, in roles including direct support, program coordination, advocacy and the development and delivery of training. She enjoys eating food and talking about food, and her secret goal is world domination

Together they work with people with disability, service provider staff, advocacy organisations, academics, government and statutory bodies to design, develop and implement practical tools and resources for the disability sector.

James and Liz will be presenting a workshop on ‘What is a Zero Tolerance approach? Making an organisational commitment to prevent abuse and empower people with disability’.

Zero Tolerance is not just about preventing abuse, it is about empowering people with disability to lead good lives and improve organisational cultures. This means the way we listen to people with disability, the way we talk to and about people with disability and the way we work with our colleagues.

Join Liz Collier and James Bannister to find out how your organisation can adopt a Zero Tolerance approach and create organisational cultures which support the rights of people with disability.

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Miranda Bruyniks
Deputy Commissioner, Disability Services Commissioner

Miranda has over 30 years experience in the disability and insurance sectors, starting her career as an Occupational Therapy clinician before moving into regulatory and management roles including manager of an occupational rehabilitation centre, the Medical Assessment Tribunals in Queensland, the TAC and the Department of Human Services in Victoria.

As Deputy Commissioner at Disability Services Commissioner, Miranda takes a leading role in promoting the rights of people with disability, oversight of critical incidents reported by disability service providers and the resolution of complaints about Victorian disability services. She is committed to improving the lives of those who use disability services, and in particular, ensuring that people with a disability are heard and protected from abuse and neglect.

Miranda will be presenting on ‘Safeguards against abuse and neglect in Victorian disability services’.

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Keran Howe
Executive Director, Women with Disabilities Victoria

Keran Howe has dedicated her professional life to advocacy and empowering and supporting women with disabilities.

As the Executive Director for Women with Disabilities Victoria (WDV), Keran has represented issues related to women’s health, violence prevention and the rights of women with disabilities (and where these intersect) on a range of government advisory and community boards. Women with Disabilities Victoria’s mission is to lead the way for women with disabilities, by being a voice, building partnerships, providing information and engaging the community.

Keran has been recognized for her contribution to the rights of women with disabilities by being inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll. Keran has been a Churchill Fellow exploring screening for violence in antenatal settings.

Keran will be on the panel discussion ‘The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability’.

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Emma King
Chief Executive Officer, Victorian Council of Social Service

Emma King joined the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) as chief executive officer in 2013, providing a strong voice of leadership and advocacy on social justice issues for the community sector.

Emma was previously chief executive officer of the Early Learning Association Australia (formerly Kindergarten Parents Victoria), the peak organisation representing parents and providers of early learning services in Victoria. Emma also has an extensive background in the public sector and in workforce and education issues, having worked as a Victorian policy adviser, a teacher, and in a range of industrial and training roles at the Victorian Independent Education Union and the Finance Sector Union. Emma’s qualifications include a Masters in Industrial and Employee Relations, a Graduate Diploma of Education and a Bachelor of Arts.

Emma sits on a number of committees and advisory groups including the Family Violence Steering Committee, NDIS Implementation Ministerial Taskforce, Roadmap to Reform Implementation Ministerial Advisory Group and the Police Commissioner’s Human Rights Advisory Group.

She is a regular commentator on social affairs and justice issues.

Emma will be on the panel discussion ‘The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability’.

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Steve Kinmond
NSW Community and Disability Services Commissioner and Deputy Ombudsman, NSW Ombudsman

Steve has been the NSW Community and Disability Services Commissioner and Deputy Ombudsman for 13 years. Prior to this, he was the Assistant Ombudsman (Police) for eight years.

Steve has legislative responsibility for reviewing and promoting improvements in community and disability services; reviewing the deaths of people with disability and children; handling complaints about government and non-government community and disability services; and ensuring relevant agencies appropriately respond to reportable incidents involving people with disability in supported accommodation and allegations of child abuse made against ‘employees’. He has also had extensive involvement in reviewing service delivery and justice issues affecting Aboriginal communities.

Steve has close to 30 years of investigative experience, and has also worked as a solicitor and run his own consultancy practice.

Steve will be on the panel discussion ‘The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability’ and will be presenting on ‘Learning from reviews of incidents and deaths: strategies for preventing abuse and neglect’. 

The NSW Ombudsman has reviewed the deaths of people with disability in residential care for 15 years, and has had responsibility for the Disability Reportable Incidents scheme for almost three years. Their afternoon workshop looks at the key issues and important areas of learning from this work, and offers recommendations on what service providers can do now to reduce the risk of abuse and neglect in their services.

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David Moody
Victorian State Manager, National Disability Services

David has been Victorian State Manager at National Disability Services since July 2015. National Disability Services is Australia’s peak body for non-government disability service organisations, representing more than 1100 non-government service providers (more than 200 in Victoria). Collectively, NDS members operate several thousand services for Australians with all types of disability.

During his career, David has worked as a lawyer and salaried partner at Slater & Gordon, Lawyers; in various Director’s roles at WorkSafe Victoria; and as the Assistant Director, NDIS Secretariat at the Department of Premier and Cabinet. In this last role, David’s team coordinated Victoria’s contribution to the development and implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

David then worked for 18 months at the Department of Health & Human Services as Director, Budget Strategy & Corporate Planning, before starting in his current role as State Manager, NDS, in July 2015.

David will be on the panel discussion ‘The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability’.

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Professor Peter Oakes
Staffordshire University

Professor Peter Oakes is a clinical psychologist who has worked in a range of clinical and academic roles. He has held several roles and responsibilities including as an expert consultant in intellectual disability to the World Health Organisation, head of research at the Centre for Applied Research and Evaluation at the University of Hull, and a member of the expert reference group to the Health Care Commission and the National Challenging Behaviour Strategy Group.

Peter is interested in keeping people safe in services that are intended to care for people but can so easily end up abusing people. This is connected to the need to establish a firm ethical base for practice in all service settings. Much of his research has involved community based approaches and the evaluation of services and interventions through a programme of evaluative research based with colleagues at the Centre for Applied Research and Evaluation (CARE) at the University of Hull.

Peter will be presenting on ‘Making the Most of it: International perspectives on safeguarding frameworks and the move to individualised funding’ and delivering an afternoon workshop on ‘Indicators of Concern: Preventing the abuse of people with disabilities’.

Making the Most of It: The redesign of Disability Services offers a genuinely exciting opportunity for people with disabilities, their families and friends. This presentation will outline the key lessons learned in the UK and other countries where individualised funding has been introduced on a large scale. The central question to address is how can systems, policies and procedures translate into relationships and support that keep people safe and enable people to make the most of life. 

Indicators of Concern: This workshop will explore the early signs that people might be at risk of abuse in services that are intended to offer care and support. It will involve an opportunity to learn in depth about “The Indicators of Concern” which is a tool that has been developed based on research in the UK. It enables families, staff and people who visit services to put together a picture of the things that don’t seem quite right and then decide what to do about it.

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Rebecca Oliver
Principal Investigator, Disability Services Commissioner

Rebecca Oliver is the Principal Investigator at Disability Services Commissioner. Her team is responsible for the investigation of complaints and critical incident reviews, with a focus on examining the quality of supports provided by Victorian disability service providers and impact on the safety and wellbeing of people with a disability. Investigations and reviews conducted provide evidence-based advice and recommendations to service providers and government on best practice service delivery.

Rebecca was a Detective Sergeant with the Queensland Police Service with 18 years service in the Juvenile Aide Bureau, Criminal Investigation Branch, State Drug Investigation Group and Missing Persons Unit/Homicide Group. She has also held a role as an investigator at IBAC, the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission.

Rebecca will be on the panel discussion ‘The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability’.

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Colleen Pearce
Office of the Public Advocate

Biography here.

Colleen will be presenting on ‘Safeguarding the rights of people with a disability who have no guardian’.

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Arthur Rogers
Special Advisor, NDIS Reform, Department of Premier & Cabinet

Arthur was appointed to the newly established role of Special Adviser, National Disability and Insurance Scheme Reform, within the Department of Premier and Cabinet in March 2016. As the Special Adviser, Arthur provides leadership and advice on the development and implementation of policy and service design to ensure Victoria’s timely and effective transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Prior to this appointment, Arthur held many senior leadership roles in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for over 25 years including:

  • Regional Director –Eastern Division
  • Executive Director of Disability Services
  • Executive Director of Housing and Community Building
  • Deputy Secretary, Service Design and Implementation, and
  • Deputy Secretary, NDIS Reform and Director of Housing.

In these roles Arthur led policy, service design and delivery of disability services in Victoria. He also contributed to broader national policy in disability, including Victorian initiatives which are now included in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

As Director of Housing, Arthur administered all powers, responsibilities and functions of the in accordance with the Housing Act 1983.

Arthur will be presenting on ‘Update of NDIS Quality and Safeguards’, an overview of the Quality and Safeguard protections for participants of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the transition from existing Victorian provisions to a national approach.

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Lyn Rowe

Biography to go here.

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Jon Slingsby, Zoe Broadway and Heather Forsyth
Keys to Success (KSP) Coordinator, KSP Project Officer and Self Advocacy Project Worker, VALID

Jon is a dedicated supporter for the empowerment of people with disability to have a voice in the community and in their own lives. Following 19 years experience in the disability sector as a day service support worker, planner and residential support worker, Jon has been with VALID for 11 years. His role is to develop and conduct training programs and resources that enhance the self advocacy skills of people with disabilities to empower them as citizens, members of their community and to help them take charge of their own plans and lives.

Zoe’s passion is to empower others to build on natural connections in their community, to create circles of support that are sustainable and contribute to the benefit of the individual. Zoe has worked in the disability sector for 21 years. She has worked in day services as well as coordinating a supported employment role where her responsibilities were planning with individuals and liaising with employers to build connection and secure paid employment in the open market. This role also involved extensive on the job training with individuals and staff to encourage and build natural connections to ensure longevity and sustainability.

Heather is a person with disability who has overcome many challenges in her life to become a strong self advocate and leader. Heather’s passion is to help empower people with disabilities to become respected members of their community. Heather has worked as a Self Advocacy Project Worker with VALID for 14 years, supporting people with a disability to stand up for their rights and communicate effectively. Heather has worked for many years to become a leader and has completed the Leadership Plus course and VALID’s own SALT (Self Advocacy Leadership Training) program. Heather has represented self advocates on many committees, including the Victorian Disability Advisory Committee and the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations. She is currently the chair of the Inclusion Australia ‘Our Voice Committee’.

Jon, Zoe and Heather will be presenting a workshop on ‘Staying Safe – Freedom from Abuse and Neglect’.

VALID has developed a suite of information, skill building and awareness resources that are aimed at helping Victorian citizens with disability to live a life that is free from abuse and neglect. The main messages of the ‘Staying Safe’ project are that ‘Abuse and Neglect is Not Okay’ and people that feel unsafe or see something that is not okay should Speak Up, Reach Out and Get Help!

In this workshop, VALID will explain how the resources developed through the ‘Staying Safe’ project has been implemented in and by disability service organisations to empower service users to have a voice about their rights.

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Lloyd Williams
Victorian State Secretary, Health and Community Services Union

Lloyd Williams is the Victorian State Secretary of the Health and Community Services Union. Lloyd has been with HACSU for 27 years in a range of roles including OH&S Officer, Senior Organiser, Assistant State Secretary and State Secretary since 1999. Prior to that he worked for over 10 years in mental health. Lloyd is a fervent advocate for increased disability sector funding and improved support and development of the disability workforce.

Lloyd is also the National President of the Health Services Union, a Director and Deputy Chair of HESTA the major Industry Superannuation fund for the Health and Community Services Industry. Lloyd has served on a range of government and industry policy mental health and disability advisory groups and is currently a member of the Victorian Governments NDIS Implementation Taskforce.

Lloyd will be on the panel discussion ‘The role of Victoria’s disability workforce in safeguarding the rights of people with a disability’.

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Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 Australia

Call for enquiries or complaints - 1800 677 342

Email for enquiries or complaints - complaints@odsc.vic.gov.au