February is upon us already and so much has happened since we passed into 2023.
I am delighted to introduce to our members:
Lesley Fox who has commenced in her role as National Education Coordinator – Lesley has already hit the ground running with the organisation of workshops for 2023, along with some additional opportunities for professional development for our members.
Charlise Bennett has also commenced in the role of the Executive Officer for ARTA – Her wealth of knowledge and experience will provide ARTA with wonderful leadership and support to the board and the office team.
And finally welcoming Kayla Garside back as a board member – she had been holding the fort for ARTA with the executive officer along with organising professional development in 2022 and we are grateful for all her work there and also coming back on the board to represent our members.
Please join me in welcoming Lesley, Charlise and Kayla to their respective positions. ARTA continues to represent our members through many platforms. In November 2022, ARTA had sent many letters to government officials and leaders within industry highlighting concerns regarding the wage increases and that our members have been left out of this discussion.
ARTA did receive a responses from the Prime Minister, Minister for Health and Aged Care the Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Aged Care the Hon Anika Wells MP, and Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care the Hon Ged Kearney MP, concerning the Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision of 4 November 2022 in the aged care work value case. You can see their response further in this newsletter.
ARTA has continued their membership with the National Aged Care Alliance and Danielle and Charlise will be attending in February representing ARTA and its membership. We have commenced discussion as well with the Industry Skills Council which will also highlight our membership needs.
Thank you also to our members who contributed to the two online surveys – the first was assisting ARTA to know more about our current membership needs, and the second was open to those who were also non-members regarding the recent changes to aged care funding and the minutes associated with this. Using the information collated, we aim to respond to our members feedback from the survey across the year in various forms including town halls and online formats, along with taking industry information again to government and other platforms which allow ARTA to raise the concerns and experiences of professionals within various industries.
ARTA also continues its connections globally with international leaders and we hope to provide more information as this comes across the next few months.
Our board have portfolios which they are responsible for engaging with and building on for the betterment of ARTA, however, this shouldn’t sit alone on the board’s shoulders. I am asking that our membership, should they show an interest in joining communities of practice, please reach out to the office. Below is a pictogram of the board members and the portfolios they oversee, so please consider reaching out to support our volunteer board.
Finally, February is the month we celebrate our profession – we are linking into the global theme for Recreational Therapy Week (13th-19th February) ‘Finding Your Way’ which is timely as Australian Recreational Therapy Association continues to grow, push and find our way amongst a maze of industry and political requirements. I encourage you all to lift our profile during this week by being the voice- the voice that enables others to know who we are and what we strive for so we do find our place (where it deserves to be) supporting those clients, patients, residents and people every day.
Until March,
Renée Smith
ARTA President