President's Report 2009/10

It is with pleasure that I present the ADHD Coalition of Victoria's 3rd Annual Report.
The past year has been a time of consolidation for our young group, which has worked towards developing a clearer strategic direction, and seeking to determine who our key stakeholders are and how we can best support them. Emerging and new not for profit Support Groups like the ADHD Coalition of Victoria face a tension between seeking to expand and having few resources with which to grow. The group has been fortunate to have developed an excellent, supportive and talented membership who has been willing to volunteer their time to enhance the development of the ADHD Coalition, for which I am truly thankful.

Key Achievements

As we completed the end of the 2009/10 financial year I am pleased to reflect on our key achievements as follows:

• Professor Rosemary Tannock Seminar - September 2009
  The ADHD Coalition was delighted to host a seminar with internationally renowned ADHD and education expert Professor Tannock of Canada. Refer attached brochure.
   
• Website development - the Website has been running for over 12 month. It is seven pages long and covers a variety of topics and gives a lot of information links and resources. We have responded to about 50 general enquiries emailed to the Website. Some of these have been requests for help and information from organisations such as Deakin and Latrobe Universities, the Catholic Education Office and a Dandenong Social Work Agency. The remainder has been from individuals with specific information requests, or from teachers dealing with ADHD students, or from students wanting information and resources for assignments on the topic of ADHD for tertiary courses.

The Clinicians' Roster supporting the website has been running for over 12 months. Twelve of our clinicians took responsibility for a month each, and made themselves available to answer questions of a clinical nature. Many of these were requests for help in finding a clinician in their area who was familiar with diagnosing and managing ADHD. The number of calls to the "Specialist @" line was about 30.
The website seems to be offering significant opportunities for our group to make contact with a broad range of stakeholders, and gives people a place to go for information about ADHD in general and the ADHD Coalition of Victoria.

• Conferences/Seminars - Some of our clinicians undertook speaking engagements to promote the challenges associated with ADHD including:
  • Teacher Conferences (incl. graduate teachers)
  • GP seminars
  • Primary and Secondary School talks

Special thanks to those clinicians who have participated in these talks, as they generously volunteer their time to promote better diagnosis and management of ADHD.

• Executive Support Officer Position - this year we have warmly welcomed Rita Brien as our casual Executive Support Officer and this has been fabulous addition for the group. Rita has assisted with all sorts of activities, from the Rosemary Tannock seminar to typing up the executive minutes and responding to all our email enquiries (except clinician specific enquiries). Rita is a PHD student from Swinburne with a keen interest in ADHD and strong clinical research background in this area. Her addition to the group has been a catalyst for many of the actions and achievements this year.

 

• New Leaflet - the ADHD Coalition of Victoria updated its general brochure, and includes the 'Tree of Love' a beautiful piece of art by a young woman Ms Jane Hicklin. We thank Jane's family for their generous approval to use the artwork in our publications.
  
• Planning for the 'Glorious Minds' Exhibition - Development of the 'Glorious Minds" Craft exhibition which is a fund-raiser for children with mental health needs is well under way. Even though this exhibition has not taken place yet, we have put much energy into the preparation of this exhibition over the past twelve months, so I felt it appropriate to highlight this in our 2009/10 report. Special thanks to Suzanne Vial and the Lumina Gallery for suggesting this exhibition and working with us to develop the concept.
  
• DGR Status - The ADHD Coalition has formed a sub-committee to apply for deductable gift recipient (DGR) status with the Australian Tax Office which will allow us to offer people who make donations to the group standard tax deductibility as applies to most other health support groups. We are making progress in preparing our case, and currently seeking a qualified accountant to assist us in this endeavour through a pro bono arrangement.
  
• Meetings @ Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) - as part of the ADHD Coalition's development it was agreed during the year that we should move our executive meetings away from Saturday's, and the executive group now meets monthly on a Wednesday at the RCH. This has aided in facilitating the attendance of clinicians from the hospital, and seems to be working extremely well.
  
• Media responses - The Coalition has responded to several media organisations about negative presentation of issues pertaining to ADHD. However, I am delighted to report that in 2010 for the first time since our inception we were able to congratulate Channel 10 on the 7PM Project's segment concerning ADHD. It was refreshing for the Coalition to see a segment accurately and sensitively present the subject of ADHD. Let's hope this is a sign of changing times!
  
  
  
  

New initiatives
I am also pleased to announce a series of new initiatives which are being introduced in 2010/11, and these include:

•  ADHD Consumer forums to support parents who are bringing up children and adolescents with ADHD. The forums will be free, with a gold coin donation much appreciated.
  
• Glorious Minds Exhibition will be held in early 2011, which will give the ADHD Coalition the opportunity for some valuable publicity and allow us through the Exhibition the opportunity for an Exhibition Opening and soiree whereby we can promote and publicise the issues of ADHD and mental health.

 

I am hopeful that during the 2010/11 we may be able to undertake a Conference, if we are successful in applying for Vichealth funding. I will keep you updated as to how our application progresses.

Thanks to all the membership for your ongoing support and commitment to the ADHD Coalition of Victoria. I am very optimistic about the next 12 months and hope that with the advent of DGR status we may be able to secure some government grants to support further our growth and development. There is certainly plenty of need out in the community for more information and support especially for families and consumers managing ADHD in their lives.

Jacqui Briggs
President