Dedicated to a lifetime of social justice

Our heartfelt congratulations go to Janet Jukes, on receiving an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in this year’s Australian Queens Birthday Honours list.

This award recognises Janet’s outstanding service to the community through LGBTIQ advocacy and social welfare organisations.

Janet has served as CEO of Relationship Matters since 2014 during which time she has expanded our services in family counselling and parenting supports, family violence prevention, intercountry adoption and mental health.

We are very proud of Janet and all she has achieved.

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Introducing our Self-Paced Parenting after Separation program

We are very excited to announce our latest innovation in relationship learning.  Our Parenting After Separation program is now available in an online format that enables easily available learning at a pace to suit each individual.  This program provides parents with key information and strategies to assist them and their children to successfully adjust to separation and/or associated conflict.

The online self-guided learning contains six modules and a 2-hour virtual group workshop.
The program includes presentations, interviews, quizzes, reflection exercises and other learning modes designed to support parents to co-parent more effectively.

Program Elements:

• 6 online modules
• Access to the downloadable learning  materials
• Virtual workshop (2 hours, 6 per group)
• Certificate of completion

Call 1300 543 396 or visit our website to register.

Find out more

Counselling supporting older family members

Raj moved into assisted care after the death of his partner of 40 years. After the initial settling-in period, his moods were very low and he didn’t socialise like he used to. He argued with his children and isolated himself from his family and friends and the support network where he lived.

Raj’s son was concerned about his father’s wellbeing and arranged counselling. Initially, Raj came to the Relationship Matters offices. He was experiencing grief and loss due to the death of his partner, which had been compounded by the move to a new living environment. With the impact of COVID-19, Relationship Matters supported Raj through our telehealth services, and provided Raj and his family with individual and family counselling.

The counsellor helped Raj come to terms with his grief and new living conditions using a strengths-based approach. Raj started to feel better about his situation. He was able to manage his mood swings and could better regulate himself when he felt lonely or isolated.
The counsellor also held joint sessions with Raj’s family to make sure they were aware of his concerns, social isolation and grief issues.

With the counsellor’s assistance, Raj and his family worked on a plan of social engagement, activities and wellbeing that helped Raj adjust to his new living arrangements.

Call 1300 543 396 or visit www.relationshipmatters.com.au to make an appointment

Relationship Matters takes a pledge

On IDAHOBIT day Relationship Matters signed the Embracing Equality Pledge to take action due to consistent and persistent appalling mental health and health outcomes for LGBTIQ people.
 
Writing Themselves In 4, the largest ever survey of people living in Australia aged between 14 and 21 years who identified as LGBTIQA+ released earlier this year. The survey was conducted by Latrobe University had 6,400 responses.The survey found that:

• 9.4% of respondents had attempted suicide in the past 12months while almost a quarter (24.1%) had attempted suicide at some point in their lifetime.  Lesbian participants reported the highest levels of recent suicide attempts in the past 12 months (14.1%), almost twice that of gay participants (7.8%).  81.0% of trans men had experienced any suicidal ideation, planning or attempts, or self-harm ideation or attempts in the past 12 months.
• Almost two-thirds (64.3%) of trans women, more than half (54.4%) of trans men, and 44.6% of non-binary participants reported missing day/s at their educational setting in the past 12 months due to feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.
• 37.9% of participants reported sometimes or frequently hearing negative remarks regarding sexuality in their workplace in the past 12 months
• Participants reported experiencing verbal and physical harassment or assault based on their sexuality or gender identity most frequently at an educational institution. 28.1% of participants at secondary school experienced verbal harassment based on their sexuality or gender identity in the last 12 months in their educational setting.  41.7% of participants in Victoria had experienced verbal harassment, almost one-quarter (23.2%) sexual harassment, and one-tenth (10.4%) physical harassment or assault based on their sexuality or gender identity in the past 12 months.
• 26.0% of participants reported that their experience/s of homelessness in their lifetime were related to being LGBTQA+.  

The Pledge sets out specific commitments for service providers that relate to a better understanding of intersectionality, building relationships with LGBTIQ+ communities, and ensuring safe and culturally appropriate services for LGBTIQ+ people.

Read our charter

Heal Country, heal our nation

Relationship Matters support "Heal Country" and call for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage.

Relationship Matters’ recognises relationships in all their diversity and our services are offered to individuals, couples and families regardless of, gender, religious affiliation, race, cultural heritage, sexual orientation or economic circumstance. We are an “Access For All” organisation.