Have you ever wondered how some organisations seem to be great? Great to work with, great people, great impact, great culture?
When you are part of a great organisation you know that this doesn’t happen in one big gesture, it comes from focusing on consistent, incremental improvements, building a momentum that drives lasting, positive change and remarkable results. You know it comes from having great people skilled and values driven wanting to work together towards a shared purpose. It comes from curiosity and an appetite for learning.
This reflects the wonderful WHLM team who are always taking theory into practice to enable workplaces, communities, partnerships to better understand how we can enact change to be fairer, and more equipped to improve the health and wellbeing of women and girls in the Loddon Mallee region.
WHLM is a benchmark Health Promoting organisation. Centering women’s voices, giving stewardship to the stories, deeply listening and seeking evidence so structural change creates opportunities for women for better access to the health services and the information they need to make choices.
We delight in the roll out of structural and system changes that are bringing more women’s health clinics, sexual and reproductive hubs and models of care for rural women. Advocacy is powerful when women’s experiences are heard. We have engaged with many, many women across our region to link their experiences to the Victorian Womens Pain enquiry, Flood recovery, mental health and wellbeing models to find long term strategies to improve health.
The Long Story Short partnership project with Womens Health Goulburn Northeast carries powerful insights from rural women about the need and opportunities for women’s health to be prioritised.
Creating safe spaces for conversations which build capacity to “see the unseen” gender inequities that contribute to gendered violence is held in the Collective Action for Respect and Equality (CARE) regional strategy. There are so many willing partners who work to grow and promote respectful relationships. Together, changing the story in the Loddon Mallee.
Great organisations need great governance, and I express my gratitude to the wonderful women who give their skills, time and hopes while steering the strategic direction and setting the values of the organisation from the balcony. Thank you, you are seen and appreciated.
A special shout out to our chair Dr Skye Kinder. As we know, a key relationship to the success of any organisation is that between the chair and the CEO. Thank you so very much Skye for your care and women’s ways of working in this role.
This is a farewell reflection for me as CEO. The view through the windscreen sees me taking a Reset, choosing the things that bring joy and purpose in other ways. The forward view for this great organisation is full of aspiration and opportunity as the next leg of the journey begins.
Tricia Currie – CEO WHLM
