Support Act National Welfare Coordinator, Lindy Morrison, has announced her retirement from Support Act. She will finish up with the organisation on 21 April.
“It’s been the most worthwhile experience and satisfying job for me for 22½ years,” said Lindy. “I have been fortunate to see this charity grow into what it has become.”
Lindy first joined Support Act in 1998 and was the organisation’s only paid worker for many years and the only Social Worker until 2018.
She established and managed the process for assessing crisis relief applications throughout that period and earned the admiration and appreciation of services users and the Board and staff for her ability to engage compassionately and honestly with services users to ensure they received the crisis relief they needed.
Lindy has always demonstrated an amazing work ethic and has prided herself on her ability to respond to all requests quickly and thoroughly.
In the past 12 months, Lindy has been responsible for managing a team of 7 casual Social Workers and 4 admin assistants, who were recruited to meet the dramatic increase in demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. She and the team have assessed close to 2,000 applications for crisis relief, resulting in the distribution of more than $5M in crisis relief grants. In doing so, she has played a critical role in keeping artists, crew and music workers housed, connected and healthy during this challenging time.
“Our music community has been deeply affected by COVID,” Lindy said. “Not only have we had a 3000% increase in applications in the past 12 months, but we made the transition from managing our data on a spreadsheet to a suitable client management system. I always said I wouldn’t leave until that was achieved. I will miss meeting our extraordinary crew, musicians, and workers coming to Support Act. I thank everyone who has supported this charity throughout the years.”
Lindy will be succeeded by Anne Jacobs, who is the current Deputy National Welfare Coordinator, based in Melbourne. Anne has a Masters of Social Work and brings over 10 years of experience to this role. She has worked across crisis support, community health, housing support and homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol services, and has a special interest in trauma informed care. She is also a great fan of music and a member of the girl group The Rebelles.
“Support Act just won’t be the same without Lindy,” said Sally Howland, Chairperson. “She has always been a pioneer in this industry, whether as drummer for The Go-Betweens, Artist Director on the PPCA Board, and one of the first musicians with a degree in Social Work, which made her perfectly and uniquely suited to this role. We will all greatly miss her passion, commitment and experience.”
“This is truly the end of an era,” said Clive Miller, Support Act CEO. “We thank Lindy for her incredible contribution to the organisation over the past 2 decades and wish her all the best for the future.”
