healing-and-hope

Impact Story - Acute Support

Wed, 14 May 2025 01:17:15 GMT

Over the past year my physical condition and mental health have become more troubled than before, while the uplifting support received from Healing and Hope has been constant as always.

Kate and Tanya maintain a level of care and practical help that are heartening at bleak times. Their unfailing concern has given back a personal trust in representatives of Geelong Grammar School through Healing and Hope, that had been lacking in me since schooldays in the 1960s.

I am very grateful for their energy and initiative on my behalf, and for the patience and sensitivity in their approach to someone undergoing acute as well as chronic difficulties. The reliable generosity of Healing and Hope in provision of this care and for the financial support to receive specialist treatment in recent weeks, gives a truthfully relatable aspect to the abiding values of GGS as an exceptional institution and community.

- May 2025

The Wellbeing Paddock

Tue, 13 May 2025 01:17:17 GMT

Healing and Hope feedback via our new therapy partner, Jane Hall, The Wellbeing Paddock

In 2025 Healing and Hope introduced The Wellbeing Paddock, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP), to its specialised suite of healing opportunities for survivors and their families.

Jane Hall is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, trained specifically in Trauma Therapy modalities. She offers support to those who have experienced or been exposed to traumatic events.

Jane has kindly shared her own supportive words as well as feedback from a survivor for whom Healing and Hope provides care and who is responding well to Jane’s therapy.

"The unique offering that Healing and Hope provides to survivors is unlike any other service I’ve encountered. Kate and Tanya’s exceptional level of individual care, deep contextual understanding, and genuine compassion is truly remarkable. I have personally witnessed the lengths to which the Healing and Hope team goes to support survivor communities and their families—efforts that are essential for true healing to take place. This is a rare and deeply necessary service that meets a specific, often unmet need with grace and dedication."

Jane Hall
The Wellbeing Paddock

Jane continues – I have included excerpts from some of my email correspondence, which I thought you might like to read. I have verbal permission to share this information with you.

"Many thanks for today, Jane - it feels to me that I have come home with a lighter burden than when leaving this morning. It was an honour to be looked after so considerately by your horses, and your patience with my egocentric talking is greatly appreciated (I probably spoke more than over the past 12 months put together, and for once without the kind of hangover of unease that I normally get from hearing my own voice). I look forward to Monday afternoon."

and

"I look forward to Tuesday. Depression is feeling less of burden now than before our first meeting."

and

"I have a feeling of connection and being cared for. It’s been a long time since I have felt that."

Impact Story - Small Things Matter

Mon, 12 May 2025 01:17:19 GMT

If in the past you’d suggested to me that having your house cleaned once a fortnight could change life, I might have raised a dubious eyebrow. But for the last 10 months, since Healing and Hope began covering the costs for a cleaner to come to the home my parents now share with my brother, I have learned that it can be genuinely transformative.

It’s not easy for people of my parents’ generation to accept this sort of help. Still less for people who have always been the givers, not receivers, of support. My parents were always the sort of people who helped other people – active in our community, providing foster care to kids at risk, my mum doing values-based work, dad an elder in the church.

But that got harder over the years.

My brother was a beautiful child. My grandfather’s favorite mate, my adored little brother, always in a pack of cousins or neighbourhood kids. Extroverted, funny, clever. Until, too often, he wasn’t. Inexplicably, he began to change, and no-one could understand why, despite the many professionals my parents took him to see. Several years ago, he moved in with my parents, now in their 80s. By then, they had already raised two of his kids. The life they had imagined for themselves had long since evaporated.

When I first learned, about ten years ago, of the abuse my brother had suffered, it all made sense. And as someone who has worked for decades in community organisations, including on sexual abuse, I wished that we had known earlier. We could have done so much if we had understood what was driving my brother’s behaviour.

As it was, the process of sharing what had been done to him, and negotiating the compensation process, was harrowing. My brother had what he describes as a breakdown.

Through all this, my parents continued to love and care for my brother, and to stand in as grandparents to their four great-grandchildren. While their friends have enjoyed long retirements, they are still taking kids to school and picking them up, their financial reserves long since gone, along with their energy, and, too often, their faith in the world.

Last year, my mother had a number of falls, incapacitating her. The demands of family continued, and their home became more and more out of control. Living and working hundreds of kilometers away, I could not be there to help them. My brother continues to strive to overcome the hardships that beset him, and for this and many other reasons I continue to love him deeply, but he can rarely contribute to the order of the home. My parents could no longer keep up with housework. They were ashamed to have people over, becoming even more isolated. We tried to organise help, but in their small regional town, it was all just too hard.

Then, one day, Tanya from Healing and Hope, asked me how, really, things were going. It was one of many communications I have had with Tanya over the years. She said Healing and Hope could help with a cleaner. I couldn’t believe it. We found a wonderful cleaner, and the house was transformed. And with it, my mum. ‘It’s such a relief’, she says to me. And I know she doesn’t just mean having a home she isn’t ashamed of. It’s not just having someone coming to the house who she knows really cares about her. It’s not just that she doesn’t feel like such a failure. It’s partly because there is some part of this school that sees my family as human, as deserving of compassion, that understands how much we have tried not to be defeated.

This is what donations to Healing and Hope can do – facilitate vital practical support but so much more than this - hope and healing.

- May 2025

Vale Chris Mackey and a White Balloon Day Reflection

Sun, 11 May 2025 01:17:15 GMT

It was with deep sorrow that in December 2024, Healing and Hope learned of the tragic death of Chris Mackey.

Chris was such a champion of our work with survivors of child sexual abuse and their families. His support of Geelong Grammar School in facilitating this meaningful work was and will continue to be sincerely appreciated.

Chris provided generous pro bono advice to members of our Healing and Hope community and his expertise and understanding of the effects of childhood trauma offered a profound dimension to the healing.

Chris and his wife Sue attended the Healing and Hope White Balloon Day event in September 2024 as our guests. We are so grateful to have had that time with him. His feedback, kindly provided following this therapeutic occasion, will remain a treasured piece of our Healing and Hope story and his message to us was to please share in any way we felt it might be most useful.

We share it here with you now -

Healing and Hope – a White Balloon Day Reflection

Having recently attended a Healing and Hope function at the school's White Balloon Day I’m writing to express how impressed I am with this program. As a psychologist who has specialized for 35 years in the trauma field, I'd like to acknowledge some things that stood out to me as most heartening.

From the several people I met who had accessed Healing and Hope services it was well evident that they strongly appreciated the genuine support they received from Kate Parsons and Tanya Bishop. Their apparent trust and comfort in relating to others at the function struck me as a likely important antidote to the unwarranted shame felt by many abuse survivors, a common harmful legacy of their perpetrators taking no responsibility for their criminal actions against vulnerable children. Healing and Hope appeared to provide broader acknowledgment from the school community to those afflicted. Such validation at a wider community level offers something beyond what individual psychological therapy can truly provide and can help undo at least some of the harm.

I was further impressed by the clarity and authenticity of Rebecca Cody's words in acknowledging the impact of past abuse on former school students. Along with the involvement of the Principal and other influential members on the Healing and Hope Board, that seemed to demonstrate that the school's concern for abuse survivors goes beyond lip service. The carefully chosen words of students of varying ages, spelling out ways to help themselves and others keep safe and well, was uplifting in that it would help ensure that current and future generations will be better equipped to protect themselves from serious abuse and its harshest impact.

In attending the function, I learnt more about the various forms of practical assistance offered through Healing and Hope, including care packages, therapy assistance, retreats and family support in addition to the important individual support offered by Kate and Tanya. These forms of assistance seem well targeted for easing the distress of sufferers through practical means offered with genuine kindness. I note the varied benefits to those served are reflected in testaments on the Healing and Hope website.

As a former school parent, in my view the existence of such a program is one of the most heartening things I've encountered to reflect a modern and enlightened culture at the school. This had a greater impact for me as many people would not have witnessed what my wife, Sue, and I did that day, given that it was more an internal school event than something open to a wider public. Congratulations to all involved in the establishment, support and delivery of this program.

Chris Mackey

Clinical Psychologist

Impact Story - A Caring Response

Sat, 10 May 2025 01:17:14 GMT

My contact with Healing and Hope has been both positive, and, as the name suggests, healing.

Financial compensation is an important piece of reconciliation with victims, but recognition is as important. Money means different things to different people, but acknowledgement is universal and life changing.

Healing and Hope’s contact with me has been driven by them. A constant and (for me wonderful) reminder that someone cares. It’s a healing medicine that has bankable efficacy for me.

Healing and Hope keeps me in contact with the school (something I treasure) as a restored and protected person. As a result, I’ve been emboldened to invite (and welcome) my GGS experience back into my life. Plus… they’re lovely and capable people.

- May 2025

Mothers' Therapeutic Retreat 2025

Fri, 09 May 2025 01:17:13 GMT

Dear Kate and Tanya,

Thank you both so much for organising the Healing and Hope luncheon and catch up for mothers and siblings. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to attend.

This was my second time attending a Healing and Hope event for family members of students who suffered abuse while at Geelong Grammar School. It’s difficult, hard, depressing – and also really rewarding, worthwhile and reassuring to attend these events. As some of the mothers have now seen each other at previous H&H events, you can see that while walking in with a heavy heart, some of the mothers look forward to catching up with others who are living the same experiences. It is a nice opportunity to speak about our heartaches with others, who know the background and because of their shared experiences, can understand these things so much better. I felt I could speak freely, without judgement or the risk of shared confidences escaping. I felt heard and understood.

For years, I felt silenced. I couldn’t talk about my brother’s abuse, because he couldn’t talk about it. He doesn’t want to acknowledge what happened; he doesn’t want to engage with the school in any way. And yet for years, it was the elephant in the room. My brother would talk about things that had happened at school almost every time we met, as if his time at school were the only lived experience of his life – and yet he was over 40 years old. My parents said we couldn’t talk about the abuse he suffered at school, because it is his story, not ours, and because he was not, is not, ready to talk about it, or willing, or able to. And so we have carried the silent shame, the weight of silence, as well as the weight of caring for him in what became an increasingly heavy workload for me as a sister in the years before I moved overseas. It was only when my brother spoke the classic suicide type thoughts that I snapped, and called the school, and said they had to know, that he had to be one of the boys who was counted.

I am so grateful for all the help you have both given me since then, and for the work you have done to support others in our places. We might not have spoken up during the Royal Commission 10 years ago, but we knew it was happening. My mother followed it closely. It would be years before we could talk out loud.

It was so helpful to hear Michal Magazanik speak of the history of litigation, of the engagement of the school at different stages and the changes that have occurred over the years.

In the discussion that followed Michael’s talk, I spoke of my realisation that it is only because of the work that all those around the table had done before, that my family could be there now. They say that we stand on the shoulders of giants, but I prefer to think that my family and I follow those who have walked ahead of us in deep snow. The effort, the loneliness of being the one in front, each footstep pushing down through the fresh, untrodden snow – it takes so much longer, it takes so much more effort. And with that effort, we see both the path to follow, and that we are not alone. We are reminded of those who have gone before us.

When you speak with other mothers and siblings, please give my heartfelt thanks for their bravery, their honesty, their support and their openness. I appreciate so much the opportunity to meet with them all, and I also want to thank them for looking out for my mum, who has shouldered so much over so many years. It means a lot to me to know you are all caring for her, while she continues to care for my brother, as I do too.

With my love, and many thanks.

- May 2025

Acknowledgement from the Chair and the Manager of Healing and Hope

Thu, 08 May 2025 01:17:11 GMT

Healing and Hope Manager, Tanya Bishop, welcomed members of the Healing and Hope community and special guests to the annual Mothers’ Therapeutic Retreat Day in February 2025.

Her welcome acknowledged the achievements and invaluable contributions of the past 10 years.

I and Directors of the Board of Healing and Hope also acknowledge the progress made in supporting survivors and their families and the contributions that have brought about significant and positive change within our community. We are proud to be a part of this innovative and authentic initiative.

We are grateful for the role of donors to our meaningful work – without you, we could not continue to deliver this crucial support.

Please join me in reading this acknowledgement from Tanya’s welcome.

Philip Crutchfield KC
Chair of the Board of Healing and Hope

"2025 marks 10 years since the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse conducted its public hearings in Melbourne and Sydney.

Healing and Hope acknowledges the courage of survivors and their families and supporters who bravely contributed to the Commission.

Healing and Hope acknowledges all those family members here with us today and those who are not - mothers and sisters - you supported your children and siblings in very difficult times, managing challenging behaviours and the disruptions to family life. Your commitment and courage, your willingness to engage with us, has helped to inform a decade of change and has contributed to the healing of many.

Healing and Hope is now in its fourth year and was established following the initial work of a volunteer Geelong Grammar School Recognition Committee appointed in late 2015 and is the vision of our guest here today – Angela Cannon.

Not only did Angela work with GGS in the role as a legal advisor and consultant to advocate for a trauma informed approach, but she had a vision where survivors and families could be supported within and beyond the legal process and be afforded a “soft landing” - and to know that with Healing and Hope by their side, they need never walk alone again. Thank you, Angela.

I also welcome our special guest – Michael Magazanik of Rightside Legal, whose authenticity, generosity and energy over these many years, has resulted in successful outcomes for so many in our Healing and Hope community – and beyond.

Kate and I are so very grateful to Michael for being with us today – I’m sure 10 years ago he would not have thought this was possible! I know I speak for those present Michael when I say thank you for all that you do and for sharing this occasion with us today. I also thank Michael for his support of Healing and Hope, and for acknowledging the steps Geelong Grammar has taken in support of its survivor community."

Tanya Bishop
Healing & Hope Manager

Mothers' Retreat 2024

Mon, 20 May 2024 02:08:02 GMT

On Friday 19 April, 2024, Healing and Hope held its second Mothers’ Retreat Day at Scotchmans Hill, Drysdale..

Angela Cannon (Principal – Cannon Consulting) was the guest speaker. She has over 30 years’ experience in senior positions in the Victorian Public Sector and as a consultant to faith-based and values-based organisations, including schools, religious organisations and child welfare organisations.

Angela’s consulting business focuses on providing independent and honest advice on professional standards to these organisations – particularly in the area of child and student safety.

Guests also included:

Tom Hall , GGS Vice Principal
Residential Education, Care and Community, connected with the audience by sharing his story and history with GGS. He spoke sincerely about his role at the School, and, under the leadership of Rebecca Cody,how focussed the Senior Leadership Team is on addressing the culture at GGS to ensure the safety of today’s students.

Samantha Hazlehurst , GGS Student Safeguarding and Risk Officer
gave practical examples of her busy and varied role in minimising risk, and keeping children safe.

Jane Hall , Clinical Counsellor The Wellbeing Paddock
shared a presentation of her work in equine assisted therapy and with children in particular. It was moving and informative and finished on a positive note as we look to the future and how Healing and Hope can explore options for effective and innovative ways to support survivors and their families.

The afternoon session was led by therapist Susan Bradborn to continue her connection with the mothers. Susan had met the mothers in late 2022 as part of the first Healing and Hope Mothers’ Retreat Day.

Costs for the event were met by those donors who responded to our EOFY campaign in 2023. Therapeutic gatherings such as this one, as well as our Fathers’ Retreat Day, rely on donated funds and Healing and Hope is grateful for the contributions that allow us to support those in need.

Healing and Hope acknowledges the kindness and generosity of Scotchmans Hill who provided the venue for the day at no charge.

Reflection of a mother

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and was so pleased that XXX could be there with me.

For the first time we had mothers with their daughters, and I appreciated having conversations with other daughters, at lunch and while travelling on the ferry. Through our conversations I gained another perspective on how each family has had their own journey through this experience we’ve all had to share. Some family members may seem to have been touched lightly, or less obviously, while for others the hurt has been very deep and complex. It was good to be reminded that the ways in which siblings and family members have been affected by the abuse experience is unique for each person, and that this healing journey needs to take many different paths.

Hearing Tom and Sam from Geelong Grammar School speak about the way things have changed in the GGS culture was a very positive experience for me and, as always, it was a joy to have an opportunity to spend time with Tanya and Kate. I feel enormous gratitude for the work they do and for their friendship.

Mothers’ Retreat Day attendee, 19 April 2024.

Reflection of a mother

Whilst I didn’t come to Friday’s get together with great anticipation, I left the event knowing that I had gained some insight into the plight of many other individuals who have suffered at the hands of friends/family/peers.

I came home heartened at the good work that is being done. Thanks to Tanya and Kate for all they have done for us. Their effort and input have been amazing.

Mothers’ Retreat Day attendee, 19 April 2024.

Reflection of a sister

My experience with Healing and Hope illustrated to me that GGS is serious about addressing the impact of sexual abuse of children on families and wider systems.

Tanya and Kate are warm and engaging and treated my mother and I with compassion and sensitivity. For the first time in a long time, it felt like GGS is acknowledging mistakes and making headway into changes for the future.

More importantly for me, it felt like this was not just lip service but a true recognition of the experience that families of sexual abuse survivors endure.

Mothers’ Retreat Day attendee, 19 April 2024.