Management of the Agency
The six people who comprised the Inaugural Management Committee were a very dedicated group of volunteers who sought to set the direction for the agency and offer support to the counsellors. However, because the agency commenced servicing the public before it had a sufficient funding base, this resulted in both the members of the Management Committee and the voluntary counsellors having to constantly become involved in fund-raising. Consequently, management of the agency began to focus on raising funds, to the detriment of other critical areas.
Publicising the agency’s establishment and services was not as widespread as it could have been and therefore patronage was very slow to commence. The number of client contacts increased dramatically following the release of the following year’s telephone directory and a concerted effort to raise the agency’s profile within the community. By this time, however, a number of the volunteers had left on account of obtaining full-time employment, and through perceiving a lack of interest in the agency’s services by the general public.
An effort to enhance the depth and functioning of the Management Committee was instigated early in 1993. Again, however, work pressures and family commitments on the part of various newly recruited Management Committee members coalesced to inhibit the development of an effective Management Structure. Consequently, the agency has been limping along, with Grecian Sutherland providing the bulk of the client service delivery and her husband, Laurie, attending to management needs.