Our staff

Ashleigh Daines - CEO

Ashleigh Daines commenced as the CEO of Sutherland Shire Family Services in October 2019. Read more

Michelle Fairweather - Operations Manager

Michelle Fairweather is the Operations Manager at Sutherland Shire Family Services Read more

Lola Hearn - Administration & Facilities Manager

Lola started with SSFS over 30 years ago, and is our Facilities and Administration Manager. Read more

Belinda Harrison - Practice Manager

Belinda Harrison is the Practice Manager at SSFS, leading the Family Case Worker programs, Group Therapeutic programs and supporting a team of Caseworkers who deliver frontline support to Families who use our service. Read more

Amber Schacht - Youth & Families Team Leader

Amber Schacht is our Youth And Families Team Leader at Engadine District Youth Services (EDYS), leading an experienced team of Youth and Family specialists. She is passionate about the important work of helping support young people in our community. As well as looking after the Youth and Families team at EDYS, Amber is responsible for the EDYS space and activities, schools and community programs, services and events. Read more

Kim Byron - EDYS Centre Manager

Kim leads our dynamic and creative team at Engadine District Youth Services (EDYS), providing a youth-centred, trauma informed practice that encourages self-expression and self-exploration for young people to develop their skills and identity, and explore their creativity through the programs and workshops on offer. Read more

Jade Lindsay - Toolbox Talks Project Manager

Jade joined SSFS in 2017 as the Project Manager for the Domestic Violence Toolbox Talks program which is a nationally available primary prevention and bystander intervention program for the workplace. Read more

Melissa Philbrook - BRIC Team Leader

Melissa is our newest member of the Executive Team, and brings a wealth of experience in Social Work to her role as Team Leader of our Building Resilience in Children (BRIC) Project. Read more

Kate Cora - SSWDVCAS Manager

Kate Cora is responsible for managing and leading our Southern Sydney Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service (SSWDVCAS) team, who support women after domestic violence incidents and through the legal/court processes that may follow. Read more

Nicki Mead - Marketing Manager

Nicki Mead is our Marketing Manager looking after our website, social media, events and collateral. Read more

Latest

Sutherland Shire Domestic Violence Committee Presentation: Part 1: Domestic & Family Violence Training for Faith Communities and Response Pathways

The Sutherland Shire Domestic Violence Committee is hosting a Presentation on Domestic & Family Violence, and the impacts of Covid-19 on Community Responses for our Faith Leaders on 26th November 2020. This online gathering will showcase the latest research on Domestic & Family Violence

Southern Sydney Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service helping combat DV increase during pandemic

An article in today's Leader shared the news that our Southern Sydney Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service has received a funding boost to scale up support services between now and the end of December 2020, catering for the increase in complexity of referrals they are getting during the pandemic.

Training options

With a range of workplace training solutions available, Toolbox Talks caters for different audiences (staff and management) and different gender compositions. Learn more about our programs here.

Finding Out More About Toolbox Talks - October 2020

If you're considering implementing Domestic Violence Awareness Training in your workplace, join this webinar to find out more about what the Toolbox Talks program options are and how they can benefit your workplace.

National Domestic Violence issue in the news - but locally, what can we do?

Here in the Sutherland Shire, we see hundreds of “Hannah’s” each year – women who are living an unimaginable nightmare, experiencing many forms of domestic violence, trying to leave their violent partners, who fear for their and their children’s lives. Women who come to us for help.

Djanaba director Jann celebrates 30 years service

Today we celebrated, Jann Griffiths, our Djanaba Occasional Care Centre Director for her 30 years of service to SSFS, with a team morning tea. This was a wonderful opportunity to thank Jann for caring for and brightening the lives of more than a thousand children during this time.

Accessibility

Closure of Djanaba Occasional Childcare Centre

It is with deep sadness and disappointment that we advise that Djanaba Occasional Childcare Centre will close indefinitely, effective from Close of Business today, Thursday the 26th March 2020.

Join our Virtual Movement Challenge to help SSFS help local families impacted by domestic violence

Sutherland Shire Family Services have today launched a Virtual Movement Challenge fundraiser, helping local families stay motivated to remain active and healthy while we self-isolate or social distance in these times of COVID-19. By participating in the Challenge, our Community can help us, as we raise funds to continue the work we do in supporting local families impacted by domestic violence.

COVID-19 Virus Update - Services Unaffected at SSFS

With the World Health Organisation this week categorising COVID-19 as a Global Pandemic.. As at today's date (Friday 13th March), there are no interruptions to SSFS programs or services. We are reviewing the situation daily and following Government about service cancellation. We have taken heightened precautions around hygeine and cleanliness, and are encouraging all staff and clients to do the same.

International Women's Day 2020 - #EachforEqual

International Women's Day is on this Sunday, 8th March, 2020.. This day is to help forge a gender equal world. Celebrating women's achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality, is key.

The resilience of our BRIC team on display with online transition

What a week it's been! Today our "Building Resilience in Children" (BRIC) Team have been "practicing what they preach", showing incredible resilience themselves in quickly adapting their programs to online formats,. Today, they delivered their Healing Connections program via video conference, showing families that even when times are "extra" tough, support is still available.

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Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service

The Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service is funded by Legal Aid NSW. Call 1800 938 227 to find a range of local support services including accommodation, counselling, financial support, court support, legal advice and referrals to government and non-government organisations.