Understand and respond to the needs of members in regional and rural Victoria

As a statewide peak, CHIA Vic offers members in regional and rural Victoria equitable access to key services by providing an on-call VCAT/RTA telephone helpline and an Employee Assistance Program that provides free face-to-face or phone counselling throughout the state. In 2018/19, CHIA Vic also began a project to deliver NDIS training online to make it easier for members and stakeholders in the regions to take part.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

CHIA Vic’s free and confidential counselling service, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) received 69 new referrals, all of whom were employees (so no family members, who are also eligible to use the program). This was down from 78 on the previous year. Work-related stress was the primary presenting issue for the majority of staff, closely followed by work-related anxiety.

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CHIA Vic Residential Tenancies Act and VCAT Help Line

This valued CHIA Vic service is always well-utilised by members but the emergency COVID provisions of the RTA saw the number of calls to the help line soar from 195 in 2018/19 to 335 this financial year. The most common issues related to the impact of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act and further complications to residential tenancy law due to the introduction and then extension of temporary changes to the RTA, adding to the usual queries relating to simple procedural matters and more complex legal disputes. Where necessary members were referred for free or discounted legal advice provided by the legal firm Russell Kennedy.

The issues raised by members inform the content of CHIA Vic’s training courses and contribute to our feedback via the VCAT Residential Tenancies User’s Group.

Thanks to our Supporters

As a not-for-profit peak body, CHIA Vic relies on our strong membership base and the financial support of our major sponsors to be able to provide the vital services, support, training, advocacy and project work required by our sector. We would like to thank the following organisations for their assistance in 2019/20.

Our 2019/20 Sponsors

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