14th December 2006

Dear Members

The 2006 conference and AGM have now been held and as the newly elected President I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you the Executive Committee for the coming term 2006-2008 and to advise you of some exciting ventures being pursued by the Association.

ANZATSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

President - Linda Valenta (AUS)
Vice President - Tony Robinson (AUS)
Secretary – May Edmonds (NZ)
Treasurer – Gerard Webster (AUS)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Katie Seidler (AUS)
Ian Lambie (NZ)
Dale Tolliday (AUS)
Don Mortensen (NZ)
Jim van Rensburg (NZ)
Nathan Gaunt (NZ)

I would also like to take this opportunity to again thank our outgoing President, Kathryn Barriball (NZ) who has been an outstanding President and contributed greatly to the development and growth of the Association.  

The Executive also continues to have the support of its two National Administration Assistants – Anne Malecki (AUS) and Jill Armstrong (NZ).

Over recent years, the Executive has been working very hard to establish a structure for the organisation and to streamline the processes required to run such an organisation.  This has been an essential step in preparing the Association to move forward into the next stage of its development.
It is important to ANZATSA that our focus continues to be on giving something back to the membership and making being a member worthwhile. 

The Association hosts a conference every two years and, to date, these have been very successful, not only in terms of academic and clinical sharing of knowledge and experience, but in building relationships and support networks in our field.  This has always been very important to ANZATSA and is of significant benefit for members.

The biennial conference is but one of the many activities undertaken by the Association to benefit its membership and we would like to alert you to some of the other developments of the Association.ANZATSA has an active Training Committee, which is dedicated to providing up-to-date training opportunities across Australia and New Zealand. 

The Committee has, and will continue to identify and provide training, utilising local and international experts.  Members can expect to receive substantial discounts on training activities. ANZATSA is dedicated to having a public face within Australia and New Zealand in relation to issues of sexual abuse.  To support this, the Association is developing position papers on several “hot” topics and is seeking to enhance our contribution to  public and media consultation about relevant issues and events. 

Affiliation agreements have been negotiated with ATSA and VOTA and ANZATSA and members now receive membership rates on any conference or training events run by these Associations.

At the 2006 Conference, we announced the launch of the Association’s new journal “Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand”.  Members will receive the journal for free and submissions for papers are currently being received with the first edition scheduled for publication in late 2007.  Papers reflecting both research/theoretical and clinical issues will be encouraged and accepted.

The ANZATSA website has continued to be improved over the last 12 months and we are building to it all the time.  Members also have access to a “members only”  list-serve, which allows members to email each other with questions or comments about relevant issues.

ANZATSA encourages professional development and networking and has seeding grants available for discussion groups to run in all states and territories of Australia and across both Islands of New Zealand.  Interested groups are required to apply for grants.

ANZATSA also has a number of sub committees, and members are invited to express their interest in contributing to these.  If you are interested in participating in the Training Committee, Web site Development Committee, Membership Committee, Editorial Committee or the Conference Committee, please download the EXPRESSION OF INTEREST form HERE.

These are just some of the benefits to members of ANZATSA and the Executive are continuing to work at developing the Association and the benefits to its members further.

ANZATSA’s membership is crucial to the Association’s success and we invite you to consider becoming involved in the Association’s activities and sub committees, or if your membership has lapsed, to re-join.  A Membership Renewal Form can be downloaded from this website.

It is an exciting time in the field and for ANZATSA as we continue to grow and contribute to the professional field of working with sexual abuse.

 
Regards

Linda Valenta
President
ANZATSA