South East Volunteers

Our❄️Winter Wonderland Event❄️is right around the corner.

Join us for a warm cuppa, morning tea and a chat. Wear something white and bring a friend!

If you're thinking of joining us for a cosy morning, don't forget to book, it's not too late!

Visit our website: sev.org.au/rsvp
Email us: [email protected]
Call us: 9590 5700

We will be closed this Monday due to the public holiday.

Wishing you all a safe and happy long weekend!

June is Pride Month🏳️‍🌈, which is not only an opportunity for LGBTQIA+ communities to celebrate and advocate, but also an opportunity for organisations like SEV to amplify LGBTQIA+ voices and show our continued support for diversity. Read Chloe's story about what pride means to her below ⬇️⬇️

I’m a 20-year-old open q***r woman, but getting to this stage in my life took time, fear, patience and self-understanding. I first came out to my parents at 16, through a letter. My home was the first space I had to breathe. It gave me the opportunity to openly find myself.

At 17 I came out more openly, not everybody knew, but I also wasn’t secretive about my sexuality. I have something called straight looking privilege, so it was always funny to me to see the shock on peoples faces when they found out I wasn’t heterosexual.

To answer the question of how you knew? I simply just knew. I always knew from a young age that I was different in many ways but especially this way, I didn’t have much in common with peers in terms of crushes, and being so open about who I had the hots for at the time. Attraction isn’t something that can be chosen, it simply just is what it is.

Pride to me isn’t about being loud as much as it is about creating visibility, safety and the freedom to exist authentically, not just for me but for everyone. I’m passionate about being a safe person and creating safe spaces for everybody, q***r or not. You don’t have to be q***r to support pride. This passion has guided how I show up for others, and I’m currently mentoring a young individual, being someone they can come to with questions without any judgement and anonymously, offering guidance on LGBTQIA+ topics, and sharing my experience to guide them. It’s a role that I cherish because creating safety and visibility isn’t just a political agenda to me, it’s something that can change the course of somebody’s life forever.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Mental Health First Aid Training in both Blind Bight and Merinda Park this month. We hope you learnt something new and had fun doing so!

Thank you to City of Casey for providing this training as part of their investment into mental health within Casey.

Learning about Mental Health and how to support yourself or someone else going through a change in their mental health can be difficult. Our Mental Health First Aid courses aim to teach you fundamental skills in dealing with a Mental Health emergency, in an interactive and communal manner.

If you or your organisation are interested in Mental Health First Aid training, email Lisa, our MHFA trainer and expert on [email protected] today.

This week is National Reconciliation Week, which follows National Sorry Day (26th May)

This year's theme is ALL IN, a call for all Australians to commit to reconciliation every day. It is also a chance for SEV to reaffirm our commitment to supporting Reconciliation.

This Reconciliation Week is the 25th anniversary of Reconciliation Week and also marks two very important dates:
➡️27 May - the 1967 Referendum, when over 90% of Australians voted YES to change the Constitution
➡️3 June - commemorates the life of Eddie Koiki Mabo and marks the anniversary of the 1992 Mabo decision that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius, paving the way for the Native Title Act 1993 and native title claims throughout Australia by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

We're so excited to invite you to SEV Social Support's ❄️Winter Wonderland Event❄️

Join us for a warm cuppa, morning tea and a chat. Wear something white and bring a friend!

If you're thinking of joining us for a cosy morning, don't forget to book!

Visit our website: sev.org.au/rsvp
Email us: [email protected]
Call us: 9590 5700

What a fantastic start to National Volunteer Week with a lovely breakfast to thank our SEV volunteers! Many thanks to the Ibis Hotel in Glen Waverley for the delicious breakfast and to Mayor Stuart James for sharing his respect for volunteering!

This month is filled with health awareness days and weeks, so we have given it a name: Medical May. This month, we're highlighting Chloe's family and their journey of supporting a loved one with a chronic illness. Read more below ⬇️⬇️

For Medical May we are continuing from last month’s segment around Parkinson’s Disease.

Medical journeys don’t just belong to the person with the diagnosis; they ripple through families. Parkinson's disease has shaped my family for nearly two decades, teaching us along the way that chronic illness is as much an emotional experience as it is physical. Watching a loved one live with Parkinson’s has forced me to learn about resilience, grief, adaptation and love simultaneously.

As the disease progressed, our lives shifted. Hospital appointments, care decisions and confronting conversations became part of everyday life. It’s not uncommon for a midnight phone call from hospital staff detailing a severe fall my grandad had, or waking up to messages from family that he was being rushed in an ambulance somewhere, or going for a coffee and finding out grandma had the plasterer over again because grandad fell and his head went through the wall. Yet through all this, my grandad has displayed nothing but strength. He shows us all what real strength and determination looks like. No matter how crazy it drives us at times.

Medical May is a reminder that behind every diagnosis there is a network of people learning, adjusting and advocating together for who they love and what they believe is right. Supporting someone with a chronic condition means not only caring for the individual but caring for the whole family. That’s something our health and community systems must never forget.

Last week we thanked Commonwealth Glen Waverley for their kind donation to SEV and our CAN project.

This week, we are very grateful to have received a donation from Commonwealth Bank's Waverley Gardens Branch.

A big thank you to Commonwealth Waverley Gardens for supporting our mission of connecting people and providing support to our community 💛