Helping Victoria's families
A new $5 million facility for the Bouverie Centre — Victoria's Family Institute — which helps people deal with many challenging issues related to mental health, has been officially opened. The Centre is part of La Trobe University's Faculty of Health Sciences. Its new, permanent home is in Gardiner Street, Brunswick.
Opening ceremony speakers included La Trobe Chancellor, Mrs Sylvia Walton; Ms Dassi Herszburg, on behalf of families who have used the Centre; Bouverie Director, Dr Colin Riess; and Dean of Health Sciences, Professor Hal Swerissen.
Dr Riess said the opening was an important milestone for the Centre, which had been housed in temporary quarters since 1983.
A pioneer and leader in family therapy in Australia, the Centre helps more than 250 new families a year, free of charge, providing them with mental health, community health, and alcohol and drug services. These initiatives assist people with significant behavioural and emotional difficulties and provide clinical programs in specialist areas including acquired brain injury and sexual abuse.
The Bouverie Centre began as the Bouverie St Clinic in 1956, one of the State's earliest 'Child Guidance Clinics', with six specialist staff. By the mid 1970s it ran State-wide training courses, evolving through the late 1970s into Australia's first specialised family therapy centre before 'mainstreaming' with La Trobe University's Faculty of Health Sciences in 1996. Since then its academic program has grown to include introduction courses to family therapy; industry based graduate certificates, and clinical masters and research PhDs.
Over the years, the Centre has also developed many new ways of approaching family mental health issues. For example, the term 'Family Sensitive Practice' was coined by its mental health team, which has helped influence attitudes towards family development in mental health services. Among many new initiatives, the Centre is now managing the implementation of the 'Families where a Parent has a Mental Illness' strategy supported by the Victoria's Department of Human Services.