Open Support
The 2024 St Vincent's College Art Exhibition charity is Open Support.
100% of commission from all art sales will be donated to Open Support
Open Support is a Sydney-based charity committed to acting and caring for the most vulnerable members of our community. In particular they offer services to women and children escaping domestic and family abuse. The Art Committee have a bold vision to raise sufficient money to sponsor a room at the cottage, a crisis accommodation for women and their children.
Client Story
Marcia’s Story - we are now very happy!
A family of four came to the Open Support Crisis Accommodation. The Mother, Marcia* was living on an unsecured visa, working full time trying to escape long-term domestic violence from her partner.
Due to the visa complications and the age of the oldest son, they were unable to access many refuge services. Most refuges will not take boys over the age of twelve as they have shared bathrooms. Because of our ‘core and cluster’ housing model, which provides individual units for families, we were able to accommodate the whole family, much to Marcia’s relief.
Once we had the family settled in, our Case Manager helped Marcia secure some funding to enable her to take a break from work, so that she could concentrate on healing herself and her children.
Using best practice, trauma-informed recovery model, we were able to help Marcia and the children move from a life of fear and trauma to one of independence where they can thrive. Our programs and services included, Domestic Violence counselling and education, a Child Psychologist for the children who had been extremely traumatised and had their own complex needs, immigration support, wellbeing classes for the family, and fun activities like the movies and zoo outings.
Marcia told us that before they came to us her children were so quiet and afraid and now they are confident and do not hesitate to speak up for themselves. She said without our service they would have had no choice but to go back to the perpetrator. She was so proud that with the help of Open Support she could break the cycle of violence for her family and her children can have normal happy relationships when they get older.
Marcia is currently working full time and we hope to attend her citizenship ceremony very soon. The family have moved into a beautiful unit close to the school they were attending and are very happy.
Thanks to our generous supporters we can assist many women and children like Marcia and her family – compassion in action.
*Not her real name – we protect client confidentiality
