Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I had the privilege of meeting with representatives of healthAbility, a terrific not-for-profit organisation based in Box Hill in my electorate of Chisholm, which is committed to providing integrated quality, person focused health and wellbeing services. As we know, prevention is far better than cure, and enjoying good health is far more than just being physically healthy or without disease.

Helping to prevent illness and providing a holistic approach to care are two core objectives of healthAbility. Their broad range of services include helping empower people with disabilities to achieve their goals and get the best possible value from their NDIS package, and assisting people to navigate the My Aged Care system. They offer a comprehensive range of therapies, groups and programs, and mental health and dental services for children, youth and families. More broadly, they enable access to friendly local dental care, and they provide a mental health service that is person-centred, focused on moving with people as their needs change.

During our meeting, I was also briefed on Baby Makes 3, an innovative, evidence based, mental-health-promotion, social-change and family-violence-prevention initiative. It works to improve the mental health and wellbeing of first-time parents and their kids, by fostering equal and respectful relationships and collaborative co-parenting.

To the CEO, Agata, and the team: thanks for all the great work you do supporting our community, and I look forward to meeting again soon.