Annual report 2023 | SA | Mission Australia

WELCOME

On behalf of the individuals, families and communities we serve, I thank our dedicated South Australia staff for their continued compassion and perseverance over the past year.

Our strong relationships and partnerships with government and non-government funders, local communities and donors enabled us to deliver quality services to vulnerable South Australians.

Our services impacted 16,961 South Australians on their journey towards independence including over:

13,670 South Australians through our NDIS services;
2,415 people through our Alcohol and other Drugs and Mental Health Services;
560 people through our early prevention homelessness services; and
312 young people to continue their education.

In South Australia, our teams worked with local and government stakeholders to support nearly 500 vulnerable NDIS participants during the Riverland floods. The Adelaide Primary Health Network recognised our Partners Toward Wellbeing team for its extremely high client engagement rate.

The South Australian stories in this Annual Report demonstrate the unwavering resilience and dedication of our teams to serve people in need and strive towards an Australia where all of us have a safe home and can thrive.

Warm regards,

State director profile Mychelle Curran with copy

Together, we supported 16,961 Australians in SA on their journey towards independence last year.

Homelessness

560 people assisted
through 3 services

Alcohol & other drugs

1,828 people assisted
through 6 services

Children & families

4 people assisted
through 1 service

Employment, education & training

312 people assisted
through 3 services

Mental health recovery

587 people assisted
through 3 services

NDIS

13,670 people assisted
through 8 services

An Australia where all of us can have a safe home and thrive

In 2020, we launched Mission Australia’s 20-25 Strategy with a vision for an Australia where all of us have a safe home and can thrive. In the past year, we are proud of our progress in our four strategic focus areas. From the opening of two new Alcohol and Other Drugs facilities to our continued commitment to create strong, resilient and thriving communities, read more about our progress in FY23.

See our progress

Our work in action

Partnering to strengthen communities

In collaboration with other organisations through the HOPE collective, the Mission Australia team in Whyalla established a local drug action team to organise community wellbeing groups and foster safe environments through social participation. Through shared activities such as cooking classes, group exercise, yarning circles, silent discos and face painting classes, the group have witnessed new friendships forming, greater community participation and awareness of support services.

About our work

Thank you for making our work possible this year

Driving excellence

Our award-winning Impact Measurement Program helps us understand how our services improve the lives of our clients and the communities we serve. We measure our impact by asking the people we help questions about their wellbeing when they start a service and when they exit.

In South Australia, our alcohol and other drugs (AOD services), Drug and Alcohol Youth Outreach Service, Mission Australia Country, Partners Toward Wellbeing, Reach and Refer and Youth and Family Alcohol and Other Drugs Support, provide rehabilitation and community-based support to people who struggle with substance misuse. Our impact measurement data shows that when people left the service, they were more satisfied with their personal wellbeing.

Bar chart of Reconnect average satisfaction with life as a whole showing there is an increase when they exit compared with starting

*Matched data collected from July 2022 to June 2023 (n=104) compared to Australian population normative range

¹Deakin University and Australian Unity Limited. (2021). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index - Appendices 38. Subjective wellbeing in Australia during the second year of the pandemic. Geelong: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, School of Psychology, Deakin University

Policy & Advocacy

Mission Australia continued our research, policy and advocacy work to support people in need to thrive. We boldy advocated to the Federal and State/Territory Governments on issues of importance to Mission Australia and the people we serve.

We made policy submissions on a range of topics including homelessness, social and affordable housing, and youth. Across the state and nationally, we met with Ministers and senior government representatives on policy priorities for people in need and furthered our community collaborations to advocate together on key issues.

We continue to advocate strongly for further investment in social and affordable housing, actions to end homelessness, adequate income support and other policy priorities to support people in need to thrive.

Explore our publications

View our media releases