The Shepherd Centre Annual Report 2014

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ANNUAL REPORT

> ContentsChildhood Hearing Loss 2Chairman’s Report 6CEO’s Report 8Our Outcomes 10Our Graduating Class 12Our Directors 14Our Executive 17Income and Expenditure 18Clinical Programs 23Operations 41Fundraising and Communications 51Our Future 62Concise Financial Report 65How you can help 73

The Shepherd Centre Annual Report 2014 1

> Our HistoryThe Shepherd Centre was founded in 1970 by Dr Bruce Shepherd AM and his late wife Annette. In 1970 there were just five families in the program. Today, The Shepherd Centre helps over 400 children each year at five centres in NSW and the ACT, as well as families in rural and remote areas of Australia.

> Our FocusThe Shepherd Centre’s Early Intervention Program teaches Listening and Spoken Language with a family-centred focus. The centre’s transdisciplinary team equips and supports parents with the strategies and methods they need to seize every opportunity in day-to-day situations to teach their children to listen, to understand the meaning of sound and to speak.

> Our VisionEvery child with hearing loss achieves their full potential in the world through their listening, spoken language and social skills.

> Our MissionTo work, along with partner organisations, towards ensuring that every child we assist achieves the best listening and spoken language they are capable of; and the development of their skills is supported to maximise their social inclusion.

> Our FutureThe Shepherd Centre has been incredibly successful for more than 40 years. We have grown to now supporting more than 25% of all of the children under six with hearing loss across NSW, ACT and Tasmania. These children typically graduate with the same quality of spoken language as children without any hearing loss.

However it is clear that much more needs to be done:

· Of the children most at risk of language delay due to hearing loss, up to 50% are not in anyone’s multidisciplinary early intervention program. These hundreds of children each year need integrated assistance to provide them with the best opportunity to develop age-appropriate spoken language.

· Irrespective of their language skills, many children with hearing loss have social skills issues impacting their ability to achieve their potential in society.

· We still need to determine the best way to help children with hearing loss develop their social skills.

· We also need to find the best way to reach out to and include the children who aren’t currently being assisted by any of the multidisciplinary early intervention programs.

We believe that the above areas must be addressed as a matter of priority. As a result, a major focus of The Shepherd Centre in 2015 will be the development of a strategic plan to tackle these issues and work towards our dream that no deaf child will be left without a voice.

2 The Shepherd Centre Annual Report 2014

Hearing impairment is the most common disability diagnosed at birth.

The incidence of hearing loss more than doubles in the first five years of life.

>90%1

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Over 90% of children with hearing loss are born to two parents with normal hearing.

On average, Australian child is identified with significant hearing loss every day.

One in Australian children are diagnosed with hearing loss by school age.

Childhood Hearing Loss


Hearing loss can completely prevent the development of spoken language in children.

We listen with our brains, not our ears, so it is essential we help these children as early as we can whilst their brains are developing.

Early detection and support is crucial in supporting a child with hearing loss.

The Shepherd Centre is unique in the way that it offers a variety of family-centred essential services under the one roof.



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As I retire from The Shepherd Centre Board after 30 years, and as Chairman for the last six, this will be my last Chairman’s Report. Mr Peter Mattick, who has been on the Board for five years will succeed me as Chair at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting. Over my time on the Board I have watched the centre grow from one centre with well under 50 children to today where we have five centres and a distance learning program helping nearly 450 children and their families. One aspect of our success is the reputation The Shepherd Centre has built internationally. Our clinicians are in great demand at conferences around the world and their papers are keenly read by others in our field. In this way the benefit of our work is spread well beyond just those families who are involved in our program. Our research program has helped guide others in our field and is an area we wish to focus more on in the years ahead.

Our success over the years has been the result of our wonderful clinicians and administrative staff led by dedicated chief executive officers and overseen by boards of directors whose wisdom and guidance was only exceeded by their generosity with their time. Of course all of this would not have been possible without the great support of our donors. I would like to thank all these people and I know I am leaving with great confidence that this success will continue for years to come.

Looking more specifically at the year just completed, after 12 months here at our Newtown head office, we can confidently say we have settled in well and,

thanks to our excellent donor support, are already starting to reap the benefits of operating out of our new premises. The increase in space will allow us to continue to meet the growing demand for our services over the coming years.

In 2014, the number of children we serviced increased by 10% on our previous year which is testimony to the resounding success of our ground-breaking program. However, our increases in philanthropic income aren’t keeping up with that increase and this will be our focus for 2015 and beyond. This has led to operating losses which have been offset by gifts in wills that enabled us to produce an overall surplus. However this is not an ideal outcome. The Board has determined that, as the annual amount of these gifts varies considerably and cannot be relied upon to fund recurrent expenditure, they should be used for expenditure to build infrastructure and provide for longer term expansion.

We know that for every child out there receiving support for hearing loss, there is another child who isn’t. This means we are currently providing service to only 50% of the families and children who need us. Our vision is to work towards a long term strategy to ensure that every child receives the essential services they need and has access to our leading early intervention programs.

At the end of 2014, we were very pleased to have another class of graduates confidently move on to embark on their new and exciting life at school after completing our program.

Our results with the children who come to us are continued evidence of our success. Previously we have focused on language and vocabulary outcomes for our children. We have found that our standard graduates have achieved the same language and vocabulary outcomes as children without hearing loss.

There is a third measure that has not received the same focus of our work in the past; however it has always been important; and that is around speech clarity. We’ve always felt that if a child has good language then that’s the basis for literacy and many other areas of development. However, socially, and for the families, clarity is probably so important because what you sound like matters so much.

In 2014, we decided to elevate the emphasis on speech clarity and are pleased to report that, as with our language outcomes, levels of speech clarity were on par with children without hearing loss.

So, while our results in this year’s annual report will tell a compelling and positive story, we have also received external validation of the quality of our work. In 2014, we’ve had two external audits undertaken on The Shepherd Centre. One audit was undertaken on our preschool in Wollongong with the other of our overall service conducted by the NSW Disability Service Standards (NDSS). We are very pleased to report we achieved outstanding results in both.

Chairman’s Report


Michael Shepherd AO Chairman


2014 has been a very successful year and we would like to extend our thanks to our supporters for realising our vision.

We’ve also established an impressive Research Advisory Committee which you can read more about on page 34. This, accompanied by our solid financial results and exceptional clinical outcomes, means we are well positioned to focus on long-term organisational growth. Our goal is to ensure we can assist every child who needs our services as well as continue to develop our innovative programs. This strategy will continue to position us as a leader in our field.

2014 has been a very successful year and we would like to extend our thanks to our supporters for working with us to realise our vision. We sincerely hope we can continue to benefit from your ongoing support as we pave the way to exciting times ahead for 2015 and beyond.

Again, I’d like to thank all involved with The Shepherd Centre and wish you all well for the years ahead.


CEO’s Report

Jim Hungerford Chief Executive Officer

We have had a big year here at The Shepherd Centre. We were thrilled to see our Class of 2014 graduate in December. It is apparent that when our graduates get to school they often seem to adapt better than other kids to school life because they’re used to routines and concentrating on tasks. We think that’s also behind the academic success that so many of our kids have. You can read about our past graduate, Christa Dracopoulos on page 45. Christa is testament to the great work undertaken by our team at The Shepherd Centre.

Our parents are the ones who work exceptionally hard at helping their child to achieve those outcomes and also at supporting the social inclusion of their children. A recent national study (on page 37) has shown that at school entry the social inclusion of our graduates is at least as good as, if not better, than children without hearing loss. However on the flip side, we also know many children continue to have specific challenges in certain areas of social skill development, shown through our research into our children’s theory of mind skills. This will be a major focus in the years to come.

To address this, The Shepherd Centre has started its Confident Kids program which is being implemented across all of our centres in 2015. The program has been developed primarily for 3-5 year old children to help lay the foundation of their social skills for the rest of their life and understanding success in language is in how it is used with others, not just learning the words.

In the past year we have also seen the roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Canberra (the NDIS is due to have rolled out across NSW by July 2018.) It is fantastic that children with all levels of hearing loss have been supported under the NDIS to access the necessary services, however we hope to see more changes to the system before roll out in NSW commences.

One of our concerns is that the cost pressures being applied to service providers by the federal government may result in the NDIS not paying for the full service that children need. We also have concerns around the timeframe that is required to get children brought on to the services under the NDIS. In Canberra, six months in to the NDIS, we only had around a quarter of our children on the scheme. This means that The Shepherd Centre has to provide services without any funding to each child for many months. As a result, the support from our wonderful donors continues to be critical to these children getting the early intervention they need.

On a very exciting note, we were very pleased to see the dedicated hard work of our Chairman, Mr Michael Shepherd, and one of the original engineers pioneering the development of the cochlear implant and close friend of The Shepherd Centre, Professor Jim Patrick, both recognised as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank all of our wonderful supporters. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to provide our outstanding services and the children wouldn’t achieve the excellent outcomes that they do. This year we’ve seen a further increase in the number of new supporters of The Shepherd Centre. These supporters have ranged from one-off donors to regular givers who kindly donate an amount each month. We also welcome our major donors, larger corporate supporters, trusts and foundations. It is remarkable to see how generous our donor community is, regardless of the size of their support.

We would also like to make recognition of the estate of the late John (Jack) Bedwell. Jack was a long term supporter of The Shepherd Centre and instrumental in our ability to provide the services we have. In 2014, his estate was released to The Shepherd Centre allowing John’s legacy to continue to make a difference to so many lives for decades to come.

This year we were also very grateful to our supporters Lifesize for the implementation of video conferencing facilities. This technology enables improved clinical services for children to receive a service in their homes as well as enhancing our internal communications between our centres by linking them via video technology.

So, as you can see, we have certainly had a lot to celebrate over the past year however we also have so much more we have set out to achieve in 2015 and in the longer term. We want to thank you sincerely for your incredible support to date and hope you remain firmly with us on our exciting journey ahead.

With a 10% increase in the number of children using our services, it has certainly been a very busy year.


Our Outcomes Our standard graduates who came to early intervention before 12 months of age and with no additional needs are on par with their typical hearing peers in their language, vocabulary and speech. Even the majority of our graduates with additional needs or those who are late to diagnosis, have age appropriate language and vocabulary. These outstanding results have not been exceeded by any centre around the globe.

The above graph depicts a summary of the outcomes for the children graduating from our Early Intervention Program in 2014. Each diamond depicts the range of outcomes of the standard children and is directly comparable to the range of speech and language for ‘normal’ children shown in blue shading. For the details of this graph, and for the results across all children, please see the data on page 33.

The incidence of childhood hearing loss is not increasing. The rapid rise in the number of children we assist is due to more and more families seeking us out after hearing of the outstanding outcomes from our programs.


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Outstanding language skills Number of children receiving our services

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Language matching normal children

Speech on par with normal children

Vocabulary matching normal children3 3 3

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Total children

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2014 in Numbers

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interdisciplinary sessions

children supported

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initial family meetings

people on First Sounds Implant Program

research papers presented at 5 international conferences cochlear implant surgeries

32 children graduated to big school

audiology appointments

3729Auditory-Verbal Therapy sessions

22clients seen as part of our teleintervention and VidKids program

1990 2000 2010 2020

Our Graduating Class

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“I love listening to him read each night with his home reader, it’s one of the highlights of my day. To think that at 2 years and 11 months, I thought Jack would never talk, let alone read, and now he does it with such ease. He even puts on different voices for each character! It’s amazing.” - mum, Renae


As the end of last year approached our Class of 2014 graduated from The Shepherd Centre to embark on a new adventure at ‘big school’. Many of these children have been attending The Shepherd Centre since they were just a few months old, and our staff have had the privilege of watching them grow up to become unique and remarkable little people.

At our graduation ceremony, held at our Newtown centre, we recognised the hard work and dedication of 32 incredible families, and said bittersweet farewells to each family as they prepare for an exciting new journey.

Also at the ceremony, we celebrated the achievements of our past graduates, including the Junior Past Graduate of the Year, seven year old Jack Carey. Jack’s journey at The Shepherd Centre began when he was two years old, shortly after his moderate-severe hearing loss was confirmed. After receiving bilateral cochlear implants and undergoing intensive one-on-one speech therapy, Jack’s listening and language skills improved dramatically. Jack is thriving at his school – even winning the Year 1 award for English last year! He gets quite upset if he doesn’t get 100 per cent on his weekly spelling tests.

Given his love of English, it’s not a surprise that he also has a passion for reading.

“I love listening to him read each night with his home reader, it’s one of the highlights of my day,” Jack’s mum, Renae, said.

“To think that at 2 years and 11 months, I thought Jack would never talk, let alone read, and now he does it with such ease. He even puts on different voices for each character! It’s amazing.”

Another past graduate, 23 year old Isabella Rosati, was also recognised for her achievements after The Shepherd Centre, as she was named the 2014 Albert & Mary Shepherd Past Graduate of the Year. Born profoundly deaf, Isabella’s hearing loss wasn’t diagnosed until she was two and a half years old.

Read about Isabella’s story and her outstanding study, career and travel achievements on page 20.

We congratulate our award-winners, and wish all of our 2014 graduates the very best of luck on their exciting new journey through ‘big school’!

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“I love listening to him read each night with his home reader, it’s one of the highlights of my day. To think that at 2 years and 11 months, I thought Jack would never talk, let alone read, and now he does it with such ease. He even puts on different voices for each character! It’s amazing.” - mum, Renae


Our DirectorsMr Michael H Shepherd AOChairman Chair Finance and Audit Committee

First appointed 1985

Michael is the brother of founder Dr Bruce Shepherd. He was awarded an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in January 2015 for his distinguished advocacy for people with hearing loss and his contribution to community health. Michael has extensive experience in financial markets and the financial services industry having held a range of senior positions including Vice Chairman of ASX Limited and Chairman of the ASX Market Rules Committee. He was also Chairman of the Australian Hearing Services Authority.

• Senior Fellow and Life Member of Financial Services Institute of Australasia

• Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors

Ms Fiona FairlieDirectorFirst appointed 2013

A parent representative to the Board, Fiona got involved with The Shepherd Centre 14 years ago when her son was diagnosed with hearing loss at eight months. Fiona is currently studying for her Certificate IV in Learning Support at TAFE and works with vision and hearing-impaired school students in the Catholic Education Office’s Sensory-Impairment Program. Fiona also mentors parents of deaf children to share her knowledge and experiences with people new to the hearing-impairment world. Fiona has a background in marketing and media.


Mr Chris LadasDirectorFirst appointed 2008

A parent representative to the Board, Chris’ second child, Alexander was born with profound hearing loss. The family was introduced to The Shepherd Centre at that time. Chris is a Director of Melissa Confectionary Pty Limited.

Mr Peter W Mattick AMDirectorFirst appointed 2013

Peter was introduced to The Shepherd Centre’s world-leading programs through friend and Chairman, Michael Shepherd. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and was previously Chairman of the Australian Direct Marketing Association and Member of the National Aboriginal Sports Corporation. Peter was awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2014.

• Cofounder, Director and Chairman of Salmat Limited

• Fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accountants

• Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors


Mr Philip RossiDirector Member of Finance and Audit Committee


Philip Rossi was first introduced to The Shepherd Centre during his school days when he was friends with Danny and Penny Shepherd, children of founder Bruce Shepherd. Philip’s association with the organisation grew stronger when his son Charlie was born and diagnosed with hearing loss in 2002. Philip was previously a Director of Mary Rossi Travel Pty Limited. He holds a High Certificate in Engineering from the University of Technology and brings with him extensive business acumen.

Dr Hugh W TorodeDirectorFirst appointed 1994

Hugh holds a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RAZCOG) and a founding Committee Member of the Australian Gynaecological Endoscopy Society. In addition to bringing his medical knowledge to The Shepherd Centre, Hugh has a personal involvement through his son Will who has hearing loss and is a former student of The Shepherd Centre.

Hon Robert J WebsterDirector Member of Finance and Audit Committee


Robert Webster first became involved with The Shepherd Centre as a result of his long-standing friendship with the Shepherd family. Robert brings with him an extensive background in business and politics. He is a Senior Client Partner in the Sydney office of Korn Ferry and has held Board positions for various organisations including Chairman of Questacon (the National Science and Technology Centre). He was elected to the Legislative Council of NSW in 1991 and was a Minister in the Greiner Government in 1989.

• Member of the Australian Institute of Management

• Member of the Institute of Company Directors

Our ExecutiveJim HungerfordCEOResponsible for the overall management and operation of The Shepherd Centre, including creating, planning, implementing and integrating the strategic direction of The Shepherd Centre.

Aleisha Davis Director of Clinical ProgramsResponsible for the delivery and implementation of our clinical programs and services across all sites, including the Early Intervention Program focussing on Listening and Spoken Language, First Sounds Cochlear Implant program, Teleintervention and Residential Workshop program, and school age programs across the centres, through the transdisciplinary team of qualified specialists and administrative staff.

Maureen Kludass Interim Director of OperationsResponsible for finance, human resources, information technology and systems management, facilities management, risk management and the direction of our Preschools Program.

Tatiana Isaacs Director of Fundraising and CommunicationsResponsible for fundraising, gifts in wills, events, government funding liaison and administration, communications, online and social media.



Income and ExpenditureWhere the money comes from

2014 Income

Fundraising

26%

53% 21%

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2014 Expenditure

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Past Graduate of the YearIsabella RosatiIsabella Rosati grew up in Bayview on the NSW Northern Beaches as one of four children. Born profoundly deaf, Isabella’s hearing loss wasn’t diagnosed until she was two years old.

With little prior experience of hearing loss, Isabella’s mother Kerrie recalled a chance meeting with The Shepherd Centre’s long-serving Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Dr Anne Fulcher, at a party, during which Anne described her work teaching deaf children to listen and speak.

“Mum called Anne, who assured us that everything was going to be OK – and my journey at The Shepherd Centre began,” Isabella explained.

“It was the best decision my parents could have made and one that has made a huge difference to my life. At The Shepherd Centre, I learned that life is full of opportunities. It taught me to embrace my deafness and treat it as an opportunity, not a disadvantage. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the endless opportunities and help that The Shepherd Centre gave me.”

Following several years of intensive therapy and two hearing aids, Isabella attended mainstream school. She made it a priority to become involved in as many different activities as possible, especially sport. Isabella became the vice-captain of the athletics club, representing her school in various state and national competitions.

“I loved school, as everyone was so supportive and I was very well looked after,” Isabella said. “I was never treated differently, which was perfect, as being treated differently is something that I can’t stand. I couldn’t ask for anything more than to fit in.”

In Year 6, Isabella received her first cochlear implant.

“It changed my life so much that I couldn’t wait to get my second implant after I finished Year 12,” she recalled.

Isabella completed her Higher School Certificate in 2009 and went on to study sports management at university. While she found the degree challenging, with the help of her lecturers and family, in 2013 she was proud to graduate with an Associate Degree in Sports Management and a Bachelor of Business in October.

Taking some time off after university, Isabella embarked on an overseas adventure, travelling independently around Europe, Bali, Aspen and New Zealand. And upon her return, Isabella landed a dream job – as swim school team leader managing 63 staff.

“It has its challenges,” says Isabella. “Because the people that work there are my age, it’s fun but it also makes it hard to find the line between being their friend and being their manager. The job has amazing benefits though and is in sport which is what I’ve always wanted to do.”

“I can’t wait to keep travelling,” adds Isabella. “I’ve just returned from Aspen and my next trip will be New York and Mexico. My future plans are to keep travelling and just to be successful wherever I end up - ideally in an organisation for a sport that I follow such as soccer.

“Being deaf certainly doesn’t stop you from living a normal life and achieving your dreams!”

“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the endless opportunities and help that The Shepherd Centre gave me.

“Being deaf certainly doesn’t stop you from living a normal life and achieving your dreams!”




Clinical Programs

Our services in 2014 25Auditory-Verbal Therapy 26Speech and language assessments 26Paediatric audiology services 26Group and family counselling 27First Sounds Implant Program 27Group learning programs 28Social skills building 29Teleintervention Program 30Residential Workshops 30National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) 31Research Program 32 2014 spoken language outcomes 33 Research Advisory Committee 34 First Voice Sound Connections outcomes 36


Today, we provide a range of services to more than 400 families each year, across our five centres and through our Teleintervention Program to families in rural and remote areas of Australia.

At The Shepherd Centre, our focus is on families – we don’t just focus on the hearing loss, we guide and coach parents. The Shepherd Centre aims to equip parents and caregivers with the skills and knowledge required to give their child every opportunity for listening, learning and language development at home, and in their everyday life.

Our programs and services focus on a holistic approach for children and their families. We help children with hearing loss to learn to listen and speak, attend mainstream schools and participate fully in society.


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> Our services in 2014

In 2014, 444 children received services from The Shepherd Centre including 251 children enrolled in our Early Intervention Program, through a combination of early intervention, school age, group programs and our First Sounds Cochlear Implant Program which provides ongoing audiological management for our implant recipients. In total, we provided 5,427 hours’ direct service to families in 2014.

A range of new programs and initiatives were developed in 2014 including:

Two “Thinkables” pilot programs at the Australian Hearing Hub in preparation for the 2015 Confident Kids Program in

their last two years before graduating to school.

Provision of a new level of service

delivery for growing numbers of families

on our Teleintervention

Program.

The roll out of our Talk Together Parent Education Program across all centres providing a vital basis for knowledge and support

for new families.A renewed focus

on ‘The Family Vision’ and

individualisation of each child’s

service to achieve this.

Formal establishment of a research program

with the appointment of Senior Research Manager,

Katie Neal who has extensive experience as both an audiologist and

researcher.

A new Family Handbook was developed for all families commencing with us in 2015.

Hosted two 3-day workshops in Coffs Harbour and Dubbo as well as an annual week long workshop at the Australian Hearing Hub for families from rural

and remote areas of Australia and accessing our Teleintervention Program.


> Auditory-Verbal Therapy

> Speech and language assessments

> Paediatric audiology services

The core of the program for families at The Shepherd Centre is regular sessions with a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, providing Auditory-Verbal Therapy. Staff receive a three year post-graduate training program through The Shepherd Centre’s training and mentoring program in addition to their qualifications in Speech Pathology or as a Teacher of the Deaf. The sessions are structured, play-based, goal-directed sessions which focus on teaching parents the skills to teach their children in the areas of listening, speech, language and cognition. A total of 3,729 Auditory-Verbal Therapy sessions were provided in 2014.

The Shepherd Centre carried out assessments during 2014 as checkpoints for each child how speech and language development is progressing according to their age. An assessment provides parents with an opportunity to reflect on their journey and check how the child transfers the skills they have learnt at home and in sessions to other settings and activities. Assessments also assist in identifying areas of speech and development that can be targeted as future goals. In 2014, we conducted 220 speech and language assessments.

Our team of highly specialised paediatric audiologists liaise with families, their team at The Shepherd Centre team, medical professionals and external audiological services to ensure that children in the program have optimal access to sound at all times. We know that children need a clean, clear, consistent auditory signal from an early age in order to have the best possible chance of developing typical listening, speech, language and social skills through audition. In 2014 the audiology team continued to play a vital role in working with families across all centres to do this, troubleshooting devices, liasing with Australian Hearing, Cochlear Ltd, GP’s and ENT specialists.

• 378 audiology appointments provided

• Managing 216 people on First Sounds Implant Program

• 56 implant surgeries in the 2014 calendar year


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> Child and family counselling

> First Sounds Implant Program

Support for each and every one of our families throughout their journey is provided by our Child and Family Counselling team at each of our centres. Our team come from a range of professional backgrounds, such as social work, psychology, psychotherapy, counselling and family therapy. They have a wealth of experience in working with children and families and are committed to supporting families reach their goals, working individually with them and through reflective and strengths-based parenting programs.

Through our unique Talk Together program in 2014, our team worked with all new families joining the program. This new initiative and first stage of our early intervention program facilitates parent-to-parent interaction and support whilst providing basic ‘how-to’ information, education on hearing loss, development of listening, speech and language and guides for carry over at home. In 2014, our child and family counselling team provided:

• 217 Individual Family Service Plans

• 134 Initial family meetings

• 1,892 Interdisciplinary sessions

The potential outcomes for children with cochlear implants have increased exponentially over recent years and we have continued to see outstanding outcomes in terms of children’s speech, language and listening following cochlear implantation.

A primary focus over the past 12 months has been on introducing clinical practices and innovations that make a family’s journey through the implant process smoother, quicker and easier for all involved. We have:

· drastically shortened the time frame between surgery and initial activation, which can now be on the next day, rather than 2-3 weeks later

· instigated programming via handheld remote controls

· expanded the clinical indications for cochlear implantation based on children’s functional listening in the real world.

These have enabled more children, accessing more sound, in a shorter amount of time.

The program supported evaluation, surgery and post-operative support for 56 cochlear implants in 2014. A growing group of these children have more residual hearing as we are seeing the hearing aids aren’t providing them with enough access to sound in real life listening situations. Some of these children even have normal hearing in one ear. We are proud to at the forefront of cochlear implant services for children with unilateral hearing loss around the world.

Our goal in 2015 is not only to continue to grow the number of cochlear implants we can provide, but to lead the shift from reliance on test results in quiet, sound treated rooms to functional listening skills in the noisy chaos of the real world. This will ensure all children have the most appropriate hearing device to provide them maximum sound input so they can develop great listening skills in all of their environments.



> Group learning programs

The Shepherd Centre offers a variety of group learning programs designed to develop children’s listening, speech and language skills while in a group setting with their friends and peers. Our group learning programs have been specially designed so that the development of a child’s listening, speech and language skills are challenged in noisy, real life environments. The programs create ‘real world’ situations for children compared to the typical therapy sessions, in a quiet room with two adults. Parent education sessions are an integral part of our group programs. This group education is undertaken in small group settings, with opportunities for open discussion between parents, staff and guest speakers, and the valuable opportunity to establish a parent-to-parent support network for families.

In 2014, families participated in our weekly Kidscape Playgroup, Sing and Grow music therapy programs, School Readiness and Talk Together Parent education programs. Groups offer families the opportunity to build a support network and make new friends, share stories and learn from other parents and carers with similar experiences. It offers families regular support from our Child and Family Counselling Team and offers the children and their siblings opportunities to connect through play/structured sessions and the chance to make friends with other children with a hearing loss. Most importantly, it provides them with opportunities to learn language with their peers and friends.


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> Social skills building

Our commitment to directly linking research and clinical practice is highlighted through the implementation of new programs such as Confident Kids which has resulted from our theory of mind assessments indicating that only one in four of children with hearing loss have expected theory of mind skills (ability to understand someone else’s thinking) despite having typical language levels. Confident Kids aims to increase and expand communication competency by directly addressing children’s ability to link language, cognition, emotion and social interaction.

In 2015, this program will be rolled out at all of our centres for all children aged 3-5yrs of age, as we believe it’s so important children know how to use the speech and language skills they have. This will be based on a very successful pilot program run at our Australian Hearing Hub centre in 2014.

“This program came at just the right time for my daughter. She had just started school and was having problems with asking for help and knowing how to express her feelings. It has taught her and I the skills needed to deal with these problems and also taught her that it is okay to have different ideas and answers. Most importantly learning is done in a fun environment and my daughter has made new friends.”

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> Teleintervention

The Shepherd Centre’s Teleintervention Program offers outreach specialist services to children with hearing loss via online video-conferencing sessions. This program is available to all families, but is particularly important for families in rural and remote regions of Australia who are unable to access our five centres in person.

The program aims to guide and coach families in their home environments, with experts in paediatric hearing loss supporting the development of listening, spoken language and social skills using every day equipment and daily life routines. Families can access the services using a range of technology best suited to their needs, including laptops, iPads and tablets. Experienced health professionals from The Shepherd Centre collaborate with local educational support workers and allied health professionals using a consultative model to help families achieve the best possible outcomes for their child.

In 2014 we had 22 families on our Teleintervention Program, 17 of which were able to be supported through the VidKids Program. This is an innovative project funded through the federal Department of Social Services (DSS) which utilises the increasing availability of the National Broadband Network (NBN) to stream therapy, counselling, diagnostic services, technological assistance and education support into the homes of children living in regional and remote areas of Australia. The VidKids funding ceases at the end of June 2015.


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> Residential workshopsIn 2014 we once again ran our Workshop Program for rural families. Both our three day workshops held in Dubbo and Coffs Harbour and our week-long metropolitan workshop, held at the Australian Hearing Hub at Macquarie University, attracted a number of our rural families receiving teleintervention services from The Shepherd Centre. This is an ideal opportunity for these families to have face-to-face sessions and to meet other rural families from as far afield as Tasmania.

For the first time, we took our transdisciplinary team to Coffs Harbour for our Workshop Program which proved to be a resounding success for families who were unable to travel to Sydney to attend our metropolitan workshop.

At Dubbo and Coffs Harbour we also incorporated a training day for Hearing Support Teachers which was extremely well attended.

“We’d like to see these programs more throughout the year for regional centres. We’ve valued this workshop greatly and got some questions answered. Thank you to The Shepherd Centre team. Well Done!!” – parent from Coffs Harbour workshop.

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> NDIS

In July 2014, the ACT commenced a trial of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS is the new way of providing individualised support for eligible people with permanent and significant disability, their families and carers. In 2014, our 0-2 year old children and their families were eligible to apply from July. From September, our 2-4 year old children and their families were then eligible to apply.

Our service has been provided without interruption for our families while the scheme has been rolling out. For some families it has resulted in gaining an approved individual funding package towards the end of 2014. A large number of our Canberra families have also had a meeting with the National Disability Insurance Agency (who administer the scheme) and are in the process of gaining funding for their service. The Shepherd Centre has been receiving some government support for our services in the ACT, however, the bulk of that support will no longer be available. Instead the Canberra Centre will now rely on income from NDIS and the generosity of our donors.

The Shepherd Centre strongly supports the concept of ‘choice and control’ within the scheme. Families are able to choose the support they need. This complements The Shepherd’s Centre philosophy of family centred practice. The Shepherd Centre is also looking to extend their traditional early intervention service to the provision of many more school-aged services with the introduction of the NDIS. Children who are at or who have started school in 2015 in the ACT will be eligible to apply from April 2015.

The Shepherd Centre continues to provide its world leading early intervention program as it has previously. We continue to collaborate in research and implement changes as we learn and grow. The introduction of the NDIS affects how core services are funded and allows The Shepherd Centre to deliver new opportunities for families that previously may have been limited due to funding, however we still rely on the generous donations from our supporters to cover the full cost of our services.

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Research Program2014 saw the continued expansion of our research collaborations and presentation of our clinical work internationally. Our research program continued with the ongoing measurement and validation of our clinical practice; expanding our understanding of listening; language and cognition in children with hearing loss and optimising children’s outcomes across all of these domains. As well as the measurement of graduating children’s outcomes, research has focused on:

• children with unilateral hearing loss,

• innovation in cochlear implant management (next day activation, implantation in children with significant amounts of residual hearing), and

• reviewing the connections with listening, language and children’s psychosocial development (social skills and theory of mind development, tracking children’s listening development over time, holistic and transdisciplinary service delivery).

This continuous expansion of our research domains links directly to improving both our clinical practices as well as using our evidence base to optimise opportunities that will enable our children to maintain their potential as individuals.

The collection, collation and review of the broad range of measures we use is made possible through our Child Development Information System (CDIS) which underpins not only our data collection but also guides clinical practice. CDIS has been created specifically for use in our program and is considered internationally to be at the forefront of both these fields.

Our strong clinical research and outstanding outcomes continues to be internationally recognised with our work presented in 18 papers at five international conferences and across the globe including the:

• XXXII World Congress of Audiology (Brisbane, Australia),

• Speech Pathology Australia National Conference 2014 (Melbourne, Australia),

• 13th International Conference on Cochlear Implants and Other Implantable Auditory Technologies (Munich, Germany),

• 2nd International Congress of Family Centered Early Intervention for Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Bad Ischl, Austria); and the

• 14th Symposium on Cochlear Implants in Children (Nashville, Tennessee). This ongoing representation both informs and strengthens our research providing increasing opportunities and requests to work with programs and organisations around the world.

For a full list of the papers we presented, please refer to our website.

Hearing Thresholds Pre-Implementation

2014 saw more children than ever before receiving cochlear implants with more residual levels of hearing, including a number of children with a unilateral hearing loss (typical hearing in the other ear). Here at The Shepherd Centre we have one of the largest groups of children with residual hearing and cochlear implants around the world.

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There is nothing more important to both the families and us than the outcomes of the children in our programs. As such, we take measuring these very seriously. We use a number of measures to track each child’s progress during the year, in a number of domains to ensure every child’s program is tailored to their individual needs and they are developing to their potential in all areas. For our children who graduated to school at the end of 2014 (five and six year olds) their spoken language outcomes are shown in the graph opposite.

The assessments we used compare our children’s levels in these areas to those of typical hearing children, as these are the children they will be sitting beside in their mainstream classrooms. The first group in each of the graphs (Standard) is our group of children who mainly speak English, have no additional disabilities, and started our program at an early age, as these factors can impact spoken language development. Our second group (All graduates) in each graph shows the outcomes of all children in the program, no matter the age they started, languages used or additional needs. The blue shaded section indicates the normal results for typically hearing children.

These results indicate, yet again, that children graduating from our program with no impacting factors achieve outcomes at the same level as children without hearing loss (within the typical range). Even including children who may be learning an additional language, have come to early intervention later or have an additional disability, results in all three areas are mostly well within the typical range. An outstanding result.

Continuing world-leading outcomesOur 2014 Graduates have continued the outstanding spoken language outcomes demonstrated by our children in previous years. The Shepherd Centre is committed to continuing to lead the sector in transparency on the impact and outcomes from our work. For many years we have been unique in depicting the median language of our graduating children – now, with our ongoing improvement in the ability to assist our children and monitor their progress, we have expanded our reporting for our graduating class to include the profile of our graduating groups across each of three domains:

• Language (the ability to construct and understand sentences)

• Vocabulary (the range of words able to be understood)

• Speech (the clarity of the speech produced).

In each graph the blue bar is the ‘normal’ range for children, with approximately one in six children expected to fall above the bar and one in six below. The range of outcomes for our graduates is shown by the ‘box and whiskers’ plot, with the whiskers directly comparable to the normal range; the box showing where 50% of the graduates lie; and the line and the star showing median and average respectively. Standard graduates are those children who joined our program within six months of diagnosis and do not have additional needs or mainly listen to languages other than English.


> Research Advisory Committee

Professor Jennie Brand-MillerCommittee Chair Professor Jennie Brand-Miller is an academic and researcher with 30 years’ experience in a variety of research techniques including dietary intervention studies in pregnancy and animal models, observational cohorts, randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Her popular books have translated research to practice and made the GI a household word, with over 3.5 million copies sold worldwide in 12 languages.

Professor Bob CowanProfessor Bob Cowan is CEO of the HEARing Cooperative Research Centre and HEARworks, its commercial arm. He has extensive experience in management and commercialisation of hearing research, and has published in the fields of audiology, cochlear implants and hearing technology, bioengineering, health economics, and biomedical research management. He is committed to the world-wide prevention of hearing loss and improvements in audiology clinical practice and has received awards from Audiology Australia and the Deafness Forum for his work in professional audiology.

Our focus for both internal and external collaborative research at The Shepherd Centre is directed by our Research Advisory Committee (RAC).

The Research Advisory Committee is a committee of The Shepherd Centre Board; with specialist researchers in associated fields, academics and key Shepherd Centre staff members; created to assist The Shepherd Centre’s direction and involvement in research, data analysis and outcomes.

The Committee takes a proactive, high level role in project selection, evaluation, resource allocation and type of outcomes to be achieved. It has overseen our continued external collaborations in 2014 within the Australian Hearing Hub working with both Macquarie University, National Acoustic Laboratories, Cochlear and projects with the Hearing CRC. Our alliance with the First Voice Group continues to generate extensive outcomes based research with the completion and distribution of our social inclusion work.

Professor Jim Patrick AOProfessor Jim Patrick is Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President at Cochlear Limited and recognised as a world authority on cochlear implants. He joined Professor Graeme Clark’s research team at Melbourne University in 1975. Since 1981 he has been a member of Cochlear’s senior management team, holding a number of technology management roles. Currently, Jim has oversight of Cochlear’s global research program, exploring how novel forms of signal processing can improve the performance of the cochlear implant, and how advances in biology and electro-neural interfaces can be applied to future implant designs.

Dr Alison Purcell Dr Alison Purcell is Senior Lecturer and Course Director for the Masters of Speech Language Pathology at the University of Sydney. A certified practicing speech pathologist, and maintains her clinical skills through her honorary appointment to the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network Cleft Palate team where she provides expert speech pathology diagnostic skills. Through her expertise in speech and language disorders arising from hearing impairment, Alison has been recruited first as an associate investigator and more recently as chief investigator to the largest study ever conducted of urban Aboriginal children’s speech, language and hearing development SEARCH.

Dr Coral Kemp Coral has been involved in the education of children in a variety of regular and special education settings as a teacher, early interventionist, consultant, deputy principal, acting principal and program director. She has also acted as an independent consultant to schools with respect to the inclusion of students with disabilities, and as an advocate for families needing assistance in relation to their child’s educational placement. Coral is an honorary fellow at Macquarie University and an independent special education consultant. She is a committee member of the International Society on Early Intervention.



The Shepherd Centre is a proud member of First Voice, a national alliance of member organisations whose primary focus is the provision of listening and spoken language for children who are deaf or hearing impaired.

Established in 2010, First Voice plays a leadership role in shaping public policy and funding decision-making relating to hearing impaired children. First Voice evolved from the former Alliance for Deaf Children, which was established in 2003.

First Voice has emerged as a strong, active and influential organisation within the early intervention sector. Its lobbying efforts were instrumental in securing recurrent federal government funding for early intervention services for not only hearing impaired children, but across a range of other disability areas.

First Voice represents one of the largest cohorts of children with hearing loss in the world, supporting more than 1,000 children in early intervention, 40% of which have a cochlear implant, and provides a range of services to thousands more.

For more information about First Voice, please visit www.firstvoice.org.au

THE FUTURE IS HEAR

The organisations participating in First Voice are:

First Voice maintains a large data set on the outcomes of more than 500 children with hearing loss enrolled in its members’ listening and spoken language early intervention services. This enables First Voice to conduct large-scale research to evaluate and improve services and outcomes for children with hearing loss.

In 2014, First Voice published the outcomes from their three year national, longitudinal research project into the language and social inclusion outcomes demonstrated by children with hearing loss enrolled in this type of intensive early intervention program.

The objectives for the research were to:

• develop a framework for measuring social inclusion in children

• apply the framework to benchmark the social inclusion of children with hearing loss receiving listening and spoken language early intervention against typical hearing children.

Outcomes from the study showed that children with hearing loss receiving a listening and spoken language early intervention approach usually demonstrated comparable or better social inclusion than their typical hearing peers.

This was the first study, to our knowledge, that investigated the social inclusion of children with hearing loss in listening and spoken language early intervention.

The findings also showed that their language, vocabulary and speech skills were usually on par with their typical hearing peers.

Outcomes of the children in the data set at the centres will continue to be measured throughout 2015 and onwards as part of Sound Outcomes, the next stage of the First Voice study.

> First Voice Sound Connections outcomes



Our Stories: Our Families

Sarah Tooker – mum to Asher, 4Asher was diagnosed at one year of age with a developing severe-profound hearing loss from a suspected virus infection during pregnancy.

“Asher is our third son and was born with hearing. He was a happy, very able baby. He didn’t talk a lot but I had lots of friends who had a third boy who weren’t as quick with their language development so I just thought it was normal. But then, at his first birthday party when a balloon popped all the other one year olds burst in to tears but he didn’t.

“At home, I watched a video of his brother at the same age. It was obvious that Asher wasn’t even close to age-appropriate language development.

“Then we started clapping our hands behind his head and making loud noises to see if he would turn around. He was compensating really well with vibrations so if someone was banging behind him he would turn around. You wouldn’t have known.

“I thought he probably had blocked ears or an ear infection so I took him for a hearing test. It was evident from the test that he wasn’t hearing things but it was only when I got home later that day that there was a phone call to confirm that our child had severe to profound hearing loss.

“It was a total shock. When you get big information like that you don’t react initially because you’re just processing it all. From the very beginning they said he would be a great candidate for cochlear implants. It was this really strange place where your child is deaf but you’re being promised he’s going to hear at the same time. But also you don’t know that it’s going to work because if they have any kind of nerve damage, cochlear implants may not work.

“So, at that point, we didn’t know if Asher was going to hear. We were pregnant with our fourth child and so needed to have everything done and implants in before Asher’s baby sister arrived.

“At 16 months old, Asher had bilateral cochlear implants put in and had switch on a week later. All these months lead up to this point where you wonder if he is going to hear when they switch on the cochlear implants for the first time.

“As they were increasing the sound, his therapist had a glittering star. As soon as the sound started, he looked at the star like the sound was coming from the star. She could see very easily that he could hear the sound because he thought it was coming from the star.

“The day after his switch on, I couldn’t move. It was like finally you could let go. I think I just took a day off as I was just exhausted from this process of getting Asher to the point that he could hear.

“The most important part of early intervention, is being able to transfer the practical side of it in to the home especially in that first year or two. It was great coming in here for an hour but the whole point was that the parent is meant to be the teacher. You go home and you can do these things as you’re going about your daily life. Asher’s sister and two brothers both help with his therapy – reading stories to him and Thea, his sister, often helps by modelling speech and language for him.

“I had a friend who had a son with hearing loss and she was at The Shepherd Centre and she told me about the open day here. The first person we met was the Macquarie Centre Manager, Joanna. She was so lovely and kind it just made me cry. You know you’re going to spend a lot of time there so you have to like where you’re going. I also have a friend who has a 16 year old son who has cochlear implants who also went through The Shepherd Centre. The first thing she said to me was to go to The Shepherd Centre.

“Without The Shepherd Centre, we wouldn’t have the strong advocacy for Asher learning to hear and speak. The Shepherd Centre is wonderful - it comes alongside families and leads you through the journey.”

“Without The Shepherd Centre, we wouldn’t have the strong advocacy for Asher learning to hear and speak.

“The Shepherd Centre is wonderful - it comes alongside families and leads you through the journey.”




Operations

Our Preschools 42 Wollongong 43 Liverpool 43Our People 44Governance 46Operations team 46Workplace Health and Safety 46Significant investments in 2014 47


Our PreschoolsThe Shepherd Centre’s preschools are open to all children – with or without a hearing loss – and provide a quality early childhood learning experience in a safe and caring environment.

Children with hearing loss benefit from the social aspect of using their language skills in a fun and educational setting with other children. The preschools cater to the individual needs of each child while encouraging children both with and without hearing loss to socialise and learn together – just as they would when they go to ‘big’ school. Organised group activities by our highly qualified educators encourage respect for others as well as a healthy self-image.

Our preschool educational programs focus on:

• Socialisation skills• Language and cognition• Fine and gross motor skills• Music, cooking and craft activities.


Wollongong2014 was a huge year for the Wollongong Preschool, as we catered for more than 26 families, and graduated 12 children to ‘big’ school. We also underwent our National Quality Framework assessment and rating visit, and attained a rating of ‘Exceeding the National Quality Standard’ in all seven areas, which was a very pleasing result for the preschool team and families. Our preschool also underwent some exciting refurbishments, creating a wonderful new outside learning area for the children.

Another highlight of the year for the children and families was the setting up of a butterfly enclosure in the preschool playground. The children had the opportunity to watch the entire lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly and were able to hold the butterflies and the caterpillars, and learn about what they ate and drank. The whole experience was not only fun for everyone, but a wonderful learning opportunity.

LiverpoolOur preschool at Casula in Liverpool had a very busy year with a backyard makeover. The Shepherd Centre received a grant for $15,990 from NSW Government Community Building Partnership Program for improvements to the outdoor play area. One of the key improvements was to transform the backyard to make the space much cooler and more functional for the children by installing synthetic grass to replace the rubber softfall. Additional improvements included the installation of a water tank and udpating the fence with a creative mural.

The implementation of these improvements help support the provision of natural areas and environmentally sustainable practices which offer richer learning experiences for the children, aligning with the standards of the National Quality Framework.

The preschool also celebrated the cultural diversity of all the families that attend by making a village from Chile and the Taj Mahal. Parents came and talked about their countries and the children learnt to say ‘hello’ in many different languages. The children enjoyed an International Food Day with a great range of lunches brought in from different cultural backgrounds.



Our People

I would recommend The Shepherd Centre as a place to work to a friend or colleague

My work is meaningful

My work is challenging

The Shepherd Centre provide support needed when I have family or private issues

My opinions about work matter to my co-workers

My supervisor is genuinely interested in my wellbeing

The Shepherd Centre is incredibly proud of its staff and their achievements. We are only able to achieve the exceptional outcomes that we do, because of their sheer dedication and hard work. We are very passionate about retaining them, looking after them and helping them to achieve a positive work-life balance.

From our 2014 staff surveys, our staff strongly agreed with the following statements:

staff members53.3

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Listening & Spoken Language Specialists (+1 on maternity leave)

NSW & ACT: Not for Profit Manager of the YearOur Director of Clinical Programs, Aleisha Davis won the 2014 Australian Institute of Management Not for Profit Manager of the Year from nominees across NSW and the ACT. Nominees in her category were senior managers, executives and leaders in this sector who transformed cultures in the Not for Profit sector; aligned the development of individuals in their organisation to the needs of the business culture; and managed the demands of stakeholders with finesse. The application process was followed by interviews with a panel of judges. The judges stated, “Aleisha provided a compelling and passionate demonstration of her management capabilities with ample evidence of her strategic and leadership qualities across all aspects of her organisation. Aleisha showed that she is a strong and innovative leader with the skills necessary for continued success in senior management.”

Our Stories:Our Graduates Past graduate – Christa DracopoulosTen year old Christa was born with profound hearing loss in both ears. Christa shares her thoughts on her journey with The Shepherd Centre.

“Being deaf could have prevented me from having a normal life but it didn’t. My life today is like any normal ten year old girl’s because of two things: technology and teaching.

“I was fitted with cochlear implants by the age of two and I was able to hear sounds – that’s incredible. But even that’s not enough in itself. I’ve also had huge help from the amazing people at The Shepherd Centre who have spent hours and hours patiently teaching me to listen and form sounds on my own.

“I can also never forget endless hours my mum spent practising special exercises with me from the day I was born so I was able to catch up with other kids my age who were born with perfect hearing.

“You may wonder what it’s like not being able to hear. Obviously it’s very quiet but just sometimes it’s also very handy! When I hear my mum calling out to me to clean my room or do a few odd chores, I can always take my cochlears off and pretend I did not hear a thing!

“My hearing issues do not hold me back at all. I enjoy lots of activities and sports like any other ten year old. I love dancing, art, playing the piano, netball and even swimming.

“When I grow up, I want to go to university and study to become a teacher so that I can help kids learn and grow.

“So, do I feel any different because I was born deaf?

“No I don’t!

“I think actor Kevin Connolly summed it up best when he said, ‘Everyone is handed adversity in life. No one’s life is easy. It’s how they handle it that makes people unique.’ And I’m definitely unique.”



GovernanceThe Shepherd Centre is a charity governed by a Board of Directors, with a Chairman and six Directors whose knowledge and expertise ensures that The Shepherd Centre:

• Plans for the future and achieves its objectives in line with the organisation’s vision and mission

• Complies with all relevant laws and regulations

• Continues to meet financial and management performance expectations

• Manages risks and safeguards the organisations assets, investments and sustainability.

For biographical profiles of our Board Members, please turn to page 14.

The Shepherd Centre uses the guidelines as set out in the Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations established by the Australian Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Council as a basis for its governance arrangements. The Shepherd Centre is not a listed company and has no obligation to adopt these principles but is committed to good corporate governance and transparency.

In 2013 the main regulatory oversight of governance standards for charities was transferred to The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), and while some administrative requirements still remain with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a transitional period has commenced for this to be phased-out by the 2015 reporting period.

Operations teamThe Operations team is responsible for service delivery of the Preschool Programs, Facilities Management, Finance & Human Resources, Information Technology, Risk Management, Company Secretariat and Workplace Health & Safety.

Workplace Health & SafetyIn 2014 our Workplace Health and Safety Committee continued to address and improve practices to ensure continued safety for The Shepherd Centre’s employees, families, volunteers and visitors.

Significant investments in 2014 included:

Clinical teamWe significantly expanded the size and scope of the clinical programs team in 2014 to reflect the increased number of children turning to us for help, and the broader nature of their needs. With the generosity of our donors we were able to increase the expenditure. Our clinical programs area (including research) increased expenditure in 2014 by 12%.

Our facilitiesWe provide our core services and programs to families from five busy centres located at Macquarie, Liverpool, Wollongong and Canberra with our thriving headquarters, and the largest of our centres, located in Newtown.

In addition, we invested $264,000 in further improving our centres, our equipment and our systems. This investment enabled us to expand capacity and improve amenity. It also provided our clinical teams with advanced equipment and specialist systems, and our ongoing investment in video conferencing has improved access and collaboration between our staff across the five centres.

The Roth-Winkler Campus for Listening and Spoken Language at NewtownIn December 2013, the staff and families who had outgrown the Abercrombie Street Darlington centre were relocated to a new campus at Burren Street, Newtown. The Newtown centre offers an enhanced, family-friendly experience with audiology booths, training facilities and meeting rooms, including brand new therapy rooms and a spacious playroom which is warm, bright and very welcoming to the children and their families. These facilities are modern, purpose-built and designed to be of the highest standards available.

The fit-out of the new centre also included significant investments in systems such as additional audiology equipment, video conferencing systems, sound technology and smart-technology in training and meeting rooms, a new cost effective phone system (VOIP) and new furniture and equipment throughout the centre to support the service needs being provided over two levels. This investment was made possible by the generosity of our donors in particular Charmaine and Stanley Roth, and through the ongoing support of Sydney University.

Supporter RecruitmentTo support our increased level of clinical activity we needed many more donors and, in response, we commenced an active donor recruitment program in late 2011. During 2014, we invested further into this program and the results are very pleasing with positive returns coming in from the campaigns.



Our Stories: Our Staff

Natalie Blackburn Speech Pathologist Listening and Spoken Language Therapist BAppSc (Speech Pathology)“I love working with the children at The Shepherd Centre and seeing them progress week to week,’ says Natalie. ‘It is so rewarding to see the parents recognise their child’s achievements and for the kids to feel proud of themselves too!”

Natalie first heard about The Shepherd Centre when she was studying Speech Pathology at Sydney University.

“We had a lecture from a therapist from The Shepherd Centre explaining Auditory-Verbal Therapy and I knew straight away that’s where I wanted to be! I then made it my goal to work at The Shepherd Centre and I now feel so lucky to be here!”

Her first introduction to The Shepherd Centre was watching videos of therapists working with babies with hearing impairment.

“Initially I didn’t know much about the scope of the organisation but I knew it had therapists working in a very specialised area of speech pathology,” says Natalie. “The more I looked into the organisation, the more passionate I became and the more I wanted to a part of the team here.”

“As a child I had a mild hearing loss and, as a result, was drawn to this area of speech pathology. The intervention I received as a child was always a positive experience so I wanted to give back to children with similar difficulties. My uncle also has a profound unilateral hearing loss so this was also why I initially felt so connected to the cause. I am passionate about early intervention.”

Natalie says that before she started working full-time, she was always working with children. Before completing her degree in speech pathology, she was a gymnastics coach.

“I loved being surrounded by children of all ages,” says Natalie.

After finishing university, Natalie commenced working in a private practice allowing her to build up her skills as a speech pathologist.

“I enjoyed my job but always had my goal of working at The Shepherd Centre in mind,” adds Natalie. “I attended additional courses to further develop my skills in the area of hearing impairment before eventually having the wonderful opportunity of working here.

“When I first started working here it was the amazing culture that struck me the most. The Shepherd Centre offers such a supportive environment and I thoroughly enjoy working as part of this wonderful team.”

Natalie has Auditory-Verbal Therapy sessions with children and their families. During these sessions they work on goals set by the family. Sessions also involve parent/carer training so the parent or carer can continue working on goals at home with the child.

“I also liaise with other relevant people involved in the child’s life including preschool teachers and other health professionals. I am involved in administering speech and language assessments to monitor the progression and development of the children’s listening and communication,” continues Natalie.

“From an outsider it just looks like I just play with children all day! During the Auditory-Verbal Therapy session I target communication and listening goals in numerous ways whether it be through songs, craft or games to teach the parents. I enjoy working with families, building strong relationships with them and seeing them each week!”

“When I first started working here it was the amazing culture that struck me the most. The Shepherd Centre offers such a supportive environment and I thoroughly enjoy working as part of this wonderful team.

“I enjoy working with families, building strong relationships with them and seeing them each week!”




Fundraising and Communications

Fundraising 52Our dedicated donors 54Corporate supporters 55Child Scholarship Program 55Trusts and Foundations 55Events 56Government support 57Major supporters 57Gifts in Wills 57Video Technology changes landscape 57

$5,000,000

$4,000,000

$3,000,000

$2,000,000

$1,000,000

$02010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Fundraising Income Growth

Our supporters take fundraising to the next levelOver the last four years The Shepherd Centre’s fundraising income has gone from strength to strength. Our supporters demonstrated that they firmly believe that every child deserves to reach their full potential by more than doubling their support in that period. This is a remarkable achievement and we are incredibly grateful for the trust and generosity of all individuals and organisations that donated their time and money to improve the outcomes of children who are deaf or have a hearing loss. 52 The Shepherd Centre Annual Report 2014


In 2014 we continued to build on the successes of the previous year, increasing our supporter numbers and diversifying our income generating strategies. With limited support from the Government (only 26% of our income comes from Government grants), we are committed to building sustainable income streams to ensure we can help as many children as possible.

Highlights of 2014 included:The Little Voices Child Scholarship Program has doubled since 2013 and now has 15 children who are benefiting from our services due to the generosity of our supporters.

More and more donors have joined our family with 12,000 coming on board in 2014 to support our cause. These new supporters helped us grow our individual income by 21% in 2014.

Income from our Gifts in Wills program has also grown with more donors opting to mention us in their Wills. This is the best way to invest in the future of children who are deaf or hearing impaired so they can continue to access our services for a long time to come.

24 inspirational children from Australian and New Zealand participated in two Power of Speech public speaking events held in Canberra in March and August. The event was created to challenge common perceptions of what deaf children can achieve in life and all event attendees were incredibly impressed with public speaking skills of every child.

We expanded our community support programs participating in the Westfield Giveability days throughout the year by becoming a charity partner with Westfield Liverpool and Chatswood.

The Australian Father of the Year Award is awarded by The Shepherd Centre to recognise the critical importance of good fatherhood to a child’s development. We are proud to announce that Andrew Gaze was the winner of this award in 2014.

30%10%9%

15% 14%

22%Gifts in

Wills

Individual Giving

Major GiftsEvents &

Sponsorship

OtherTrusts &

Foundations

Our dedicated donors

During 2014, our dedicated donors continued to demonstrate their support of children who are deaf and hearing impaired. We received just short of 30,000 gifts as a result of our individual giving program. Campaigns have taken place through direct mail campaigns and for the first time at The Shepherd Centre, through the phone program. The generosity of our donors was staggering with the overall income total exceeding $830,000. We also welcomed 12,000 new donors to The Shepherd Centre family.

The year began with our Back to School campaign that told the story of James’ journey with The Shepherd Centre who became deaf after contracting meningitis as a baby. James went off to ‘big school’ with his twin brother, Tom.

In April, our supporters were told the touching story of two year old Hayley, who was born with hearing loss in both ears. Hayley said her first words like “hello” and “pop” – to the teary delight of her mum and dad.

The final appeal of the year featured the heartwarming story of three year old Heidi. Heidi was born with a number of disabilities including deafness in both ears, cerebral palsy and vision impairment. Heidi being able to communicate was the number one priority for Heidi’s parents and our donors where delighted that Heidi was able to hear the magical sounds of Christmas.



Corporate Supporters The Shepherd Centre would like to say a big thank you to our corporate supporters:

In 2014, the generosity of the companies above and many more have combined to help fund an entire year of programs and services for 19 children. We are extremely thankful for their ongoing support.

Child Scholarship ProgramThe Child Scholarship Program is an opportunity to create a long lasting change in the lives of many young children at The Shepherd Centre.

In 2014 our individual and corporate supporters provided scholarships for an additional 15 children within our program to make sure that they continue on their early intervention journey regardless of the funding constraints that we face as a charity. For our supporters it is a way to maximise children’s potential in education, employment, knowledge, access and understanding. In return we provide regular updates on the child’s progress so their sponsors get to see the milestones that children accomplish and what we are hoping they will achieve in the next few months.

Trusts and Foundations We would like to acknowledge the amazing support of many Trusts and Foundations. In particular:

Westfield proudly supported ‘Spring into Literacy and Confidence’, a school readiness and assessment program for children who are deaf or hearing impaired. Winnie Cheng the National Community Manager at Westfield, expressed how important it is to support The Shepherd Centre in allowing children to attend mainstream schools.

The Shepherd Centre is also a proud charity partner for Westfield Liverpool and Westfield Chatswood and there are various activities undertaken throughout the year to help raise more funds and thus allow more children to get into the early intervention program and allow us to buy the much needed resources for the children therapy.

Our new initiative Tune into Kids was generously supported through Perpetual.

The Sargents Pies Foundation supported us to upgrade some of our audiology equipment to ensure an adequate testing for babies who are deaf or hearing impaired.

“I wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to show our Charity Committee members around your facilities and for arranging a meeting with Charlie’s parents. Isabelle, Ed, Will and I found it to be an incredibly valuable experience.”

Testimonial from Allens Linklaters Lawyers


Power of Speech We are very grateful to Cochlear for being our major sponsor for two Power of Speech events in 2014 in Canberra. This public speaking event was designed to challenge the common perceptions of what a profoundly deaf child can achieve and celebrates the gifts of speech and sound.

Each time the event showcased 12 amazing young children from around Australia and New Zealand aged between 6 and 12 years, who have received a cochlear implant/s and have attended their local First Voice Centre’s early intervention program. These brave children delivered their powerful speeches in front of over 100 guests.

Community EventsWe are so fortunate to have strong support of the community with our wonderful fundraisers participating in dozens of sporting events and challenges in 2014. One of the biggest community events for us was City to Surf with our team expanding to 18 people of all ages last year. We even had some participants like little Charlie who completed the course in the pram! We are incredibly grateful to all of our community supporters who asked their families and friends to sponsor their personal challenges to support the children at The Shepherd Centre.

Events

2014 was a busy and exciting time for the Events team with Power of Speech being held twice along with the opening of our brand new Newtown Centre. In total all our events were held raising over $270,000.

The Roth-Winkler Campus for Listening and Spoken LanguageThe opening of our brand new head office in Newtown was a highlight of 2014. It wouldn’t have happened without the support of our generous donors including Charmaine Roth and assistance from the University of Sydney. The Hon Tony Abbott MP, Prime Minister of Australia was present to officially open the centre that will now allow us to support twice as many families than our previous premises.

Loud Shirt DayLoud Shirt Day was held nationally on the 17th of October and again was a day full of fun laughter and outrageous outfits. This year we had some extremely creative events at schools, offices and homes. Surry Hills business UM Direct bought over 15kg of Hawaiian shirts for staff to wear on the day.

Graduation For the first time graduation was held in our Newtown centre. The event was a huge success with over 180 guests in attendance to witness the emotional graduation of 32 of our children. Mr Craig Laundy MP, was our special guest for the day and spoke passionately about his family’s own experience with hearing loss.


Government supportThe Shepherd Centre continues to receive support from the government towards our services. In 2014 we received just over $2 million from the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care in NSW and the Department of Education and Training in NSW and ACT. We are grateful for their ongoing support.

In 2014, we also saw the roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Canberra. Read more about the NDIS on page 31.

Our major supportersSupport from individuals providing large gifts continued to be a strong focus for The Shepherd Centre in 2014. Such generosity from only a few individuals means that we can continue to provide our services to children in critical need of support in both metropolitan and the regional areas.

Throughout 2014 we continued to work with our individual major donors to secure long term funding and invest in the children’s future. With the amazing generosity of these people, we hope that every hearing impaired child and their families will have access to the necessary therapy, counselling and support that they will need.

Gifts in Wills – investing in the futureThere are few greater gifts that you can give than leaving a gift in your will to a charity. Leaving a gift in your will, impacts not only the families we support today, but also for many years to come. Gifts in Wills, both big and small, allow us to support services today and plan for the future of the organisation. We would like to thank all the amazing people who have left a legacy to The Shepherd Centre in 2014. Even the smallest of gifts will directly impact a child with hearing loss and their journey into the hearing world.

Working with supporters who are going through the estate planning process allows us not only to thank them personally, but to also and demonstrate very tangible outcomes that improve the lives of our families with their legacy living on. We thank the late John (Jack) Bedwell for his generous donation to The Shepherd Centre in his estate.

Video technology changes landscape The Shepherd Centre desperately needed to expand its video conference facilities to improve communications between our five centres and the families who are unable to physically access our centres on a regular basis. It was also needed to reduce staff travel time and expense and improve the reach and scope of our services working with children with hearing loss and their families.

Through the generosity of our donors, in previous ears we ad installed 14 video conferencing units. We had planned to grow this to 40 units over time but the ongoing costs were way beyond our means.

We were lucky enough to meet with Lifesize (a global leader in video conferencing) who were touched by what we did for children who are deaf or hearing impaired and were aware of our budget limitations. Through the generosity of Lifesize’s new videoconferencing technology, The Shepherd Centre has successfully transformed staff interaction and eased travel demands on client families.

It has enabled the growth of our teleintervention program, now with 22 families. In 2015 we’ll be able to provide services to these families that to our knowledge, are a world first online parent support, education and social skill building groups.


Our Stories:Our Volunteers

Milena Bogoeva-Demircheva Grants Volunteer

34 year old Milena Bogoeva-Demircheva moved to Sydney from Bulgaria with her family. Milena was working in her homeland as a lawyer and prior to that as a legal assistant in a not-for profit (NFP) human-rights organisation. The NFP she worked for was founded by legal professionals united by the idea to exercise law in public interest.

“My work there was related to projects concerning anti-discrimination practices of people with disabilities and people from minority groups as well as searching for potential donors for the organisation,” said Milena.

When Milena moved to Sydney, she took some time to settle her young children in to school and adjust to her new life in Australia.

“After completion of an online course, named ‘A to Z Grantwriting’, I started searching for opportunities to apply my knowledge in practice. I found an ad on the The Shepherd Centre’s web page for a Grants Volunteer and applied for it,” continued Milena.

“I’m now working in the grants section of the Fundraising and Communications Department. I really enjoy coming to work here, but the thing I enjoy most is the warm and positive atmosphere and the friendly attitude of my colleagues.

“Before I came to The Shepherd Centre, I knew almost nothing about the therapies required for children with hearing impairment. Now, I can see those children and their parents come to the centre and see just how happy they are. I think that this is the most rewarding thing - to see the smiling and happy faces of the children.

“I hope to help The Shepherd Centre continue to do what they do – helping deaf children achieve their full potential. In return, I hope that my experience here, along with the experience of volunteering, will help build my confidence and improve my professional skills.”


“Before I came to The Shepherd Centre, I knew almost nothing about the therapies required for children with hearing impairment. Now, I can see those children and their parents come to the centre and see just how happy they are. I think that this is the most rewarding thing - to see the smiling and happy faces of the children.”


Our Stories:Our Donors Jim and Margaret Greening

Donating through their WillsBlue Mountains couple Jim and Margaret Greening have made the decision to leave a gift to The Shepherd Centre in their wills, in order to ensure a bright future for the many children who will attend our centres for generations to come. This is one of the best ways you can choose to support the children at our centres and your legacy will live on.

Mr Greening, who has hearing loss himself, has been a strong advocate for community health for almost 60 years and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the community in 1984.

A keen tapestry artist, Mr Greening served as Chairman of the Western Suburbs Hospital – where, incidentally, he met wife Margaret and “fell in love at first sight” . He was also President of the New South Wales Hospital and Health Services Association. He is also a long-serving member and past President of Apex, Lions and Rotary Clubs of Burwood as well as the Rotary Club of Upper Blue Mountains Sunrise, of which he remains a member to this day.

Given their passion for helping others, Mr Greening said he and his wife felt it was crucial to remember the work of The Shepherd Centre in a meaningful and long-lasting way.

“We decided we would leave gifts to a number of charities and knowing of the work of The Shepherd Centre, we included them in our Wills,” Mr Greening said.

“If you have the chance to give the joy of hearing to a child, you must grasp that opportunity.”

Jim Hungerford, CEO of The Shepherd Centre, said that many people mistakenly believed that they needed a large estate in order to leave a gift in their Will.

“We encourage people to look after their families and loved ones first in their Will, but I do hope that our supporters may also consider leaving the children of The Shepherd Centre a gift too – no matter how large or small.”


Given their passion for helping others, Mr Greening said he and his wife felt it was crucial to remember the work of The Shepherd Centre in a meaningful and long-lasting way.


Our FutureThe Shepherd Centre has been incredibly successful over the last 40 years; growing to now support 25% of children under six with hearing loss, with graduates achieving age appropriate speech and language.

However it is clear that much more needs to be done:

• 50% of children under six fitted by Australian Hearing are not in a multi-disciplinary early intervention program.

• Many children with hearing loss receive insufficient support at school.

• It is clear from our research that children with good spoken language still show specific delayed social skills in comparison with their hearing peers. We know this significantly affects their ability to use their language and speech at school.

• There is a significant evidence gap for research defining the best way to help children with hearing loss to develop their social skills; and helping them continue to develop their spoken language and social skills in school settings.

The Shepherd Centre is in the position to establish a bold vision for itself in 2020, largely addressing the above gaps. This will require further growth in fundraising and philanthropy, as the NDIS will not be supporting many of these challenges.


The Shepherd Centre’s vision:

To address the challenges still facing far too many children with hearing loss, during 2015 we will develop a strategy, vision and plan to drive our work over the next five years. This strategy will transform the lives of children with hearing loss through:

• Developing new models of service for children in early intervention and at school.

• Dramatically increasing the number of children being supported during their initial years and school-aged years.

• Implementing novel programs to ensure children with hearing loss develop the skills they need to be fully included in society.



Concise Financial Report

Directors’ Report 66Auditor’s Independence Declaration 67Concise Financial Statements: Consolidated statement of profit or loss and comprehensive income 68 Consolidated statement of financial position 68 Consolidated statement of changes in equity 69 Consolidated statement of cash flows 70Directors’ Declaration 71Independent Auditor’s Report 72








CorporateVolunteer Day


How you can help

At any of our five centres. Opportunities in admin, grounds maintenance, events and more!

Volunteer

Rally your staff together to come and help out at one of our centres. A fun and rewarding way for your team to help!

CorporateVolunteer Day

Gifts in Wills

A fun and easy way to help. We work closely with Everyday Hero using their online fundraising portal. Whether you’re running in a race, trekking, climbing a mountain or

celebrating a birthday, wedding or other life event, it’s easy to get started.

Fundraising online

Leave your legacy by making a gift in your Will to The Shepherd Centre. More information online at

www.shepherdcentre.org.au or call 1800 020 030

www.shepherdcentre.org.au

Donate online

The most efficient way to make your donations, that

provides long-term certainty to our children.

Sign up online at www.shepherdcentre.org.au

Become a monthly

donorSupport a child’s journey

through The Shepherd Centre. Contact us on 1800 020 030

Child Scholarship


T: 1800 020 030

W: www.shepherdcentre.org.au

E: [email protected]

Facebook: /ShepherdCentre

Twitter: @shepherdcentre

Instagram: @shepherdcentre

The Shepherd Centre – for deaf children.

Contact UsThe Shepherd Centre Central Office The Roth-Winkler Campus Street Address: 146 Burren Street, Newtown NSW 2042 Telephone: (02) 9370 4400 Fax:(02) 9370 4499The Canberra Shepherd CentreStreet Address: Nealie Place, Rivett ACT 2611 Telephone: (02) 6288 5920 Fax:(02) 6288 5940

The Annette Shepherd Centre LiverpoolStreet Address: 43 Graham Avenue, Casula NSW 2170 Telephone: (02) 9370 4404 Fax:(02) 9370 4499

The Shepherd Centre at The Australian Hearing Hub Street Address: Ground Floor, 16 University Ave Macquarie University, NSW 2019 Telephone: (02) 8297 4700

The Wollongong Shepherd CentreStreet Address: 48 Dempster Street, West Wollongong, NSW 2500 Telephone: (02) 9370 4403 Fax:(02) 9370 4499

Documents

The Shepherd Centre Annual Report 2014