FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE15 August, 2011

Lifeline Community Care Queensland is changing its name

Lifeline Community Care Queensland will from today, change its name to UnitingCare Community. However, the services that align with Lifeline’s national focus of suicide prevention will not change. They will stay as Lifeline services.

The name change better reflects who we are as an organisation said UnitingCare Queensland CEO, Anne Cross. “We are not changing ownership; since 2002 Lifeline Community Care Queensland has been part of UnitingCare Queensland – the health and community services provider of the UnitingChurch. This change just makes that association transparent,” Anne said.

“Our people, our commitment and our values remain the same. We continue to be a client-focused organisation and everything we do is about strengthening people, families and communities to enable better lives.

“Our traditional Lifeline services such as telephone counselling – the 24 hr Crisis Line, 13 11 14; our suicide bereavement services; and our suicide prevention programs have retained the Lifeline name and are now run as part of UnitingCare Community. We are still part of the national Lifeline network. It is our other services such as the work we do with families and children; refugees; foster carers; people with a disability or those affected by domestic violence, to name a few, which have moved to UnitingCare Community,” she said.

The decision to make the name change was made because staying the same stopped being an option for a number of reasons, Anne Cross said.

“We have been developing and delivering programs and services for many years as part of the Lifeline Australia network, yet many of the services had very little to do with what sat within the suite of national Lifeline services”, Anne said.

“We do not own the Lifeline brand and the UnitingCare Board and Executive believed that the Lifeline name didn’t reflect who Lifeline Community Care Queensland was as an organisation.”

“The decision to rebrand was made with the key objective of how best to continue to develop and deliver the professional and support services we provide to Queensland communities, every day,” she said.

Lifeline Community Care has developed a reputation for delivering professional and compassionate services to Queensland communities and we look forward to continue to grow and develop our services as UnitingCare Community to better meet the needs of the people we work with every day across the state.

UnitingCare Community (previously Lifeline Community Care Queensland) is one of three service agencies which form UnitingCare Queensland, the health and community service provider of the Uniting Church in Queensland. The other two agencies are Blue Care and UnitingCare Health (comprising The Wesley Hospital, St Andrew’s Memorial Hospital, The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital and St Stephen’s Hospitals in Maryborough and Hervey Bay).

ENDS

For further information please contact Anna-Maria Masci on (07) 3250 1848 / 0408 751 831 or

Lea Kingdon on (07) 3025 2003 / 0408 681 625

UnitingCare Community - an overview

UnitingCare Community (previously Lifeline Community Care Queensland) is one of three service agencies which form UnitingCare Queensland, the health and community service provider of the Uniting Church in Queensland.

The other two agencies are Blue Care and UnitingCare Health (comprising The Wesley Hospital, St Andrew’s Memorial Hospital, The Sunshine Coast Private Hospital and St Stephen’s Hospitals in Maryborough and Hervey Bay).

UnitingCare Community works with 2 600 staff and 5 600 volunteers who help support 160 different community service programs; 150 Lifeline Shops; and 11 Lifeline Centres across metropolitan, rural and regional Queensland, to reach out, speak out and care for those people who need some help.

Our Mission

As part of UnitingCare Queensland, the mission of UnitingCare Community is to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities as we: Reach out to people in need; Speak out for fairness and justice; Care with compassion, innovation and wisdom.

Our Values

As part of the UnitingCare Queensland service network, we share the values of compassion, justice, respect, leading through learning and working together.

It is these values that are the foundation of our work and guide us in how we work with our clients and their families and carers and all our stakeholders, every day.

Our Services

  • Lifeline Services including telephone counselling - the 24 hr Crisis Line, 13 11 14; our suicide bereavement services; and our suicide prevention programs
  • Counselling
  • Child and Family Care
  • Crisis Support (helping communities to recover from natural disasters)
  • Disability Support
  • Social Inclusion