SPEAKER: Robyn Cotterell-Jones will address Tuesday night's meeting of Bonnells Bay Progress Association.
VICTIMS of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL) executive director Robyn Cotterell-Jones will be guest speaker at the next Bonnells Bay Progress Association meeting on Tuesday, May 1.
VOCAL was formally established in 1989 as a department of Attorney General and Justice in NSW to give every victim of crime in NSW access to services and entitlements to assist in their recovery.
Ms Cotterell-Jones, herself a survivor of domestic violence, joined VOCAL as a volunteer and over time extended the help to go beyond homicide victims families and include victims of other crimes and tragedy.
Today Robyn operates a victim support unit at VOCAL Cottage in Hamilton.
Bonnells Bay Progress Association president Col Roach said that the aftermath of violent crimes must be an extremely distressing time for the victim’s family.
‘‘It’s a situation that none of us would wish to have happen within our own,’’ Mr Roach said.
Some of the services provided by VOCAL include:
¦ providing a 24 hour victim access line;
¦ administering the Approved Counselling Scheme;
¦ monitoring the Charter of Victims Rights; and
¦ support services for victims of crime.
The meeting will be held on at the Bonnells Bay Youth and Community Centre in Fishery Point Road, Bonnells Bay, and will start at 7.30pm.