Another busy month for FCVic and financial counselling has flown by. This month, we’ve been focused on engagement and consultation with our members to ensure that we are working in partnership to understand financial counsellors’ perspectives on the future of financial counselling in Victoria. We have a big and ambitious agenda, so it’s absolutely crucial that we pursue it together with all of our members.

A big focus this month was the launch of our member engagement survey alongside a range of other data collection activities for financial counsellors and agencies. Collectively, these form the basis of our Workforce Development Project, funded by Consumer Affairs Victoria. This project aspires to present a vision for the future of financial counselling services by examining:

1. The social and economic benefits of financial counselling, including avoided costs, to inform the ongoing needs analysis of the community and identify where financial counselling can have the greatest impact.
2. Caseload guidelines to better understand and frame how many financial counsellors are needed to unlock those benefits without burning financial counsellors out.
3. A workforce development strategy that identifies the needs of the workforce and what we can do to ensure its steady and stable growth where it is needed.

This project is a great opportunity to answer some big questions for financial counselling and to impact the future of the profession in Victoria. We are proud to be working in partnership with FCA, particularly on that last part, and we are confident that we can deliver something valuable for financial counsellors, agencies, funders, and decision-makers in Victoria, as well as nationally. We are very grateful to every financial counsellor and agency taking part in this initiative.

Another big focus for us coming up is the FCVic Housing Summit on 27 March 2025 at the Glasshouse. I’m so pleased with the response from so many financial counsellors who want to contribute to this conversation, recognising the seriousness of mortgage and rental stress, as well as the growing pressures of homelessness. We know that mortgage and rental stress are two of the biggest presenting issues for financial counsellors at the moment, so having an opportunity to focus on what we as a sector can do to respond to the housing crisis will be immensely valuable. We are trying to focus on panels and presentations that will provide actionable information for financial counsellors to take away and use in their practice, as well as inform people working in the broader hardship space about the pressures on services and needed future hardship reform. I hope to see you there!

As part of our continuing commitment to supporting and empowering financial counsellors and agencies, we have been meeting with agencies and financial counsellors to talk about the above ideas and to hear from them about their service experience in the context of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. It has been terrific to be able to coordinate these meetings, particularly when we have been able to arrange for Members of the Legislative Assembly to visit their local agency and understand the experiences of their community. We think this is a great way to foster connection, build awareness, and strengthen understanding within government of the critical work that financial counsellors do in every community. We are also thinking about what the looming federal election means for financial counselling in Victoria and how we can support financial counsellors and agencies to get their voices heard.

With all that in mind, the future is full of opportunity, but we need to keep focusing on what we can do to deliver value to financial counsellors, agencies, stakeholders, government, and the community. These projects, surveys, and engagements continue to build on the work of financial counsellors across the state, and they will also be crucial in informing the FCVic Strategic Plan 2025–2028, which we have just started to prepare for. Thankfully, we will be relying heavily on previous data collection and projects to minimise any duplication while continuing to ensure the voices of our members are central in the Strategy.

Finally, I noted last month that I was expecting my fourth child sometime in mid-March. I have an update: the baby will be coming on the 1st or 2nd. It is a big baby—the doctors say it is time, and my partner agrees. I will be taking two weeks of parental leave from Monday, 3 March, to care for my family, during which time James Degenhardt will be acting in my stead. I am very grateful to the team, the Board, and the members for your support and excitement as I welcome my new baby.

See you in March!