Who we are
Relationships Australia Victoria - known as RAV - is a leading provider of relationship support services. Our aim is to help Victorians achieve positive and respectful relationships.
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Relationships Australia Victoria - known as RAV - is a leading provider of relationship support services. Our aim is to help Victorians achieve positive and respectful relationships.
RAV provides services from 12 centres in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. The corporate support team is based in Camberwell.
We aim to enhance the lives of individuals, couples, families and communities by helping them build strong relationships through the provision of specialist relationship services.
RAV believes in the core values of:
RAV has its roots in the marriage guidance movement which was developed in Melbourne in 1948. The early organisers were community-spirited people, clergy, doctors and professionals and 'some persons of high social rank' in the philanthropic and charitable areas.
In the early years in Melbourne, activities were based in the homes of the organisation's members, moving to rented premises as the organisation expanded. It was not until October 1964 that the Council bought its first home at 46 Princess Street, Kew, which remains RAV's largest centre.
The name Marriage Guidance Council of Victoria was adopted in 1952 reflecting the organisation's growing statewide focus. At different times there were regional committees at Albury, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Gippsland, the Goulburn Valley and Sunraysia. Counselling was provided in these areas as well as at Kew, Coburg, Horsham, Stawell, Doveton-Dandenong and Warragul.
The late seventies and early eighties saw increasing professionalisation of services. This resulted in the recruitment of paid professional staff, the phasing out of trained volunteer counsellors, and the reluctant closure of some centres because of significantly increased costs.
The eighties and nineties was a period of growth through successful securing of government funding for new programs including the family dispute resolution services, specialist family violence services and counselling services for problem gambling.
More recently, family law reform has seen RAV undergo more growth. We successfully tendered for eight Family Relationship Centres (FRCs) - four as lead agency and four as consortium members - and six early intervention services.
From an organisation delivering primarily "marriage guidance", we have evolved to one that provides a diverse mixture of professional services to suit the needs of an increasingly complex and diverse community.
RAV offers a diverse range of relationship support services:
We provide these services from eight centres - Ballarat, Boronia, Cranbourne, Greensborough, Kew, Shepparton, Sunshine and Traralgon.
We are also very active in the area of family relationship services through Family Relationship Centres (FRCs), established by the Australian Government as part of reform of the family law system in 2005.
Along with our consortium partners, RAV is involved in eight of the 15 FRCs in Victoria, four as the lead agency at Berwick, Greensborough, Melbourne and Sunshine. We are an active consortium partner in the centres at Ballarat, Broadmeadows, Geelong, and Ringwood.
RAV runs accredited training and development Professional Training for those seeking to acquire or enhance their skills to provide relationship support and family dispute resolution services. We are a registered training organisation and one of only three organisations in Australia accredited to teach the Vocational Graduate Diploma in Family Dispute Resolution.
RAV employs a dedicated team of highly-skilled and qualified professionals with expertise in counselling, family dispute resolution, skills development and training.
Our frontline staff are supported by corporate services in a range of areas including human resources, communications, information technology and financial administration.
Together, we focus on ensuring our clients needs are at the forefront of everything we do.
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Contact Central Office - Corporate Support
