People are our purpose, our motivation and our greatest resource.

Life Without Barriers was formed to support people to live the life of their choosing, and remove obstacles associated with disability, isolation, ageing, family breakdowns and homelessness that often prevent individual choice.

But it is also people, in particular the dedication and quality of our staff and volunteer carers, that means we can deliver the support our clients depend on.

Earlier this year we revisited Life Without Barriers’ values to ensure continued alignment between our services, our approach and our promise to our clients and the community at large. We were pleased that we had remained steadfast in the things we valued, and we are proud that they are being reflected daily in our actions and activities.

Our values of building relationships, being courageous, respectful, imaginative and responsive to people’s needs are part of everything we say and do, and are the key to all the decisions we make. We are proud of our ongoing commitment to these and so decided this year to relaunch our brand with our values as the public platform.

We believe our new look for Life Without Barriers showcases us as the modern, creative organisation that we are, committed to supporting all people. Our new brand is easy to see and recognise, and reinforces our fresh, relevant and professional approach to everything we do.

We’ve chosen to do this now for two reasons. Firstly, after 20 years we feel it’s time to increase public awareness of our organisation; and secondly, to support the growth of our services.

The nature of not-for-profit organisations is changing as the social services industry undergoes widespread reforms here in Australia and across the world. As governments seek community-based organisations to pick up the development and running of services, the industry needs to approach its work not only in humanitarian terms but as sustainable, well run businesses; businesses that can demonstrate sound governance and accountability of public monies.

An organisation that can’t run its business is not going to be in the business of helping others for very long.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people that ‘are’ Life Without Barriers. Thank you to the 2,500 people who provide out-of-home care for children and young people across Australia as volunteers, and to the 3,000 staff who support adults and young people living with a disability, mental illness or needing support through the juvenile justice system or refugee services; and thank you to our partners and sponsors for your generous support of our services.

Through these combined efforts we will continue to help people across Australia live the life they choose and live their life without barriers.