2022: tough conversations, better outcomes
2022 was weird—but another wonderful year at The Social Deck. And that’s thanks to an amazing team and partners we’ve had the pleasure of working with!
The year started off with recently opened borders in Queensland, which led to a delay in start to school due to COVID. It’s hard to believe that it was less than 12 months ago that COVID was causing school closures. Then came floods.
We knew this was going to be another disrupted year for many in communities across Australia.
We spent a lot of 2022 in conversation with people, and often about some really tough topics - mental health and suicide, National Redress Scheme for people who experienced institutional child sexual abuse, Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, disability advocacy and equity in women’s health, to name just a few.
We work on these areas to make a difference and get better outcomes. And sometimes, particularly when things are so disrupted in society by many, many factors, giving people a voice and making sure they have the information they need is one of the greatest impacts we can have.
This has been at the core of our 2022, and I want to thank and recognise the TSD team (and our partners) who went above and beyond to help communicate, engage, and create changes on these issues for our clients and communities.
With a young family, Steve and I can’t underestimate the importance of being surrounded by a brilliant, kick arse team who always “figures it out” when faced with adversity; people who are willing to jump in to go the extra mile to make a difference. And it’s with the support of this amazing team and great clients to partner with, that it’s been another successful 12 months for business focused on making a positive impact.
There are many things this year that we’re proud to have been a part of, but a few highlights were:
- Launch of Queensland’s new Zero Emission Vehicle Strategy
- Release of the National Redress Scheme Survivor Service Charter, which we helped to co-develop with survivors and those who support them
- Our first social research project under the new Queensland Government social research panel, to understand the attitudes and behaviours of people towards crocodiles in Croc Country
- Supporting the launch and promotion of the new Green Vehicle Guide website to encourage Australians to shift to electric vehicles
- Our first major face-to-face national consultations since COVID began supporting National Disability Advocacy Framework consultations and National Mental Health Commission’s 2022 Connections program
- Seeing the release of the National Obesity Strategy and helping Queensland to progress its commitments with a draft Queensland Obesity Prevention Strategy
So as we near the end of the year, I’m very proud to release our third annual snapshot, which includes a summary of some of our activity in 2022.
Early next year we’ll also release a report of our annual impact, as a #BCorp and company dedicated to not just thriving and being sustainable in business, but also making sure we contribute to social and environmental good in all we do.
Stay tuned for another exciting lot of work we have in the pipeline for 2023, and keep up to date at our newsletter 👉 https://www.thesocialdeck.com.au/newsletter
