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Professor Concetta Benn Am (1926 – 2011)

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Professor Concetta Benn Am (1926 – 2011) PROFESSOR CONCETTA BENN AM (1926 – 2011) PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS Concetta Benn, better known as Connie, was born to a family of Italian migrants that made a successful living in Melbourne from a series of fruit and vegetable shops. After attending a series of primary schools, where she was not immune to taunts of “dago”, she received her secondary education at MacRobertson Girls’ High School, and enrolled in an Arts degree at The University of Melbourne, graduating in 1949, the first member of her family to have competed a university degree. She then married, and spent the next six years moving around with her husband Keith as he completed requirements to become qualified as a psychiatrist. Back in Melbourne with three young children, Connie returned to the University to study social work, completing the two-year program in 1957. Her first positions after graduation were in psychiatric settings at Larundel Psychiatric Hospital, then Royal Park and Mont Park. This was followed in 1961 by a period as Director of Social Work and Research at the Citizen’s Welfare Service, formerly the Charity Organisation Service, where she was employed largely as a caseworker and helped develop a non-religious marriage guidance program. It was at CWS that her belief in the necessity of social change became stronger, as she saw case after case of people dealing with the same social problems of poverty and social disadvantage, which she believed would be better dealt with by improved provision of social welfare services than by provision of emergency relief. In 1966 she was appointed Research Officer to the Leader of the Opposition in the Victorian Parliament. She was the first Research Officer in the Victorian Parliament, and worked on a number of non-welfare related issues such as the discovery of oil in Bass Strait. She was also able to work with the State’s Liberal Government to assist in bringing about amendments to the state’s Social Welfare Act. In 1972 Connie undertook what was to be a short-term project funded by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and housed at the Brotherhood of St Laurence to identify how much money a family needed to live on. Connie was to interview families and ask them about their lives on very low incomes. Connie’s project caused the Brotherhood to reflect on its own services, and it decided that rather than continue its social work service, which seemed to be having little effect in changing people’s lives, they would institute a new project where they would work intensively with a limited number of families to assist them move out of poverty. Connie was employed to lead this project, which became the Brotherhood’s Family Centre. It was during this period that she developed her Developmental Approach to working with impoverished families, demonstrating that with the right supports and opportunities, families could interrupt the cycle of poverty that had trapped them, and experience sustainable change. In 1975 she moved from the Family Centre project to become Director of Social Policy and Research at The Brotherhood. In this position she developed a strong research program with an emphasis on unemployment issues and the struggles of single parents, hoping to use the results of the research to influence decision makers. Connie also completed an MA (Social Work) degree with a thesis on the Brotherhood’s Family Centre. In 1982 after ten years with The Brotherhood, Connie moved to an academic position as Head of the Social Work School at Phillip Institute of Technology, now Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Disappointed to discover that her responsibilities were largely administrative rather than teaching and thus bringing about any form of social change, in 1983 she applied for and was appointed to the position of Director of the Social Policy Division in the Department of Premier and Cabinet in the Cain Labor Government. Here she was able to work on a social justice strategy, and make a number of innovations. In 1985 under Premier John Cain she became Deputy Director General of Community Services Victoria until 1988, and then Director of the Older Persons Planning Office, a position she held until her 1989. In 1989 she was appointed Professor and Head of the Social Work School at the University of Melbourne, from which she retired in 1991. Connie continued her involvement with public life, becoming Chairperson of the Victorian Adult and Further Education Board and Chairperson of Northern Health Services Board, Victoria. Throughout her professional life Connie was active in a number of Commissions, Task Forces, Boards and government enquiries. At various times she was a Commissioner of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, President of The Victorian Court Network, Vice-President of Co-As-It, and a member of the Victorian Social Justice Consultative Council, among many others. She was also frequently requested to undertake reviews or consultancies related to a range of social welfare- related organisations such as the Victorian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, CASA House, the State Training Board, Australian Greek Welfare Service, Anglican Marriage and Education Counselling Service, and the Social Work Departments of the Royal Women’s and Royal Children’s Hospitals. Connie’s service to the community has been recognized by her receiving a number of honours and awards. In the Australian Day Honours in 1995 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia “in recognition of service to social welfare, particularly in the areas of health and education”, and in 2001 she received a Centenary Medal. Other awards include Doctorate of Laws (Honoris Causa), University of Melbourne, 1992, Doctorate of Social Science (Honoris Causa), RMIT, 1993, inclusion on the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2002), and Life Memberships of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Drummond Street Relationship Centre, and the AASW. AASW INVOLVEMENT Connie joined the AASW as soon as she graduated as a social worker, and quickly became an active member of the Association. She was Vice President and President of the Victorian Branch for fifteen years from 1958 to 1972, and was Federal Vice President in 1971. She was made a Life Member of the AASW in recognition of her service to the Association, and to the social work profession. Helen Murray, November 2016 References: Spoken Memories, Transcript of interview, AASW Victorian Branch, https:www.aasw.asn.au/victoria/spoken-memories/connie-benn Draper, Mary (2011) Tough, Caring Reformer in Social Justice, Obituary, The Sydney Morning Herald 20.06.2011 Concetta (Connie) Benn 12 December 1926 – 18 March 2011, Obituary, AASW National Bulletin, Volume 21 Issue 3 Spring 2011 .
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