AFTER 13 hectic, demanding and successful years, LifeLine Zululand Executive Director, Sue Stephenson has taken her well-deserved departure.
At the organisation’s recent AGM, tribute was paid to Sue for the indelible contribution she made to the communities she served with distinction.
‘LifeLine Zululand grew in stature, achievements and reputation under her unique headship and direction, ’said outgoing Chairperson Juriana Filmalter.
‘Through her wisdom, compassion and attention to detail, Sue ensured the expansion of LifeLine’s outreach and significantly increased the size of our ‘extended family’.
‘Her people skills – including a sparkling wit – have endeared her to many, she has the uncanny ability to connect with people at all levels of society and she has vastly improved LifeLine’s relationship with government departments, other NGOs and NPOs, local corporates and businesses, the media and the public in general.’
Sue’s journey began on the East Rand in 1998 where she qualified as a counsellor, and from being an ‘add-on’ to the many other commitments in her busy corporate life, LifeLine soon took over completely.
‘As the sole female director of a group of engineering companies, I worked long hours. LifeLine telephone duties and other activities were done at night and on weekends and I slowly eased out of my other commitments,’ said Sue.
‘I moved to Mtunzini in 2000 to semi-retire and start a small accounting practice.
‘My membership from LifeLine ER was transferred to Zululand and I continued as a crisis counsellor, eventually volunteering to join the Board in March 2002.’
Changing society
Sue was ‘badgered into taking over the running of the Centre’ and eventually ‘buckled under the pressure and agreed to give LifeLine 20 hours a week for a period of three months’.
This became a 13-year, full-time responsibility, commitment and distinguished career that encompassed many changes as the organisation grew from merely a crisis call telephone counselling service.
‘LifeLine moves with the times to maintain relevance. Experience gained over the years has guided us to move from being an exclusively reactive service to one that also offers proactive services to address the societal ills that prevail.
‘From being a purely volunteer organisation, LifeLine now has more paid staff than volunteers.’
Sue’s successful vision for LifeLine Zululand included building a strong isiZulu-speaking counsellor base and taking services and activities into areas where people had previously been unable to access them.
‘As far as what still needs to be done in the community, moral regeneration would be a good start. What happened to core values and good old fashioned morals?
‘The shift from only supporting the ‘victim’ to also supporting the ‘perpetrator’ is a good one as we need to know the cause of all the violence and bad behaviour.
‘Having evolved from an anonymous, confidential counselling service, we still need to learn how to properly market ourselves.
‘It has taken years to get corporates to see we offer valuable support and to use our services for their staff.’
