CEO ’ s Report
Christine Pope | ATMS Acting CEO
Happy New Year and welcome to 2024 . It is shaping up to be a big year for ATMS as we are currently finalising the recruitment of a new CEO and we are welcoming two new Board members . Currently I am acting CEO until the new CEO is appointed and we are expecting that announcement to be finalised for members in mid-February , 2024 .
First up a big thank you to outgoing CEO , Charles Wurf , for his 8 years of service . He was a strong advocate for ATMS in the area of preventative health and provided wise counsel to the Board on the processes involved in advocacy . He was instrumental in guiding the organisation through challenges with COVID lockdowns , the NTREAP review process and changes to the Home Care Packages . More recently he led the team through a significant IT project which is replacing the current website and supporting integrations with the member portal , the Humanitix booking site and the ‘ find-a-practitioner ’ function . Those of you who have built or replaced websites will understand how much is involved in this project .
In my capacity as acting CEO it has been a privilege to see the efforts of the ATMS team in dealing with a large volume of ongoing work on updating and maintaining clinic addresses and records , including matters of insurance , first aid and continuing professional education . As a director for the past several years I have become aware of the true extent of the operational effort needed to support over 9,000 members . The requirements of health funds are extensive , and it seems that much of our energy is directed to ensuring that members comply with requirements and do not put their accreditation at risk .
It ' s also clear that as processes for many of these providers have been systematised much of the human element has been lost , and it becomes increasingly difficult to address unintentional failures by members to provide key data . Please make sure that you diarise all key dates for your membership , insurance , first aid and CPE , and update that information in advance of the mandatory dates for their expiry . In addition , it ’ s critical to keep your membership details up to date , so that emails are sent to the correct addresses .
The first Board meeting of the year was in mid-January and at that time ATMS welcomed two new elected directors , Cass Duffill and Ross Walters , as well as returning two existing directors , Donna Eddy and Rebecca Lang . A new executive was formed as well , headed up by myself as President and seeing Chantel Ryan and Kathleen Daniel appointed as Vice-Presidents , and Rebecca Lang as Treasurer . Re-invigoration of the board leadership is key to the ongoing success of ATMS , and having the newer members mentored by outgoing President Peter Berryman and myself will help to maintain a strong governance structure and generate new initiatives for members .
Looking forward to 2024 , the year has already started strongly with a keen group of Natural Medicine Week ambassadors planning a range of activities that include webinars , recipes and blogs for Natural Medicine Week 2024 . For all practitioners Natural Medicine Week is a good way to provide a focus for your marketing activities . It can be as simple as sharing on social media relevant content from the Natural Medicine Week website - or you can stretch yourself a little more to hold a Facebook Live or run an online event .
Practitioners who would like to promote an online event are advised to submit all the relevant content before 31 March to really take advantage of the opportunity and get the most benefit out of the marketing campaigns . This year in Natural Medicine Week we will be sharing our Top 10 Tips and this freemium will drive signups to the lists to support our marketing in the future . This resource is beautifully designed and links to many of the existing blogs on the site .
Graphics will also be available in Canva to make it easier for members to share details of their event or provide marketing tiles to promote a local activity . In previous years members have had success with demonstrations , morning “ herbal teas ” and in-person workshops .
More importantly , if you tag ATMS in your socials it will give us an opportunity to share ourselves more broadly .
The other rewarding aspect of Natural Medicine week is that the content generated provides ATMS with up to 4 months of online material across our social channels , allowing us to direct the public to blogs and recipes from our practitioners and ultimately to achieve our major goal , which is for them to book an appointment and see an accredited practitioner .
Wishing all success for you and your practice in 2024 .
Christine Pope Acting CEO
JATMS | Autumn 2024 | 7