About Hannah’s House

Our Mission

Hannah’s House provides crisis accommodation and mobile support to young women of Ipswich, QLD who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

We offer a safe, caring and encouraging environment where young women can come in a time of trouble, where during their stay, our staff work alongside our clients to help them move forward with a positive outlook and outcomes for their lives.

Toy Houses on a string at night

What Do We Do

Hannah’s House links our clients with support networks within the Ipswich community, based on their needs and circumstances and, where appropriate, with family members.

Hannah’s House also provides many different services to assist young women to set goals and see positive outcomes where they can live successfully and independently.

Hannah's House staff public speaking

Our Services

24 hour supported crisis accommodation

24 hour supported crisis accommodation

Mobile Support

Mobile Support

Assistance to Mantain Accommodation

Assistance to Mantain Accommodation

Information, Advice, and Advocacy

Information, Advice, and Advocacy

Case Management

Case Management

Referrals to Specialised Support Services

Referrals to Specialised Support Services

Assistance with Personal/Family Issues

Assistance with Personal/Family Issues

Living Skills and Recreation Programs

Living Skills and Recreation Programs

Income and Budgeting Education

Income and Budgeting Education

Education/Training/Work Assistance

Education/Training/Work Assistance

Our History

Hannah’s House has been assisting young women since 1982. Our first outreach began in that year in a house that was on Roderick Street in Ipswich, QLD. The house was owned by Ipswich Central Assembly of God Church, who at that time were not using the house, and so founded what is now called Hannah’s House.

From there, we were able to expand with the help from both Centro Church, who is our auspice organisation, and with funding by the Queensland Department of Housing to acquire two properties we now operate from.

Our reach has differed over the years and presently we have 2 houses in our network that are used for crisis accommodation and transitional housing.

We have a capacity at our crisis shelter of 5 bedrooms and 3 bedrooms at our transitional housing property. Along with the 2 properties, we have also been able to expand into mobile support. This is an external program that assists our clients post involvement at Hannah’s House.

At Hannah’s House, we believe that each person has intrinsic value, and deserves the chance to improve any negative situations they find themselves in.

Hallway black and white photo

Our Team

These are people who make Hannah’s House possible.

Hayley Dunikowski

Hayley Dunikowski

Service Director

Hayley has worked at Hannah’s House for 14 years in various roles and now enjoys leading the team and working on building the capacity of the service. Hayley enjoys supporting and empowering staff, building community connections and working collaboratively with other services.

Jari Smith

Jari Smith

Case Manager

Jari is the Hannah’s House Case Manager, supporting clients to set and achieve goals. Jari has been a part of the Hannah’s House team for 6 years and is not only amazing at her role but brings a fun energy to the service with her quick and witty sense of humour!

Julie Solofa

Julie Solofa

Youth Worker

Julie is a dedicated youth worker who is great at connecting with each individual client and understanding their needs. Julie shows up for each shift excited and is always looking for ways to improve her knowledge and skills so she can better support the young people she works with.

Cherie Fagasoaia

Cherie Fagasoaia

Youth Worker

Cherie is our longest standing member of staff with many years’ experience as a youth worker. Cherie is quick to build rapport with young people with her fun and bubbly personality and is passionate about seeing clients gain skills and achieve their goals.

Nerida Turner

Nerida Turner

Crisis Accommodation House Manager

Nerida is our Hannah’s House crisis accommodation House Manager, overseeing the day to day running of the house and supporting staff and the needs of residents. Nerida provides a grounded and experienced presence and is always ready with a balanced perspective.

Elaine Booth

Elaine Booth

Transitional House Manager

Elaine resides at our transitional housing property providing a stable, adult presence to young women who have gone through our crisis accommodation program, gained independent living skills and have moved onto our independent transitional house. Elaine provides practical support when needed and is sometimes simply a listening ear and supporter!

Judy Curnow

Youth worker

With her years of experience as a youth worker, Judy brings a calm and balanced presence to our crisis accommodation house. She provides nurturing and gentle support to residents and is particularly skilled at working with young women who have experienced trauma.

Toy Houses on a string at night

COMMUNITY · CONNECTION · CHANGE