Patricia Newton OAM – Dee Why SLSC
Trish originally joined Dee Why Surf Life Saving Club in 1983 as a Nipper parent and then went on to gain her Bronze Medallion in 1994. In 1998, Trish made Australian history by becoming the first female President of any Surf Club in Australia when she was voted into the top job at Dee Why Surf Life Saving Club.
Trish has held many roles at the Club over the years – member of the Life Membership Sub-Committee, Member of the Rules and Regulations Committee, Junior Deputy President, Junior President, Deputy Club President and Club President.
Dee Why Surf Life Saving Club has benefited enormously from having Trish as a member, awarding her Club Person of the Year in 1996, Outstanding Service in 2002 and Distinguished Service in 2007.
Trish’s services and achievements at a Branch level include being founding Chair and Coordinator for the Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches Traumatic Incident Peer Support Team since 1994. Trish was awarded Distinguished Service in 2003 and awarded Life Membership in 2008.
Trish continues to serve on many committees to this day utilising her considerable talent. She is a former SLSNSW Administrator of the Year and received the International Crisis Response Leadership Award from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in 2015.
It is Trish’s pioneering work as the founding Chair and Coordinator of the Traumatic Incident Peer Support team (TIPS) in 1993 that is perhaps her most important legacy.
The TIPS program plays a crucial part in ensuring the welfare and mental well-being of members in the Sydney Northern Beaches Branch after attending critical incidents, and is arguably the best established program of its type in Australia.
Trish was honoured in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Awards with an Order of Australia Medal.
Patricia was awarded SNB Life Membership in 2008.
