Staff Matters - Issue 136

Staff matters January 19, 2018 - Issue 136 Week 26

A Great Welcome Back to 2018!

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In This Issue 1 A Great Welcome Back to 2018!

2 Staff Profile It’s All Calm At The Farm Lurnea Client Of the Year

3 A Great Welcome Back to 2018 Cont.!

350 employees attended the Annual Frontline Staff Conference at Fairfield RSL last week with guest speaker, Simon Rowntree, showcasing a great presentation about Resilience and Customer Service.

Warming up the audience with a fun activity, staff were keen to learn some new strategies to maintain and build on providing the best customer service in the industry.

Learning about their strengths and resilience, each employee had to build a lego figurine under unknown time constraints. This brought out everyone’s competitive spirit and noise in the room nearly took the roof off.

Finally, we looked at our current situation regarding the challenges we are facing with the rollout of the NDIS, looking at rosters, work/life balance, training, time etc. This activity was called ‘CVS to BVS’ meaning ‘Current View of the Situation to Better View of the Situation’ and this brought out a lot of great ideas that all can implement over the coming months.

Casey and Steve re-iterated the benefits of working at Afford, how financially stable we are, and also offered an insight into our growth plans, both within GWS as well as beyond, to which we had a lot of excitement and some people already offering to move to sites outside of Sydney!

Everyone LOVED their crane earrings and diaries that were in their Conference Goodie Bags, with Allied Health already filling in their diaries there and then.

It was another successful conference at Afford, where we continue to build on our amazing culture and staff skills.

Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

4 Sensational Cooking Research

Selfie Of the Week Have a Laugh

Reminder Don’t forget to send your/clients’ achievements, good news stories and photos to CELEBRATE@afford.com.au

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January 19, 2018 - Issue 136

Staff Profile

It’s All Calm At The Farm Transition to Work Trainees recently attended an industry visit at Calmsley Hill City Farm to learn about the agricultural industry and the different jobs and responsibilities that are involved in running a farm.

Trainees listened to a talk given by the farm manager, Noah Moseley, about the different roles involved on a farm and how all the staff work together to get tasks done. Trainees were able to ask questions and then had the opportunity to look at the farm property, and watch first-hand how the farm staff perform their duties.

Colleen Tippin Lifestyle Assistant Cherrywood LC Favourite Song: Leather & Lace Stevie Nicks Favourite Movie: Weekend at Bernie’s Favourite Hobbies: Gardening Favourite Foods: Chocolate If you could be an animal what would you be: An Eagle What is your dream holiday destination: Cairns & Island hopping.

If you had the power what would you change about the world: No poverty.

What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you: Cooked me dinner.

If you had to teach something what would you teach: About the disabity sector.

Something no one knows about me: I can’t handle alcohol.

let your abilities soar

Trainees also had the valuable opportunity of participating in some of the farm tasks and duties, such as milking cows, and they were able to watch the sheep dogs working with the farmers to herd the sheep for shearing.

There was also time to interact with many different farm animals and learn about and touch some of Australia’s native fauna. The trainees had a great time getting hands-on experience and taking part in farming life.

At the end of the day trainers spoke with trainees about their experience, discussing their favourite moments and learnings from the day, and talked about experiences to reinforce their understanding of the farming industry.

Lurnea Client Of the Year When Salma arrived at Afford she was unable to speak or understand any English.

She had only been in Australia a short time and was overwhelmed at joining Lurnea Lifestyle Centre.

She had arrived in Australia after losing most of her family in the Syria conflict. She survived for some months alone without any assistance from anyone. Having never been to school and since joining Afford Lurnea, Salma has discovered a whole new world of learning and tries new things every day.

In the short time Salma has been at Afford she has worked extremely hard to learn the English language, both spoken and written, and continues to practice every day. She has started to explore Sydney and has discovered new hobbies including craft, clay, ceramics, knitting and crochet.

Salma has been a wonderful addition to the team at Lurnea Lifestyle Centre.

Congratulations Salma, Lurnea’s Client of the Year!

www.afford.com.au

Staff matters

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January 19, 2018 - Issue 136

A Great Welcome Back to 2018 Cont.!

let your abilities soar

www.afford.com.au

Staff matters

4

January 19, 2018- Issue 136

Sensational Cooking Research Afford Guildford Lifestyle Centre recently purchased iPad for clients to use, thanks to a grant provided Cumberland Stronger Communities Fund.

Guildford Lifestyle clients, Grace and Mary, recently used the iPad to research healthy meal recipes and the utensils required for cooking.

Healthy eating and living is a focus for clients at the site, with many enjoying making different foods and learning about nutrition.

Afford Lifestyle Assistants support clients to research and plan out meals that they would like to have, and source what ingredients they need to prepare to cook the meals.

Progress to date has been amazing! Clients have come up with several ideas about their cooking program, such as researching foods and creating dishes from different countries, cooking for the senses using different spices and sauces, and cooking for fun by creating different play dough (smooth, grainy, runny, hard etc).

Guildford Lifestyle Assistants are so excited about the many ideas that clients continue to put forward and are excited to see some of the wonderful creations to come.

Bon appetit, Guildford!

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Have a laugh

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In the Selfie Above: Staff Member Michelle Flynn enjoying the magic of a white Christmas a Christmas in New York.

let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

Please send in your selfies or laughs