Staff Matters 150

Staff matters April 27, 2018 - Issue 150 Week 43

Cherrywood Supersite Programs Go Wild

In This Issue 1 Cherrywood Supersite Programs Go Wild

2 Staff Profile Oran Park Carers Connect Since opening, the Cherrywood Supersite has provided many unique experiences and opportunities for clients who visit.

There is always loads of fun to be had and wonderful life lessons to be learnt.

Recently, clients have enjoyed the animal nursery, equine therapy that is facilitated

by Bushbred, as well as a living skills program centred around farm living.

Bushbred is a unique program that assists in developing life skills through experiential and experimental interactions with horses. Engaging and managing one’s own behaviour around horses helps us think differently and explore solutions for everyday life.

Due to the success of the equine therapy program for clients at the Cherrywood Supersite, the program will be expanding further to include animal husbandry which covers topics about the day-to-day care and raising of livestock.

Blacktown Sensory Sensation

3 Connecting Youth Afford Abilities Soaring Sky High

4 Afford Make A Show in the Hawkesbury

Selfie Of the Week Have a Laugh

Through these highly engaging programs clients learn about social interaction by interacting with animals and honing these skills to use in everyday life.

Reminder

The current living skills will be developed to provide additional opportunities for clients to get involved in camp cooking and using ingredients such as eggs and herbs that they have collected from the on-site chicken coop and community garden.

Don’t forget to send your/clients’ achievements, good news stories and photos to

The Cherrywood Supersite bush walking program will also include sensory elements, where client can learn about the native flora and explore reasons why certain trees and plants have grown successfully in a particular area.

We look forward to hearing more about the interesting activities and adventures of clients at the Cherrywood Supersite!

Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

CELEBRATE@afford.com.au

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April 27, 2018 - Issue 150

Staff Profile

Ann-Maree Tetley

Lifestyle Assistant Ashfiled Lifestyle Centre Favourite Song: You Can’t Hurry Love - Phil Collins.

Favourite Movie: Ice Age Favourite Hobbies: Bushwalking Favourite Foods: Grilled fish or Octopus.

If you could be an animal what would you be: A bird of prey.

What is your dream holiday destination: Any destination as long as i’m travelling.

If you had the power what would you change about the world: Make fairness a quality that is really really desired by everyone.

What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you:? A stranger gave me flowers.

If you had to teach something what would you teach: Humility Something no one knows about me: I’m an open book.

let your abilities soar

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Oran Park Carers Connect At Afford, we recognise that the role of carers is a significant part of the health and happiness of our clients and that’s why we are working with Carers NSW and Together Carers to host Carers Events to provide advice and support for carers through the NDIS, as well as providing opportunities for social interaction with people with similar experiences.

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LOYER

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Oran Park Lifestyle Centre recently held an amazing Carer’s Night for 33 carers at a Thai restaurant. The event presented a great opportunity for all the families to spend time together.

The evening was attended by existing families as well as new families and was a great way for people to meet each other and the Oran Park Lifestyle Centre staff.

As an added bonus, Afford’s Executive Manager NDIS & Allied Health, Rosie, was able to attend the evening to answer all NDIS related questions.

While carers were enjoying their dinner, Oran Park clients were enjoying a fun at disco night at the Centre.

Afford thanks Carers NSW and Together Carers for their support and funding for these informative and fun Carer events.

Blacktown Sensory Sensation Sensory engagement through Afford Lifestyle Centres is vital in stimulating the minds and bodies of a variety of clients with individual and unique needs.

Since the makeover of the sensory room at Blacktown Lifestyle Centre, clients have been making the most of the new equipment and sensory stimulations. The LED light up modular furniture has made the Centre lively and gives it an additional ‘bling’.

Future plans for the revamped sensory room at Blacktown Lifestyle Centre include use by other service providers and clients, where the room can be booked for an hourly fee per participant.

www.afford.com.au

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April 27, 2018 - Issue 150

Connecting Youth Through Afford’s SLES program, trainees are provided with opportunities to explore and engage with the world in different ways to give them confidence to manage a variety o f situations for work and life.

Last week, trainees from SLES Marrickville went to Marrickville Community Centre to celebrate Youth Week. Trainees had the opportunity to mingle with other participants from different organisations, interact with community representatives, visit different stalls, and enjoy creating their own wood fired pizzas.

Trainees were encouraged to expand their creativity when looking at different displays and reading the stories behind items such as an old copper horse and an old typewriter. Trainees also enjoyed live music from various local groups, as well as some impromptu performances. Whilst at the event, trainees were also aiming to gain some ideas for their stall next month.

Afford Abilities Soaring Sky High

Afford staff are known to go above and beyond for their clients and now they’ve even taken to the skies! Recently, Afford Oran Park Lifestyle Centre staff members, Linda and Teresa, vowed to do their very first skydive to raise money for the Centre.

The Oran Park LC team invited clients, their families and Club Afford members to Wollongong Park to witness Linda and Teresea’s jump all in the name of fundraising for Afford.

As those on the ground waved Linda and Teresa off on the plane to prepare for their jump, everyone enjoyed a BBQ lunch with sausages and drinks all donated by Woolworths for the event.

Finally the moment arrived when Linda and Teresa had to make their jump. All eyes were on the sky as two orange Afford T-shirts appeared in the sky and made their way safely to the ground.

Linda and Teresa were so excited and said that there wasn’t any time to be scared and they were just searching for their cheer team of Afford supporters on the ground.

At the end of the day a raffle was drawn with around 20 prizes of vouchers and more being donated by Kmart, Harvey Norman, and families alike.

The day of thrills and excitement resulted in $3,820 being raised to put towards Oran Park Lifestyle Centre’s goal of enhancing the back outdoor area with a new pergola, grass and sensory garden for the benefit of clients.

Amazing effort Linda and Teresa! Go team Afford!

let your abilities soar

www.afford.com.au

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April 27, 2018 - Issue 150

Afford Make A Show in the Hawkesbury Communicating and connecting with the potential clients at local events, shows and expos plays such an important role in explaining all that Afford has to offer.

Last weekend, Nancy Elnajar, Aaron Young, Kiralee Jackson and their team worked throughout the weekend at the annual Hawkesbury Show to provide information to visitors from an Afford branded stall. It was the first time this year that Afford had a stall at the Hawkesbury Show and it was well received.

Visitors to the Afford stand came from local Hawkesbury suburbs, as well as wider Sydney regions. For the Afford staff, it was a chance to get to know more about the people from the region and become familiar with the services and supports that are needed.

Afford sponsored the pig race at the show and received prominent positioning next to the Grandstand which attracted a great number of people. During the much anticipated pig race, Afford was mentioned as a sponsor, which created additional exposure and brand awareness.

The Afford stall had all of the Afford marketing and information for the Hawkesbury crowd. Requests were many and varied. Some people who visited the Afford stand were looking for NDIS planning advice and support and some requests came from those in the industry, such as an Allied Health professional who brought along her group of participants to find out more about Afford services and supports.

The Hawkesbury Show is the Hawkesbury region’s equivalent of the Royal Easter show, so it was a wonderful opportunity for Afford to have a presence and connect with locals.

It was a great start to building Afford’s profile in the region and we look forward to progressing this further into the future. Well done Expos team!

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Have a laugh

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In the Selfie Above: Acting Senior Support Co-Ordinator, Albert Shlemon at the Anazc Day dawn service.

let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

Please send in your selfies or laughs