Staff Matters 159

Staff matters June 29, 2018 - Issue 159 Week 52

afford Employment conference - Starting Monday!

The Annual Afford Employment Conference was held this year at the Sage Hotel in Wollongong.

Organised by the committee, the aim was to encourage team building skills over a strategic two day conference to help teams understand how they can work better together.

The Conference kicked off on Thursday 21 June. After attendees had arrived, everyone was split up into colour coded teams to mix up usual work teams to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to expand their social and work networks.

The first day provided an outstanding start to the conference, with jam-packed brainstorming activities to highlight the day. The Conference Open & Employment update was given by Loan Nittel, followed by presentations from Symone Marajanovic on SLES, Sean Bourke provided an ADES update and an Employment Scavenger Challenge from Lindy Warner.

All were keen to celebrate first day achievements with pre-dinner drinks followed by a beautiful dinner in the Five Island Restaurant.

After the buzz of the first day, the momentum continued on Friday with again great involvement by all attendees.

Rosie Barletta delivered an informative NDIS presentation, answering any and all questions, followed by a successful Marketing presentation delivered by Michelle Flynn – encouraging teams to get involved with a brainstorming production activity. Each team were encouraged to share success client stories which may be suitable for our very own ‘employable me’ video series. How exciting!

In This Issue 1 Afford Employment

Conference - Starting Monday!

2 Staff Profile A Brew-Tiful Morning At Starbucks John’s Farewell

3 Afford Employment

Conference - Starting Monday Cont.

Teams & Tribes

4 Striking New Gear Upcoming Events Selfie Of the Week Have a Laugh

Continued Pg. 3

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

Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

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June 29, 2018 - Issue 159

Staff Profile

A BREW-TIFUL MORNING AT STARBUCKS! It has been an amazing and coffee infused journey for the Penrith and Minchinbury SLES Trainees. They can now celebrate successfully completing their Barista Course!

Trainees arrived at Starbucks with enthusiasm and excitement and they were ready to be given a guided tour of the store.

They had the opportunity to meet the store manager, Mathew, and were overjoyed to go behind the counter to experience the different roles on offer at Starbucks.

Priyani Perera Lifestyle Assistant at Bexley Day Program

Trainees had the chance to mingle with the staff, watch the process of taking customer orders and preparing customer requests, as well as experiencing what it would be like to work on the drive through window. All these roles highlighted to trainees the importance of having good time management.

Favourite Song: Titanic by Celine Dion Favourite Movie:

As always Trainees were keen to find out what qualifications and experience was required to work at the store and asked many questions to get the most out of their experience.

Beauty and the Beast Favourite Hobbies: Bush Walking

A fabulous experience for all our keen future Barista’s!

Favourite Foods: Sushi and Thai If you could be an animal what would you be: A Cat What is your dream holiday destination: Japan If you had the power what would you change about the world: To protect all children.

What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

Been honest If you had to teach something what would you teach: How to be respectful to other people.

Something no one knows about me?

I cry when I see others cry.

let your abilities soar

JOHN’S FAREWELL

Oran Park Day Program regularly holds Carers Events every six months and invites all client parents and guardians to celebrate their loved one’s achievements and progress.

While most of the Oran Park Day Program Carers Events are well attended and generate great discussion, last Friday’s Carer Event was the most amazing one yet.

There was a tremendous turnout, with around 35 parents attending. Clients were also very excited to get involved with preparations for the event. They helped to make lunch for their parents, carers and friends, decorating the site and getting everything ready.

With such a lovely turn out for the event, it was also a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and farewell, client John Zerafa and his family, as they move to the Central Coast. John has been attending Afford’s Oran Park Day Program since January 2017 and is also involved in Club Afford and Afford Getaways. John has many friends at Afford and participated in two Afford Getaways.

It was sad news for friends and carers at Oran Park Day Program, but the energy was still alive and all of his friends and carers decided it would be a great idea to make a collage - with the help of Oran Park staff member, Antoinette Imbruglia - for John to remember everyone.

www.afford.com.au

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June 29, 2018 - Issue 159

afford Employment conference - Starting Monday!

A highlight of the conference, was a motivational presentation by special guest speaker and Australian Volleyball 2000 Gold Medallist, Kerrie Ann Pottharst. Kerrie was fantastic, her presentation was inspiring and motivational. During her presentation she decided to put five people out of their comfort zones – she openly asked for five volunteers, but warned them they might not like what they had to do.

Minutes later she was pulling a tarp full of broken glass out of her bag and had the five volunteers come up and face their fears one by one. Everyone made it through without a single scratch! It goes to show you can do anything you put your mind to. “My biggest fear is glass, but surprisingly I felt like everything would be fine. Hearing Kerrie explain that fear and doubt is an emotion that can stop us from achieving great things, I was determined to walk through the glass and I did!”, said Michelle Flynn.

The day finished with more team building and brainstorming activities and Close of Conference & Summation given

by Loan Nittel.

The Afford Employment Conference was a huge success and we would like to thank everyone for attending and getting involved to celebrate the amazing Afford culture. Go team Afford!

Teams & Tribes The recent Afford Employment Conference has shown us that by working together and getting to know others within our workplace, even when we don’t work with them on a day-to-day basis, we can achieve great things.

At Afford, we cultivate an environment of belonging and value. Our regular staff meetings are not designed to be just a ‘tick the box’ activity, but rather an opportunity to share ideas, to encourage our team to push harder, do better and achieve more.

We acknowledge that our pool of talented staff go above and beyond to ensure that every clients’ individual work, home and life needs are met, so letting your hair down at regular Afford Buzz Nights is a great way to celebrate success.

We should all be working towards the same goal, singing from the same song sheet and driving success together. We need to support each other so that if one bird in the flock falls behind, we’re all there to help bring them back into the team.

Use technology to your advantage. Email, phone or teleconference your peers to increase productivity and keep up the momentum without slowing down the process. We are growing a an organisation and technology will be our friend in communicating with our teams and tribes across Sydney, in Queensland and beyond.

We can learn from and support each other to grow personally and professionally. Let your abilities soar Team Afford!

let your abilities soar

www.afford.com.au

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June 29, 2018 - Issue 159

STRIKING NEW GEAR

At Afford, staff always look for ways to incorporate activities that suit the interests of clients and allow them to develop skills and confidence.

Colin in a resident of Rainbow home at Afford’s Group Homes and he has been attending Windsor Tenpin Bowling for the last two years.

He enjoys going ten pin bowling on Saturday every fortnight with staff from Billabong. Afford encourages activity of choice and bowling is one of Colin’s favourite hobbies.

Colin has played a lot of games, but his most recent bowling game was very special. Colin had just picked up his brand new bowling ball and bowling shoes that he picked out himself!

It has been a suspenseful few weeks for Colin, as he waited to collect his bowling gear that comprised of his own special bowling ball, with a colour that he adored. When choosing his gear, he knew exactly what he wanted and paid the deposit to secure the order.

Colin was so excited for his first bowl using his new bowling gear, but he didn’t let it distract him, knocking all the pins down in style while everybody cheered and clapped.

“It must be the new ball and new shoes that made me play so well!” Colin said.

Everyone had a great time watching Colin with his new gear. Well done Colin!

Date: 1-31 July 1-31 July 1-8 July 8-14 July 24 July 27 July 27 July

Upcoming Events Event:

Fragile X Awareness Month JulyEYE Month NAIDOC Week National Diabetes Week Stress Down Day Crazy Hair Day White Ribbon Day

Have a laugh

ieeek f l e w

S the of

Don, IT Support Officer at the State of Origin. Go Blues!

let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

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