Carterton

A Wairarapa charitable trust and national social enterprise are joining forces to help “enable good lives” for disabled people and their whānau.

This month, whānau-led disability collective Good Lives Wairarapa will be hosting a workshop at Carterton Events Centre – designed to support Wairarapa locals with disabilities, and their loved ones, to access Individualised Funding [IF] services.

IF allows individuals to manage their own disability support funding, giving them choice and control over which support services they receive, and who provides them – allowing more fl exibility and autonomy.

The workshop will be facilitated by Manawanui, New Zealand’s largest provider of disability funding support – with staff on hand to share their knowledge of the disability sector, what funding options are available, and how to get the best out of these resources.

Good Lives Wairarapa founders Anita Nicholls and Chris Hollis, based in Carterton, have been using IF to support their 25-yearson James, who has fragile X syndrome and autism, for the past 15 months.

Anita and Chris said James had previously been living away from home and attending a day programme – but went through a “diffi cult few months” after moving back into his parents’ care and readjusting to a new routine in Wairarapa.

Receiving IF, his parents were able to hire local support workers, who helped “get him out and about in the community”. With their support, James joined the gym and became a regular at spin classes, explored cafés and sushi bars, learnt to bake bread and did capentry at Menzshed Carterton.

James is now “thriving”: Working with his Dad on the family farm, becoming “a well-known face about town”, and starting a new community enterprise with his support worker, collecting coff ee grounds from cafés and supplying them to community gardens to use as fertiliser.

“Being able to use IF was life-changing for James,” Anita said.

“We got him back from a very unhappy dark place by being able to provide him with the support he needed.

“The old sociable James has now returned – to the extent that he and his support workers hosted his friends at a carnival on the farm where he designed

When the outcome matters, you want the WCM Legal team on your side.

YOUR TRUSTED PARTNER IN Property Law Estates and Wills Criminal Court matters Civil Litigation Family Law Commercial and Business transactions

CARTERTON | GREYTOWN | WELLINGTON WWW. WCMLEGAL .CO.NZ

Hand-crafted concrete plant pots, water features & concrete furniture.

Carterton

formedbyhand.com 021 0224 4174

For James Hollis [left], Individualised Funding has opened up many new possibilities– including learning carpentry at Menzshed Carterton. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

and helped construct all the games.”

Simon Anderson, project manager for Manawanui, said the Carterton workshop would specialise in “self-directed funding” – allowing disabled people and their families decision - making power over their support services.

The workshop would explore topics such as how disability funding in New Zealand works, the role of family members in supporting disabled loved ones, how to fi nd and engage with support workers, legal obligations, and claiming funding money.

“Disability Funding is complex and always changing – and many people fi nd themselves struggling to know how it all works,” Anderson said.

“Our workshops are open to families, community organisations, schools, religious groups, or any member of the public who wants to learn how the disability funding process works, and how providers like Manawanui can help.”

Good Lives Wairarapa was set up last year to empower disabled people to participate more fully in their communities – by expanding opportunities in education, employment, sport, and creativity – and to improve disability services and long-term life outcomes in the region.

• The Individualised

Funding workshop will be held on Tuesday,

November 15, from 10am to 2pm, at

Carterton Events

Centre. For catering purposes, please register your attendance at www.manawanui. org.nz – click on the

“Events” tab.

Isyourdrinkingwater REALLYsafetodrink? ForALL your Water Filtration, Pumping and Electrical requirements SEEUS NOW

For Bore,Stream,Rain Watersystems, UV Treatment,Replacement Filter Cartridges PHBalancing Systems & IronRemoval

Ph:063797953. Seeus:148BelvedereRd,Carterton

AN AFTERNOON WITH KATE CAMP

YOU PROBABLY THINK THIS SONG IS ABOUT YOU

13 November, 3pm. Carterton Events Centre, Wairarapa. All welcome. Koha.

‘Write the truest thing you can’ - whether about IVF, an assault against your mother, visiting a boyfriend in prison, Clinton losing to Trump, pissing your pants… Listen to these & other stories of Kate Camp’s life as told in her memoir You Probably Think This Song Is About You. Kate Camp commentated Kate’s Klassics on RNZ for 20 years and is the prizewinning author of 10 books of poetry and essays.

YEARS LIVES

Remembering our people through their stories

Get your copy of Wairarapa’s WW1 history from the Wairarapa Times-Age 100 Years, 100 Lives is a project of remembrance. A collaboration between Wairarapa Times-Age and Wairarapa Archive, it presents the stories of 100 Wairarapa people whose lives were affected by World War I. Many of which have not been told before. Some, if not for the research undertaken for this project, may never have been told. The 100 Years, 100 Lives project spanned 100 Times-Age editions, has selected audio and written stories on the dedicated online microsite times-age.co.nz/100-years-100-lives/ WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE & WAIRARAPA ARCHIVE 100 YEARS, 100 LIVES

YEARS LIVES

HALF PRICE SPECIAL ONLY $20.00