Community Access
Learn, Experience, Grow, and Thrive with Community Access and Social Participation Supports
It’s perfectly natural to want to help your disabled child or loved one to feel confident, included, and fully supported to live their best life. At Support to Grow, we want to help you to empower them with the skills and support they need, not only to grow, but to thrive.
We’ve seen first-hand how important it is for both kids and adults with additional needs to have the opportunity to learn and practice the interpersonal skills they need to communicate effectively. We have helped to teach them to navigate every-day situations and interactions confidently and successfully, and we have beamed with pride when they have used their new-found skills to form connections with new people and build lasting friendships.
Our community access and social participation support services have been designed to help adults and children with alternative needs to reach their daily goals – whatever they may be. Our carefully selected disability support workers are there to support participants to experience new environments, learn and practice new skills, participate in fun and inclusive activities, and generally improve their quality of life.
Practical assistance to help you stay connected, get stuff done and – most importantly – have fun!
Our community access program is open to people of all ages with additional needs who have NDIS funding. While you, or your little lima bean or adult loved one with alternate needs is free to choose the activities you want to participate in, it is an NDIS requirement that the chosen activity aligns with your NDIS goals. If it does, Support to Grow can assist participants to access a wide range of practical, meaningful, and enjoyable activities with a focus on personal growth and development that can help them to build and maintain resilience, learn new skills, and improve their general wellbeing.
“Set your goals so high you will need to grow to reach them” – theminismallholder.com
Accessing and actively participating in the community
We offer a range of tailored community access services to help differently-abled clients to manage the logistics of venturing into the community. Whether it be to complete errands and important daily living tasks, attend an appointment or community-based event, or participate in chosen recreational activities.
Examples of the kinds of tasks or activities Support to Grow support workers can help with include:
- Attending appointments – doctors, dentist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, dietician, NDIS, etc.
- Shopping – grocery or otherwise.
- Running errands – such as visiting the Post Office to collect or send mail, picking up dry cleaning, going to the bank, going to the pharmacy, and so on.
- Accessing community resources– for example, going to the local library, park or playground, art gallery, or museum.
- Participate in an existing hobby, or start a new one – for example, if you want to learn karate or how to tap dance, or need support to attend learn-to-swim classes, or art or music lessons, your support worker can either help you get to your classes or join in and learn right alongside you.
- Participating in physical activity – such as going to the gym, attending a personal training session, visiting a public pool or ocean baths, going for a bike ride or walk, or attending learn-to-swim classes, karate lessons, dance classes, and so on.
- Attending community events – for example, farmers’ markets, concerts, church services, etc.
Community access and participation for adults
There are additional benefits to be gained by adults with additional needs who choose to take advantage of the assistance available to them via our community access and participation supports. We work with you to identify your goals in accessing our community participation supports – in line with your NDIS goals –and formulate a plan that is tailored to accommodate your needs and preferences, build self-awareness, self-confidence, and a sense of autonomy, and assist you to achieve and maintain your optimal level of independence.
Some of the ways in which we assist disabled adults to actively improve their social competence and successfully participate in their community include mentoring and supporting you to:
- improve or maintain your personal well-being:
- by building your confidence and sense of self worth.
- through social contribution and community engagement.
- by fostering positive interpersonal relationships.
- increase your self-awareness (including both physical and emotional awareness), to:
- improve your capabilities around self-regulation, self-care, and self-determination.
- better understand your personal identity, interests, passions, and skills.
- assist you to link those interests, passions, and skills to viable employment pathways.
- develop an increased awareness and understanding of social expectations and norms.
Building social skills and learning to navigate personal interactions
Support to Grow is dedicated to helping you, or your little sprout or adult loved one with different needs to build their communication skills so that they can confidently interact with others and comfortably socialise with their peers and happily engage in social situations. To that end, we offer a range of tailored social participation and skill-building services to assist you to connect with peers and develop important interpersonal skills.
We also organise, facilitate, and supervise group social gatherings with other clients who are disabled or have alternative needs, where you and your peers can learn and practice new communication and relationship-building skills in a safe space. Our disability support workers are committed to helping our clients feel amply supported to learn and develop their social skills, attend social gatherings and self-development activities, and actively participate in the local community.
Examples of the kinds of activities Support to Grow support workers can help with include:
- Making new friends and cultivating healthy relationships – through mentorship, encouraging mirroring of appropriate behaviour, and by teaching participants a variety of social skills to aid personal growth and development.
- Maintaining friendships – by accompanying you to visit or meet up with friends.
- Attending and participating in group activities, outings, and community events with other Support to Grow clients.
- Attending family get-togethers, parties, and special occasions.
If you would like to find out more about our community access and social participation support services, we’d love to hear from you and have a chat about your needs.
Support. Learn. Grow.
