Person Centred Newsletter September 2013

........... Northcott Person Centred Newsletter • September 2013 • 1 .........

Our monthly newsletter offers small and real examples from people we support

who are having a stronger voice, more control over their lives and more choices.

September 2013

New front line worker

Ellen Howe, participated in an interview panel.

by Ellen Howe

On Friday the 9th of August,

I participated in an interview

panel with Liz Hopkins,

Tracey Gleeson and Katheryn

Leaney. We were interviewing

for the new front line position

which involves the person

selected being involved in a

new project which enables

Northcott to train staff in the

front line on person centred

approaches. The front-line

project will be for 8 months.

We had a total of eight people

with only six showing up and

out of these six we chose

one. Each candidate had

some experience in person

centredness. One worked

at Northcott and the others

were form various disability

organisations and one had HR

experience. Each person made

a presentation on how they

would approach this role and

then we asked them a series

of questions. Based on their

performance and application

a successful candidate was

selected. The new person

will be starting in September.

Look out for the new front line

worker and say hello.

You're hired!

........... Northcott Person Centred Newsletter • September 2013 • 2 .........

It’s great to be reminded

I don’t know best

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to watch former Northcott client ambassador

and Parramatta Community Participation Program Participant, Shirley Wong

practicing a presentation she was preparing. It was 4:30pm on a sunny Friday

afternoon and I didn’t really want to be there.

The presentation was aimed at teachers to help them understand how best to

support students with disabilities, Shirley talked about the experiences she had

and the decisions that she had been capable of making but that were made for

her throughout high school.

Shirley talked about the decision to be placed in a support unit that someone

made on her behalf. She talked about how frustrated she was that she didn’t have

the control of selecting the subjects she wanted to study but that a teacher had

decided on her behalf.

Part way through the presentation Shirley said “I would rather have failed my

HSC than been successful in a support unit”. That phrase jumped out at me and

I missed the rest of the presentation thinking about that, thinking about how I

would have made the same decisions as her teachers, always worrying about what

I thought was best for Shirley but probably not stopping to ask her.

That sentence just resonated with me, it stuck in my head the whole way through

the City 2 Surf and it is probably what got me over Heartbreak Hill! We worry

about people with disabilities failing, we worry about their feelings being hurt so

it was an amazing moment when Shirley set the record straight and made her

perspective clear and I am so pleased she did.

It was great to be reminded that as much as I think I know what is best for

people with disabilities, they always know better than me and Shirley’s comment

was a great, humbling and welcome reminder of that. How different would

Shirley’s experiences have been if people had stopped to ask her what she wanted?

Tony Warner

........... Northcott Person Centred Newsletter • September 2013 • 3 .........

On Monday 12 August Ellen and I made a presentation about our school experience at the Special Education Conference in Novotel Hotel, Parramatta. There were about 170 participants - teachers and principals.The purpose of this presentation was to educate teachers who work in independent schools about giving students a right to inclusive society in a person centred way.

Ellen spoke about how stereotyping can be harmful for many years to come. She was stereotyped by a teacher as someone who had bad behaviour based on another CHARGE student. This had effect on her for many years.I spoke about being in mainstream school for most of my education with encouragement and how I suddenly found myself in the support unit after moving to senior campus. I also spoke about how I had limited subjects and opportunities. My message was “don’t hold the students back and let them have many opportunities to try things”.

Shirley Wong

Special Education Conference

........... Northcott Person Centred Newsletter • September 2013 • 4 .........

Looking to the future

by Ben Keyte

On Mondays 19th and 26th

August Ben Keyte, Peter

Dalrymple, and Shirley Wong

who were supported by Sarah

Pearce and CPP staff ran

two person-centred planning

workshops with students

who have a disability from

Crestwood High School.

The fi rst workshop was run

on the 19th August and was

for students from years 7 to 9.

This focused on their dreams

and wishes as well as hobbies

and interests they may have.

This was achieved through a

number of group activities such

as good day bad day, what’s

important to them and their

dreams and wishes. The end

result of the day was that all 18

students went away with a one

page collage that showed their

dreams and wishes.

The second day on 26th

August had students

from years 10 to 12 who

participated throughout the

day. As the students were

older and thinking more about

life after school the activities

catered to this by allowing

them to think more about their

future. The PC tools that were

used throughout the day were

like/admire, goals, and how

best to support you. At the

end of day the students left

the workshop with a one page

profi le of themselves.

The day fi nished with a

discussion on what options are

available post school which

includes CPP, TTW and Self-

Managed activities similar to

those at CPP. Maureen Croyle,

Support teacher said “That the

participants were very engaged

and thoroughly enjoyed

knowing that there is a future

for them even though they live

with a disability”.

The team is hoping to take this

workshop to other schools

and hope to keep making a

difference for the students

living with a disability.

Ben, Peter and Shirley presenting at Crestwood.

........... Northcott Person Centred Newsletter • September 2013 • 5 .........

One Page Profile Workshop with TTW

On the 29th of August, I co-facilitated

a one page profi le workshop with Sue

Campbell-Ross to the TTW clients. We

started the workshop by getting the clients

to think about what is important to them

at work and how they want to be supported

by their employer. We also encouraged the

clients to think about what shouldn’t go

on their one page profi le for work. After

the brainstorming, everyone went on the

computers and developed one page profi les

of their own. The aim of the clients creating

one page profi les was to assist employers

support them in their workplace.

Servinc MacCue

"It was a great day doing the one page profi les, It was an activity that helps tell our employer how they can support us by getting to know us better.”Nabila Laska (client)

"dpaotbb

"It was an educational and enlightening experience for all involved".Kelly O'Neill (staff)

........... Northcott Person Centred Newsletter • September 2013 • 6 .........

If you have any small example of people having greater choice, voice or control in their

life or in the work place, we would love to tell others about it in our Newsletter – so

please give me a call on 9890 0517 or email me on liz.hopkins@northcott.com.au.

Thanks, Liz Hopkins.

Send us your great person centred news!

PHOTOS

Mitch interviewing for the

new Tamworth Community

Participation Coordinator

Ellen and Shirley with

the organiser Jackie at

the AIS conference

y

Shirls at Ai-Media Launch

Aaron & Marina meeting with Sylvanvale managersy e manageg rs

Tony's Relationship Circle

facilitated by Shirls

h

at

w

Doughnut Tool completed with

Tamworth support workers