Supporting residents of privately owned boarding house, supported accommodation facilities
and private aged rental facilities to connect with their local communities.
MentalHealth and Disability Services
The Community Linking Program (CLP) is part of the Resident Support Program. This is an initiative to support people with a disability living in private residential services such as supported accommodation facilities, boarding houses and private aged rental. The program is funded by Disability Services Queensland to work with socially isolated people to make links and build relationships in the community. This can be through work, study, social activities or reconnecting with family. These people have a history of isolation, disability and poverty. For many years they have fallen through health and community networks. Many of the people we support have chronic mental illness and links that are made frequently require ongoing intermittent support to be maintained. The CLP is now in its fourth year and has had significant successes in this time.
Activities
Activities
The Moonlight Magic Dinner Dance was held for the third time this year and continues to be a resounding success. It was attended by over 200 people from all areas of the community. Music and dance is a great equaliser and we received incredibly positive feedback.
Campbell’s Club: CLP in conjunction with West End Community House runs this club each Monday and Thursday morning at Sussex Street Uniting Church hall. Around 70 people attend each week. It’s a great time for socialising and learning skills.
Members participate in table tennis, darts, cards, gardening and other activities. They also increase their awareness of the importance of good grooming and hygiene. There is a rotating
program at the Club which focuses on improving skills such as mending and cooking. There are also regular one-off projects.
The current project involves developing mosaic pieces for the gardening area to make it a leasant place to work or rest.
A resident is providing peer support with this program using skills learnt at TAFE. Resident Committee: A committee of residents meets monthly to represent the CLP where they live and in their local community as well as providing leadership and inviting feedback from coresidents about Campbell’s Club and CLP. People’s skills have improved markedly over time to the point where it is chaired and minuted by members. Most days at the club a committee member speaks at the microphone reminding about the suggestion box, informing of changes etc.
Special interest Groups: Two small groups have developed from specific interests around walking and fishing. The groups meet regularly. The people involved learn skills to enable ongoing independent functioning.
Romiga House
Micah Projects was initially approached about assisting three women to move from Basil Stafford Centre at Wacol to a shared home in the community. A group of people met at St Mary’s House and decided that enabling people to move from institutional living to a life within the community was a good thing. The sentiment was that we could make a difference and that we should. A numbers of years on and Roberta, Gerri and Michelle’s lives are very different. All three women have a quality of life that is reflected through relationships and connections with family, friends and within the local and broader community. Workers support the women to achieve inclusion in activities such as the Carindale walking group, the local gardening club and neighbourhood connections. Workers have also continued to provide a high level of assistance in personal care and lifestyle support activities. Disability Services Queensland’s Therapy Team has worked collaboratively with us to increase skills and competencies of both the women and Staff. We have received positive feedback from both DSQ and other health professionals about the quality of care provided. A Quote from a parent about their perceptions of Romiga says a lot about what we have achieved. “When I visit my daughter she is happy when I arrive but she is also happy when I go. This is a very different experience from her previous living arrangement” The Disability Services Queensland Quality Management System has provided us with an opportunity to reflect upon how we provide support and care at Romiga. In reviewing what we do and why we do it we have been pleased that we have achieved. To a large degree we have met the goal of providing a quality of life for those we support which is characterised by lives of connection and personal wellbeing. May we continue to face the challenge in the coming year.
