Not-for-profit NDIS provider Gellibrand Support Services has for more than half a century supported people who live with disabilities. One of its key aims is to support clients to achieve outcomes they want as valued community members.
Employment – both paid and volunteer – is a recent outcome clients are experiencing as a result of years of support From Gellibrant.
Duy Nguyen has lived in a Gellibrand group home since 2013. He lives with an acquired brain injury and has historically experienced social and physical challenges, including needing a wheelchair for mobility. However, he expressed his goal to one day have a job.
Duy is a computer whizz – he recently built his own from scratch – and, in 2022, after an interview process, Gellibrand Support Services was able to offer Duy a part-time job with the technology maintenance crew. Despite his initial nerves and fears, Duy is now a valued part of the team.
Similarly, this year long-term Gellibrand client Stephen Cauchi achieved his goal to contribute to a workplace, which, for him, is as a volunteer at a St Vincent de Paul’s Op Shop.
“I want to be valued in society,” Stephen said, summing up why it was important to him to volunteer.
Stephen has had many challenges in life. He was a smoker and had issues with managing his weight due to diabetes. But he worked through those challenges with grit and determination, always aiming to improve himself and what he could offer the world.
When his support team realised how much Stephen loved op shopping, they made enquiries about whether he could volunteer at a Vinnies outlet. Stephen patiently worked through a long process of passing administrative checks before his first day finally came. He arrived for his first shift full of enthusiasm for his tasks, especially because they included managing storage of vinyl records, the artwork on which he loves.
Gellibrand also has clients who staff cafes and assist with Gellibrand’s corporate proofreading, while others work as volunteers in nature preservation.
People who live with a disability want to be valued members of the community. Becoming workers or volunteers is one way this happens and Gellibrand is all about supporting them to reach goals like these.
