It’s great to launch the new format of our e-newsletters and also to announce that our new website is up and running and that training sessions that we run at our offices can now be booked online!

We hope that you find our new system a lot easier to use and we would welcome any feedback that you may have.

Please note that our training sessions with Heather Simmons are currently being booked though the WAIS website. This includes Heart and Hands, Daring to Dream and Building Better Lives. On each of the pages for these programs, there is instructions for how to pay for those sessions. If you need any help please feel free to contact us for more information.

We are also excited to announce that we have re-launched Professional Boundaries for Support Workers. There has already been a great response to these sessions and we are sold out for July, however there are still places in August. Get in quick!

There’s lots of talk about being Person Centred these days…it’s definitely the ‘in’ thing…or maybe be it’s individualised or self-directed…

The intention of this one day training event is to offer some guiding principles to help you think and work in ways that have the most potential for positive change for the person, their family and the community.

Despite all the talk about planning these days there is still a lot of confusion about what it is and how it works.

At its best, Person Centred Planning is a radical intervention designed to shift the axis of power from services to people and their families. It gives a voice to those who traditionally have had no say in the purpose and direction of their lives. At its weakest, it is used by the service system to maintain the status quo while giving the appearance of following the person’s wishes.

In this course, the emphasis will be on how Person Centred Planning supports people to live ‘lives of distinction’ (Beth Mount)

This is a workshop designed to introduce the fundamentals of inclusion whilst providing a background on what disabilities are and how we can work better to include people with disabilities.

This workshop relies on drawing parallels.  You will think about a good life in the context of community, drawing from your uniquely human experience to consider the way connections with others are made and enhanced. This same thinking will then be analysed based on what we know about the people we support.

This workshop will encourage you to think about your version of a fulfilling life, and relate that to what others may see as a rich life for themselves. The entire premise of this workshop is about exploring the richness of life and the ways we can support others to share in that richness.

There’s lots of talk about being Person Centred these days…it’s definitely the ‘in’ thing…or maybe be it’s individualised or self-directed…

The intention of this one day training event is to offer some guiding principles to help you think and work in ways that have the most potential for positive change for the person, their family and the community.

Families, carers and support staff have lots of ideas about the kind of places where a person might find a welcome place in their local area but they may lack the knowledge and skills to overcome the barriers that prevent people becoming part of their communities.

This practical and participative course will look at developing skills to help people work as ‘connectors’ or ‘bridge – builders’ to community life.

This workshop explores the nature of boundaries through interactive open discussion and reflective learning practices. Participants will explore existing boundaries between themselves in their support worker role, and the individuals they work for. We will then explore the necessary steps to prevent boundary violations.

This is a topic that asks participants to define what a good “working relationship” is, and how it differs from being a “friend” of the people we are paid to support.