History of Lifestyle Connections

A passionate local twosome, Colleen Dolan OAM and Margaret
(Maggie) Wraight from this Task Force worked tirelessly with a small
group of families to prepare a proposal to help people access activities
which already existed in the community. This proposal for a small
Service called ‘Leisure Connections’ was submitted to the Queensland
Department of Families in March 1992 and requested funding for 80
hours of support per week to assist 20 individuals on a 1 to 1 basis to
be included in community recreation/leisure activities. Notification of
success followed in
late December 1992,
and in January 1993
Leisure Connections
was officially founded
as that alternative to
traditional services.
The same Cairns duo and parents had also secured funding from
Commonwealth Department of Health, Housing and Community
Services through “The National Parent Information Project”, and with
assistance from the Queensland Community Resource Unit (CRU) held
a two-day Forum in April 1992, specifically by parents for parents. It
provided up to date information about service provision options
established by parents in other areas of Queensland that were greatly
improving the lives of people with a disability by giving them and their
family control over their supports and responding to their specific
needs. The inspired local parents formed the Cairns Regional Family
Network to bring about change, as the only support for adults with a
disability in Cairns at that time was a large state-wide organisation
providing residential care and workshop facilities. In July 1992 they
submitted their proposal to Department of Families for a flexible family
support service called ‘Real Living Options’ for a nominated 16 families.
That submission was unsuccessful, but fortunately at the same time
the submission for ‘Leisure Connections’ was successful.
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