History of Lifestyle Connections

Sheridan St, Cairns City. The sole full-time Coordinator, Karen
Mansfield, set the groundwork for our operations, set up and
maintained all direct support, supervised Support Staff and ran the
office and accounts. As the only paid staff member she had the
assistance of the 9 members of the Management Committee. Karen
made a great contribution to our Service during those formative years.
Leisure Connections’ structure was centred on the people with
disabilities (Service Users) and their Family/Carer/Advocate (Family)
who had the main say in what support they desired. The organisation
was governed by a Management Committee (Committee) of
predominantly parents and operated by managerial/office staff (Staff)
who oversaw the support workers (Support Persons). “Block funding”
was allocated by the State Government and enabled our Service to
support people one-on-one from 2 to 4 hours a week in minimum 2-
hour shifts, as two people simply enjoying an activity in the community
like everyone else.
The first Service User entered the Service on 5 January 1994 and by
June 1994 we were supporting 8 people with 11 on the waiting list. The
original Mission Statement was “Leisure and Recreation are an
accepted and integral part of the Australian way of life. Leisure
Connections will assist people with a disability to share equally in this
experience.” However, we had been somewhat naïve, and the reality
was that the community was not necessarily welcoming, and people
did not see the value in individual support. In those early years we had
to undertake a tremendous amount of community education!
By July 1995 Leisure Connections was supporting 17 people with 8 on
the waiting list and were at our full capacity of 60 hours support a
week. By the end of the first five-year period (December 1997) we
supported 19 people with 26 on the waiting list, and had assisted 35
individuals throughout the year. The turnover of Support Persons was
relatively high due to the casual work hours available to them, but the
numbers of Service Users leaving our Service was relatively low and
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