Reach Out October 2018

Personal Stories
I strongly recommend if you don’t feel things are right.
Amelia went on to make some great friends who she still
sees regularly. She thoroughly enjoyed her time there despite
being advised that the unit wasn’t suitable for her. She stayed
there for years 7-10. Whilst Amelia was happy there, I wasn’t
happy with the school.
Amelia with our ‘new’ dog. We’ve had her for two years now because
Amelia wanted another golden retriever after the first one died.
I didn’t - but she won.
Years 11-12 - Public senior school - Freshwater High
This was an absolutely brilliant experience. Thanks to a thoroughly
committed principal, teachers and aides and a really lovely learning
environment, Amelia and the friends she moved with from the
previous high school flourished at Freshwater. There was lots of
work experience and the school went above and beyond to help us
transition to post school options.
Post school
Understandably we were very anxious about this
transition. This was with good reason: it is a big
transition for the kids from a lovely safe nurturing
environment surrounded by wonderful teachers and
friends into something quite different.
We looked at several options and elected to go with a
transition to work program at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance
(CPA). They have a lovely architect designed campus with
all the ‘bells and whistles’. At the open day we were given
quite the ‘sales pitch’ about the program being modified to
suit the participant. Unfortunately the reality did not live up
to the sales pitch. I did have a little voice in my head that said
if it sounds too good to be true, it often is. For some reason I
ignored the little voice!
I think I can safely say that from Day 1, Amelia hated it.
We persevered as we knew this was a big transition and would
involve a settling in phase. Amelia’s behaviour deteriorated
and everything became extremely stressful. I reached the end
of my tether and insisted my husband Elliott drop her off one
day. He saw what I had been experiencing and said we had to
look at other options. So that’s how we found Northside, an
option we hadn’t considered before, even though it was local.
It couldn’t be further from the CPA model if it tried. It is
located in a tired building in an industrial part of Brookvale,
staffed with wonderful people and, thankfully, a few familiar
faces. Amelia settled in but it did take some time. She was
moody and difficult for the staff for some weeks but within
a month or so gradually came around. Now, over two years
later, she’s more than happy to attend every day and loves
everyone - staff and clients.
I tried to mix things up and introduce a few days at Fighting
Chance, a local social enterprise with a great reputation and
program that also employs a number of her friends. Amelia let
me know loudly and clearly she wanted to stay at Northside. So,
for the time being, she will stay where she is.
Parents know their own children best and will soon know
if they have made the wrong decision, as we did. Luckily, with
the NDIS, it’s easy to move providers whenever you want. You
need to be confident that your child is receiving the best care
and supervision and that their needs are being met.
Amelia and her ‘boyfriend’ Joel. Yes it’s love. Her heart beats only for Joel.
13