Examples of Supported Living
from Australia
NSW :: Van Dam T & Cameron-McGill, F
(1995). Beyond Group Homes, Interaction, 8(3)
Family
Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: 10652
Trudy Van Dam and Fiona Cameron-McGill
outline the reasons for Hornsby Challenge's move
towards more flexible support services than those
offered by group homes. The emphasis is on the
needs of the individual and how the service best
responds to those needs. The article includes
factors to be taken into consideration when
planning, as well as giving examples of a variety
of living arrangements created around the needs of
individual people with disability.
Queensland :: Kirkman E (1993).
Accommodation and inclusive communities: Families
Making Changes, Family
Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: 10428.
This parent describes how the Supported
Accommodation Service began in Townsville. Her son
Gary now lives in his own home with increasing
independence and enjoyment. She mentions running a
Personal Futures Planning Workshop, which was
influential in shaping the nature of the service.
Queensland :: Mamre Association:
Mamre supports a number of families with a
family member with a disability. It has initiated
projects like 'Pave the Way' to help families
develop their vision and make individualised plans
for their family members. During the Mamre 'Pave
the Way Project', 34 one-day information workshops
on 'Planning for Now, Tomorrow and the Future' were
delivered throughout Queensland. The organisation
recognises an individual response is most effective
to respond to the varying needs of different
families. Mamre also provides workshops on Support
Circles.
Rodgers M, Lys C & M and Cowan, L & D
(2006). Not waiting: creating. Paper presented at One
Person at a Time conference, Melbourne, August 17-18,
2006 Family
Advocacy Inclusion Collection File: 11160
Presenters of this paper were describing
their connection with Mamre, Brisbane, which has
helped a small number of young adults to work with
their family and friends to move into their own
homes through a project called Building Informal
Networks. Carmel Lys and her son Matthew and Dianne
Cowan and her son Luke spoke about the process
involved for each young man to end up in their own
place with support. Margaret Rodger, from Mamre,
emphasises the importance of friendships and
relationships, the benefits of plenty of planning
and the gradual nature of the process. Rodgers says
families actively invited the extended family and
others in to help rather than hoping or expecting.
There will be changes, as she says, because
"People's lives are complex and imperfect and a
work in progress." She also offers the advice:
"Because someone says no today doesn't mean that
their answer will always be no."
Queensland :: Homes
West:
Homes West is a service in Brisbane that
works with eleven families to support 12 people
with disability to establish and to live in a home
of their own and to be included as active and
valued members of their local community.
Read 
338kb
Choreographing
Life: How authority and responsibility can be
delegated and shared in right relationship in the
lives of people with a disability when they use
services that support daily life.
Read
357kb
Choreographing
the Future: How succession of authority and
responsibility for family business can be planned
for in the lives of people with disability in order
to continue a good life after parents have
gone.
Read
348kb
Homes
West policies and procedures
Queensland :: Barone S (2003). Negotiating
Supports - One Family's Experience. Queensland Parents
for People with a Disability. - Family
Advocacy's Inclusion Collection. File No:
11050.
Sally Barone describes how her family
worked towards achieving supported living for her
daughter, Sarah, after deciding that Sarah's severe
disability, including autism and challenging
behaviours should not be a barrier to a decent
life. They collaborated with Homes West, Brisbane.
The outcomes for Sarah are a huge improvement.
Homes West was created in 1990 by parents who
shared a desire for supported living.
Some of the things Sally Barone
mentions:
~ Knowing she didn't want her daughter to spend
her life in an institution but thinking there was
no alternative.
~ Hearing a Canadian parent speak of her
daughter's life in her own home among people who
respected and liked her. This clarified Sally's
determination to achieve a better life for
Sarah.
~ Starting a "Circle
of Friends".
~ Being persistent in the face of political or
bureaucratic barriers and achieving individualised
funding.
~ Wanting to work with a small organisation that
could take the time to get to know Sarah.
Contacting Homes West.
~ Collaborating over issues of staff selection,
rosters, budgeting etc.
~ Positive advertising for "young, enthusiastic,
outgoing woman to assist a young woman with a
disability to live the life of her choice".
~ A mix of ages and skills among workers;
finding students often have a positive attitude to
Sarah's rights.
~ Stressing staff are working for Sarah, not
Homes West, and also not working to support any
other person. This was to "create a tight knit
team" and ensure confidentiality.
~ Family has made a commitment to Sarah's
support arrangements.
South Australia :: Community
Living Project Inc.:
This initiative resulted from a group of
families wanting supported living where no service
existed in 1985. The service aims at assisting
people to have homes in the real sense of this
word, relationships, valued roles, competencies and
to be welcomed and included as members of the local
community. People live in housing of their choosing
and supports are tailored to each person's
individual capacities and needs. CLP works to
partner with people who have a disability and their
families to ensure control over the support service
sits as closely to the person as possible. In some
instances families have even chosen to employ
support workers directly using CLP for guidance as
well as administrative, payroll and other support.
The majority of arrangements however have CLP
working with the person concerned and their family
to recruit and employing support staff who are
answerable both to CLP and the person they are
supporting. Community Living Project has a
voluntary Board of Management responsible to the 35
people supported through the Project. The Board
employs an Executive Officer who assumes
responsibility for the day to day operations.
Service Coordinators assist each person and their
family to develop their vision for the future and
then generate support services and community
connections around the person which help work
toward that vision.
Victoria :: Excell S A house in the hills.
Family
Advocacy Inclusion Collection File:
This parent living in Victoria, describes
planning for community housing project in the
Dandenong Ranges, Victoria. Based on ideas of
co-operative housing, this project aims to create a
supportive community that would enable some
residents with disabilities and their families to
lead more independent and meaningful lives.
Victoria :: Rouget D & Stacpoole Q
(Eds.) (2005). What
Money Can't Buy. The Personalised Lifestyle Assistance
Project. Infoexchange 15.02.2005.
This interview discusses the Personalised
Lifestyle Assistance Project (PLA)
established by Deb Rouget in Melbourne. PLA assists
families to implement person-centred planning for
their family member with disability. Genuine
person-centeredness builds a life plan around the
unique identity and desires of each individual. The
program is built around the individual, rather than
the traditional approach of offering the individual
choice within a limited range of pre-determined
alternatives. The Personalised Lifestyle Assistance
(PLA) project was created after the success of
another project that Deb was involved with called
'Person by Person'. This was a project that brought
together several families and helped them create a
new, more self-sufficient way of caring for their
family members who have a disability.
Victoria :: One
By One:
One By One is a Victorian family-governed
initiative, founded in 2001, which supports up to
10 people. The project came about when a number of
families all expressed their wish for supported
living for their family members with a disability.
Each person, with their support network, develops
their own vision of what they want. The family and
community members form a 'governance group' that
oversees the support arrangements. One by One uses
a part-time coordinator. A host agency performs
administrative and legal functions, but authority
over steering and creating support arrangements
remains with the people themselves and their
families. One by One's website includes a forum.
Victoria :: Living Distinctive Lives):
Living Distinctive Lives is a small family
governed project that works towards assisting
people with disability to live in their own home in
the community. It supports control for individuals
over their lifestyle. Each person involved in
Living Distinctive Lives makes decisions about
their home and lifestyle based on what they really
want and need. Living Distinctive Lives is hosted
by Melba Support Services.
Read more here about accommodation innovation
initiatives in Victoria
and Queensland.
Western Australia :: Errol Cocks and Ross
Boaden, (2009) A guide to developing personalised
residential supports for adults with developmental
disabilities and their families.:
This West Australian guide aims to provide
information for families, people with developmental
disabilities and service providers who want to
develop high quality accommodation support that is
person centred.
Read
439kb
Personalised
Residential Supports Guide
This research project aimed to provide detailed
information about the nature, purposes and outcomes
of personalised residential supports from the
perspectives of key stakeholder groups including
people with disability, family members and service
providers.
Read
196kb
The
Personalised Residential Supports Project
Western Australia :: My
Place:
My Place enables people with disabilities
and their families to choose and enjoy a lifestyle
that reflects their individual preferences and
needs. Established in 1996, My Place currently
provides accommodation and day supports to
approximately 150 people. My Place's approach to
supporting people to live in the community is
personalised, creative, responsive and flexible. My
Place is committed to supporting people with
disabilities to live in homes that are safe,
comfortable, affordable, convenient, and in a
location of their choice. Approximately 70% are
supported to live in their own home (which they may
be renting or purchasing) and another 20%, usually
younger people, are supported to live with a host
family under the Disability Services Commission's
Accommodation Support program. The remaining 10%
are supported to remain in their family home under
the Disability Services Commission's Intensive
Family Support program. My Place also provides Post
School Options and Alternatives to Employment
support to 58 people with disabilities to
participate in daily community life.
Read
more here about initiatives
internationally.
