Vinnies LACs take a special interest in seeing NDIS participants achieve positive outcomes.
Josh is a young man in his early 20s living with intellectual disability in Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley.
His main goals were to:
When he met Vinnies LAC Rachel, Josh was unsatisfied with the one-on-one support he was getting from his service provider and was keen for help to make some changes and have more social participation.
With Rachel's support and guidance, Josh moved to working with a Plan Manager in order to have more freedom in how he spent the funds in his NDIS Plan. He was able to choose a non-NDIS provider to provide social and mentoring support.
Josh's GP had urged him to look after his health and get more regular exercise, so with his mentor's help Josh set himself a goal of starting a walking group.
Josh used his notebook to write down the idea and the actions he needed to take to get the group off the ground. His mentor helped him create flyers and post them in places like Ability Links, the local library and a local choir. The group have been walking together since June last year and they walk for 1.5 hours each week around their community. Joshua is the group’s official leader.
Josh says,
I love walking with his my new friends and getting out of the house. The positive effect walking has on me and the people in the group has been a great benefit.