Believing a good life is achievable is an excellent place to start.

The Seven Steps to Self-Direction workshop offers a practical framework for intentional thinking and planning about how to achieve a good life; a way of translating thoughts and dreams into do-able actions.

Self-direction has been found to give people with disability and their families greater choice and control, and more effective and flexible use of supports. Good support requires the right people to provide the right level of support at the right time. ‘Seven Steps’ can help you think creatively about how to make this happen.

Presenter Sharon Bourke has rich lived experience in supporting people with disability to live a good life.  As a family member she has hands-on experience of self-directing supports alongside her son, Dan.

As well as the chance to focus on the person and their vision and dreams, you will learn more about how to make a good match between the person and supporters, the ingredients of good support, building relationships of trust, and how to solve problems quickly and creatively to make support relationships sustainable.

Previous attendees have said:

“Using a good process to understand people – who they are, what is important to them etc.”

“It was brilliant. Well moderated by Sharon whose insight was astonishing. Very beneficial”

“Love the openness and honesty of the event”

Come along with your team if you can, but come, and start working through the ‘seven steps’.

Brisbane:

Monday 2nd March 2020
South Brisbane, CRU Office
Find out more information and register here

Gold Coast:

Thursday 23rd April 2020
The Glades Golf Club, Robina
Find out more information and register here

CRU is delighted to be working with CYDA (Children and Young People with Disability Australia) to co-host this workshop on Tuesday 18th February from 9.30am-12.30pm (morning tea provided).

Please arrive from 9am for a 9.30 start. The workshop will be held in the Gambaro Room, Commonground, 15 Hope Street, South Brisbane.

Bookings are essential for catering and venue purposes; please register your interest here:

Click here to register

This workshop will be an opportunity to learn about the Disability Royal Commission and how to have your say on the issue of education. For some of you this is of current concern and for others your son or daughter may have already graduated but you may have a story that you would like to tell.

The workshop will provide information about:

• The current Royal Commission,
• Practical tips and
• Support to prepare your own submission if you would like to do so.

The aim is to help students and parents to feel more confident about contributing their experiences and insights in order to guide the work of the Royal Commission.

On the day, there will be the opportunity to prepare (or at least begin to prepare) a submission – either a written or a video submission. Frequently asked questions will be addressed and you will have some opportunity to hear about other work being undertaken to promote inclusive education through engagement with the Disability Royal Commission.

Advocates from QAI and also SUFY who have funding to support individuals and families to tell their stories, will also be in attendance.

If you are not able to attend due to distance or competing commitments, let us know as we will distribute information following the event and CYDA may be able to resource you further.  CRU also intends to offer further workshops later in 2020.

Parking will be paid on-street parking (4-9 hour parks are available in the following streets – Hope, Montague, Merivale, Cordelia, Russell Streets) or you can park at the Queensland museum. Hope Street is very accessible for public transport – an easy walk from the cultural centre busway and South Brisbane stations.

Dear Friends and Supporters of CRU

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of CRU during 2019 and to wish you a happy Christmas and a safe and relaxing holiday period.

Last Friday we received an early Christmas present, with the news that we have been successful in securing some funding from the NDIA for the next three years. This funding, known as Information Linkages and Capacity Building will enable us to continue to work across the state, offering workshops, webinars, leadership development and other small projects.

The focus of this funding is capacity building for people with disabilities and their families, so it does not replace all that CRU was doing and we will continue to seek funds from other sources. This funding gives us a more secure base from which to do that.

You will know from my previous updates that over the past few years, we have been working hard to navigate this transition from secure and flexible state funding to the new competitive world of the NDIS and that at times, our future has been very uncertain.

It is a huge relief to the Board and Staff of CRU to receive this news and very exciting to be able to now plan for longer than a few months at a time. It is due to begin in April 2020 so stay posted for lots more information in the New Year.

We had already been planning for 2020 – please download our advance notices and a flyer for our first workshop for 2020, which is a two-day Social Role Valorisation workshop on the Gold Coast. Our workshops on Inclusive Education will continue until May and a date claimer for those is included in the advance notices above.

Thank you to all those who took the time to fill out our recent survey. We have not seen the results yet but expect a report from the third party consultants early in January.

We have just updated the CRU website to make it more accessible so if you have time to have a browse over the holiday period we would welcome any feedback.

The CRU office will be closed from this Friday 20th December and will reopen on Monday 6th January.
2020 is already shaping up to be a busy and exciting year and we look forward to continue working with you to achieve our mission of full and meaningful lives for people with disability.

With best wishes
Margaret

Dear Friends and Supporters of CRU,

Please find below an updated status on CRU events happening between now and the end of 2019.

While many of the workshops are coming to a close for 2019, we are busy making plans for another full program to start the year in 2020 and will release the new Date Claimer as soon as more details are available.

CRU Workshops

Self-Management : Confident, Connected and In Control

Presented by Catherine Laherty & others

The final Self-Management: Confident Connected & In Control workshop for this year will take place tomorrow at North Lakes.

The aim of these workshops are to build the confidence of people to self-manage their NDIS supports. Repeat workshops are being planned for 2020.

CRU 2019 Annual General Meeting

CRU’s 2019 AGM will take place at 5.30pm on Wednesday 27th November in the CRU Office, Level 2/43 Peel Street, South Brisbane.

Everyone is welcome to attend, however you do need to be a current financial member of CRU to exercise voting rights.

Towards a Better Life: Exploring SRV with regard to People who are marginalised

Presented by Jane Sherwin

2020 dates for Gold Coast and Mackay workshops are currently being planned. We will keep you updated as soon as those are available for registration.

Implementing and Reviewing Your NDIS Plan

Presented by Jen Mouritz

• Implementing Your NDIS Plan – from Goals to Action
  Brisbane : 3rd December
  Register for this event
  This workshop will help you better understand your NDIS plan, provide strategies to help you get started to achieve your goals, and consider ways to design and sustain supports to ensure a “good fit” for you and your family. You will look at ways to direct supports for a good life, including recruiting the right staff for the role.
• Reviewing Your NDIS Plan – Record, Reflect, Plan
  Brisbane : 11th December
  Register for this event
  The second workshop is for people who want to get prepared for their annual NDIS review and get clear about the goals they would like to see into the future.

Getting to the Heart of What Matters – the Role of a Support Worker (Support Worker Training)

Presented by Suellen Welch
Brisbane : 5th December
Register for this event

The role of a support worker is complex and multi-faceted. Paid staff can make a significant contribution to a person’s life – enabling the person to live a rich life and pursue their own unique goals and dreams.

This full day workshop will be an opportunity for support workers to critically reflect upon the essential purpose of their role, the values that drive “support”, and the sorts of relationships which are core to supporting someone well, particularly in relation to valued roles and community belonging.

Families for Inclusive Education Project workshops

Presented by CRU

CRU has been funded by the Department of Education to deliver workshops across Queensland under the Families for Inclusive Education (FFIE) project.

These workshops are an opportunity for families to reflect on their long-term vision for their family member – and how the school years can become a pathway to that positive, rich, included life.

While the 2019 workshop program has now concluded, the 2020 program of events is currently being planned and details will be soon be available.

In the meantime, if you weren’t able to tune-in to the webinar that took place on 14th October, the presentation slides that were used are available to downloaded here, or you can watch the recording here on our You Tube channel.

For more information on all CRU workshops, see the Events page on the CRU website,
or click on the individual links listed above for each workshop.

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In this, our 55th edition we have returned to an exploration of what it means to create a home.

Generally we think of home as a safe and secure place to be oneself and from that security take up opportunities to work, study or contribute to community, so we think it’s important to consider why a real home is so often out of the reach of people who live with disabilities. This topic has been the theme of previous editions of CRUcial Times and in some ways nothing has really changed about the fundamental importance of home and how essential it is. What we need to consider to assist someone who lives with disability to create and sustain a home hasn’t changed much either. However, the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia means that for the first time having enough funded support to move into a home of their own is a real possibility for many more people with disabilities.

With many people being offered only accommodation or a bed in a house we thought it was timely to return to the topic of creating a home to ensure that houses do become homes and do offer the comfort and security required to be a Launchpad into the rest of life.

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Read more... (new page)