Our Peer Support Groups support families to help their family members with disability seek out, enjoy and maintain The Good Life. Each group provides an opportunity for learning, discussion, sharing, troubleshooting, and celebrating. Members are encouraged to discuss their ideas and plans and to seek inspiration from others’ stories and actions. Our team facilitates groups to ensure a safe, welcoming and supportive forum where every member can be heard.
Our peer groups are built around different topics, but all share the following guiding principles:
- One person at a time – We must always keep the individual at the centre of all our planning and actions. What works for one person may not work for another. By working one person at a time, we are more likely to be investing our efforts towards outcomes that lead the individual to the good things in life.
- Full inclusion – Our efforts are focused on promoting inclusion in every aspect of a person’s life. This means that we don’t explore or discuss options that involve any form of congregation or segregation of people with disability.
- Meaningful and valued contribution and participation – This is a crucial element of any good life. When a person has a valued role such as being a friend at school, having a job, or being a homemaker, this provides them with purpose, meaningful contribution and a way to participate in the community. As Dylan Alcott (Australian of the Year 2022) would say, changing the perception of others is critical in shifting societal expectations of people with disability. Social Role Valorisation theory supports the focus on changing perception. It tells us that when people with disability have roles that are highly valued by others, it shifts how they are perceived and treated.
We invite you to join us in a Peer Group that best suits your family’s focus this year. It doesn’t matter if you are very new to seeking the good things of life or a seasoned traveller. We can all learn something from others and give and receive support.
Peer Support Group Themes for 2023
- Customised Employment – This group has a limited number of places, prioritising past members and those in the Canberra region. We are currently taking expressions of interest.
- Imagining Home – This group has a limited number of places, prioritising past members and those in the Canberra region. We are currently taking expressions of interest.
- Inclusive Education – This group has a limited number of places, prioritising past members and those in the Canberra region. We are currently taking expressions of interest.
- Self-managing the NDIS – This group is for people who already self-manage their own or a family member’s NDIS plan and people who are curious about self-managing.
Meeting Dates and Times
You’ll find a list of meeting dates on each Peer Group page.
Join A Peer Group
Customised Employment Peer Support Group
It’s often difficult for people with disability to find meaningful employment, especially those with an intellectual impairment or autism. That’s why we established the Customised Employment Peer Support Group for 2022. The group will be action-focused. Therefore, it will be most beneficial to those who are actively seeking to utilise this process this year. It will suit families who are
- starting with discovery
- setting up a job or work experience or
- looking at how to support a person already in a job.
The group provides a friendly, strengths-based space to share stories, challenges, suggestions, and successes with other family peers.
Learn more about the Customised Employment Peer Group
Imagining Home Peer Support Group
Does your family member with disability want to move out of the family home and into their own place? Whether it’s an apartment shared with friends or a house all to themselves, this can take a lot of thought and planning.
This peer group supports families striving to help their family members with disability find a place to call home.
Wherever you are on your Imagining Home journey, join us to connect with other families who have a similar vision. Learn from, share with and be supported by like-minded peers.
Learn more about the Imagining Home Peer Support Group
Inclusive Education Peer Support Group
Inclusive education can often feel like the road less travelled. Did you know it is your child’s right to attend a school and be fully included? Many families enrol their child with disability in a school, expecting that their child will attend the regular classroom, playground activities, school camps and excursions. Instead, they are often encouraged to segregate their child in a support unit or special school.
Advocating for physical, social and academic inclusion can be difficult, exhausting work. Parents can feel isolated at times when they most need support and understanding. It can be difficult to know what steps to take to achieve the goal of inclusive education. It can be hard to find reliable information, let alone the tactics that work.
At Imagine More, we hold a strong, uncompromising vision for inclusive education for all students with disability. You can read our Vision for Inclusive Education here.
We’ve supported local families on this journey for many years. Families have told us that they’ve found it helpful to be connected in the Peer Group with others travelling the same path.
Learn more about the Inclusive Education Peer Support Group
Self-managing the NDIS Peer Support Group
We believe the self-management of NDIS funding is the most successful and flexible way to find the best support to achieve a person’s goals. It can feel daunting at first. But you don’t have to figure it out all on your own.
Join our virtual peer group sessions over lunch each month. Everyone is welcome: those who already have experience self-managing an NDIS plan and those who are thinking about starting.
Learn more about the Self-managing the NDIS Peer Support Group