Imagining Home Peer Support Group

Does your family member with disability want to move out of the family home and into their own place? Or have they already moved into a home of their own, and are you continuing to build and sustain their sense of home and community?

Whether they live in an apartment shared with friends or a place all to themselves, this can take a lot of thought and planning.

The Imagining Home Peer Group supports families striving to help their family member with disability find a place to call home. Wherever you are on your Imagining Home journey, join us to connect with other families with similar visions. Learn from, share with and be supported by like-minded peers.

Apply to join the Imagining Home Peer Group 2023

Our Vision for Home for People with Disability

We believe that people with disability should have a home

  • that reflects who they are
  • that is embedded in neighbourhood and community
  • where they can let their guard down
  • in which they feel safe
  • where they can relax and entertain
  • and live with housemates of their choosing or by themselves

This is our vision for home.

We believe that people with disability should be able to choose who they want to live with or if they want to live alone. We therefore encourage people to look beyond the limitations of congregated housing models.

About this Peer Support Group

In 2023, the Imagining Home Peer Support Group will explore what is possible when it comes to home.

The purpose of this peer group is to explore ordinary and typical options for home and the ways people with disability can move into a home that best suits them. We will look beyond the options usually presented, such as group homes and other forms of the congregation of people with disability. This Peer Group will not discuss congregated options.

We’ll cover topics such as

  • home ownership
  • private rental
  • house share/flatmates
  • support options
  • sustaining the arrangement
  • planning to move, and
  • what to do while you are waiting.

We know there can be many obstacles to navigating this journey, and that’s why we hope this peer group will offer each member the support and guidance they need to take the road less travelled.

We’ll invite guest speakers who will generously share their stories of home. We’ll also facilitate group discussions and sharing of ideas of typical and ordinary ways people have found a place to call home.

Apply to join the Imagining Home Peer Group 2023

Dates and Times

This group will meet at 12:30 – 1:45 pm on the second Tuesday of each month from February to December.

The meeting dates for 2023 are:

  • 14 February
  • 14 March
  • 11 April
  • 9 May
  • 13 June
  • 11 July
  • 8 August
  • 12 September
  • 10 October
  • 14 November
  • 12 December

Location

There will be a mix of online and face-to-face meetings. As often as possible, we will provide options for virtual attendance at our face-to-face meetings here in Canberra.

Join the Imagining Home Peer Support Group

This peer group is open to families striving to help their family members with disability find and sustain a place to call home that is ordinary and typical.

Please note there are limited places in this peer group, so we are currently seeking expressions of interest. Places will be allocated based on the following criteria:

  • those who are investigating or currently supporting their family member to live in a home of their own
  • residents of the ACT and the surrounding region, and
  • those who can commit to attending each session*

Please note that we don’t record peer group conversations. The only way to take part is via live attendance.

This Peer Group is popular and places fill quickly. We’ll review all applications according to our criteria and allocate places during February 2023. We’ll create a waitlist if the number of applicants exceeds the available places. If places become available during the year, we’ll offer them to people on the waitlist before advertising more broadly.

*We understand that sometimes unexpected absences will occur. Please only apply if you are confident you can attend most peer group sessions.

Apply to join the Imagining Home Peer Group 2023

About the Peer Group

  • Meeting facilitator: Jan Kruger
  • Meetings are free to attend, thanks to Department of Social Services funding
  • You will receive an email reminder and location details/Zoom link before each session.
  • We don’t record peer group conversations, and no replay will be available.
  • If you have any questions about the Peer Group, please get in touch with Anne (anne@imaginemore.org.au)

Other ways to explore Home in 2023

If you cannot get a place in this peer group, there are other ways to learn more about options for Home for your family member.

  • Watch the video, Moving Out – Lisa Bridle from CRU (Community Resource Unit) explains how her family supported their son Sean to move into his own home.
  • Please plan to attend one of our upcoming events about home. Please visit our events page to see our current and future events.
  • Visit the My Home, My Way website