Hello everyone,
By now, I imagine many of you will be preparing for a busy holiday season, getting the BBQ ready, and pulling out the sunscreen for what I imagine is going to be a warm December.
It has been a busy and interesting year for our participants and our teams. Before I get into some of the great achievements and stories of the last few months, I wanted to share some information about our activities over the holiday season.
Holiday shutdown
Like many of you, the Ability Options team are also very excited to have a break, spend time with loved ones, and come back to work in the new year refreshed and ready to support you to kick your goals.
Over the holiday period, our Disability Services in the home and Direct Support will continue as usual. However, shutdown periods for other teams are as follows:
- Our Employment, Specialist, and PAL services will be operating reduced services over the holiday season. Please contact us on 1300 422 454 to find your closest open Ability Options location
- Our corporate offices will be closed from 5pm Friday, 20 December, reopening on Monday, 6 January 2025.
We are looking forward to seeing you after the break, hearing about your time, and continuing to support you to reach your goals.
The 2024 STAR Awards
At the end of November, our teams gathered in Coffs Harbour for this year’s STAR Employee Awards.
Historically a peer-nominated recognition program, this year we introduced the Participant Choice Award. This award recognises an outstanding representative of the Ability Options community for their commitment to delivering high-quality support for our participants. The winner of this award is nominated by the participants and families we support.
The STAR Awards recognise the wonderful work our colleagues are doing to support people to achieve their aspirations and inclusion in the community. They also celebrate the achievements of people in our teams who have consistently gone above and beyond over the year.
We recently put out a wrap of the event, you can read more on our website.
Sector update
In some big news for the disability sector, changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) were introduced with a new list of what participants can spend their funding on. You can read more on it from the ABC here.
I hope you have a lovely holiday season, celebrate with your loved ones, and get some well-deserved rest. At this time, I also recognise those of our workforce who continue to work over the holidays to support participants and families. The extra yards they do to make sure everyone feels extra special at this time of year and importantly the families of those employees who share their loved one with us and miss them when they work on holiday shifts.
Best wishes for the holidays,
Julia
