On Friday, 22 November, Ability Options participants voted for Nick – a Senior Manager for our Disability Services on the Mid North Coast – to take home the Participant Choice Award at the 2024 STAR Awards.
The STAR Awards recognise the wonderful work our colleagues do to support people to achieve their aspirations and inclusion in the community. The peer-nominated program also celebrates the achievements of people in our teams who consistently go above and beyond throughout the year.
This year, we introduced the Participant Choice Award – a new participant and family nominated award that recognises an outstanding representative of the Ability Options community for their commitment to delivering high-quality support.
The new award category gave us the opportunity to hear from our participants about the characteristics, qualities and behaviours that exemplify high quality support to them. This category was judged by our People’s Rights Committee made up of participants and Ability Options colleagues.
Anne, a parent of a participant that Nick supports who nominated him for the award, spoke to his honesty at the 2024 STAR Awards Ceremony as a “refreshing blast in the sector” when it comes to the support of her daughter.
“He will reply to an email at 6am, research information and options and explain them accurately and honestly, send a message to say “hang in there” when he knows things are a struggle, take your call on the fly and just laugh and reschedule when you forget a meeting with him,” she says.
“He has successfully stepped into big shoes as the Ability Options facilitator of our Parent Peer Forum in Port Macquarie. To be the organisation’s representative in a room of parents who each have a family member with complex needs could at times be daunting, but each person there appreciates his time and effort.”
Nick on receiving the award says, “To be chosen as the winner by the participants we work to support is truly humbling”.
The Participant Choice Award was presented to Nick by Grant, who is an Ability Options participant and Deputy Chair of the People’s Rights Committee.
