On Friday December 3, Blacktown City Council hosted the 2021 Disability Awards. We’re thrilled to announce Therapy Care Blacktown has been recognised for its commitment to providing exceptional support services under the NDIS, winning ‘Organisation of the Year’.
Therapy Care’s Allied Health and Services Manager, Natalie Delana, says “What an honour it is to receive this award and the recognition that goes along with it. The Therapy Care team went above and beyond this past year. During unprecedented times we were armed with supporting a vulnerable community; a responsibility we didn’t take lightly.”
“I’m so proud of the team for how they continued to provide exceptional support in a COVID safe manner. Because of this, we saw some participant’s achieve their goals during lockdown and more importantly, were able to provide support to people who were facing challenges with their mental health.”
During lockdown Therapy Care came up with innovative ways to keep the community connected to their support services, therapies and social commitments, albeit virtually.
The Therapy Care Group Day Program, Life-Skills, ran twice daily every weekday throughout lockdown. This kept participants connected, inspired and motivated. During lockdown, different events were celebrated, including the Olympics, Paralympics and R U OK? Day. Daily games, exercises and social activities were loved by everyone involved.
Allied health therapists worked diligently to ensure participants under their care received the support they needed either in their home or via Telehealth services. During lockdown, a number of participants receiving exercise therapy, speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and recreational therapy stayed on track to achieving their NDIS goals.
Two innovative support services that were launched due to lockdown, received praise from our community. These included our home schooling support and sensory profile assessments. Home schooling support was a necessity for parents of children with disability who had competing work commitments. Sensory profile assessments were also a must have for these families. These assessments were instrumental in uncovering activities and learning experiences that stimulate and pique the curiosity of a child living with disability.
Disability support workers and the team at large were committed to adhering to being COVID-safe to ensure no transmission within the organisation occurred. This was an exceptional feat given our community was deemed one of the LGAs of concern.
Now that we’re out of lockdown, Therapy Care has hit the ground running again finding innovative ways to serve people living with disability in the Blacktown City Council community. Our new sensory gym and sensory room are now open to the public at the Therapy Care centre in Blacktown.
“Thank you to the participants who continue to trust us and invite us into their world of disability, and to the wider community who advocate on our behalf and create the opportunity for us to do great work,” Nat concludes.
