Right to Work
Right to Work is a unique program for young adults with autism and intellectual disabilities in Goulburn. They offer a holistic program that integrates volunteer hands-on skill learning in local business settings with a personalised learning plan that takes into account individual support needs. The end game is to build independence, supporting individual employment goals that can ultimately lead to paid employment.
The program was developed by Clare Jones and Carolyn Roche, both passionate advocates for people with autism and intellectual disability.
We began about 18 months ago and have helped 17 young adults thus far.
The local Crescent School for people with intellectually disability is a strong advocate and word-of-mouth in the community is good. Families that join the program are supported through the NDIS. We also rely on local businesses though in-kind support.
There is a shortage of allied health services in rural areas. We work in a trans-disciplinary way, taking into account all of the person’s sensory, physical and learning support needs and create a complete personalised program for them. As part of our approach, we find out what a person wants to do, then see how their skill set can be developed to match their goals.
For example, if someone wants to work in retail, we find a local retailer happy to provide the opportunity for practical training. This might be dusting shelves or tidying clothing racks. Every person in the program is assigned a support worker who is with them coaching and supporting them while they are in job training so the employer does not need to take staff out of their regular duties. They might spend two hours several days a week learning particular tasks.
Since starting in 2021 we have over 20 local businesses supporting the program.
Training in the workplace is very effective, the end game is to build independence through an individualised learning plan that can ultimately lead to paid employment.
We want to create a sustainable future for these young adults so the plan is to build a community space where they can continue to learn, and from which they can run their own microbusiness if that’s what they choose. For example, if someone wants to work as a gardener or run a delivery business, we can help them achieve those goals through hands on support. The community space will be somewhere where they can get the help they need with invoicing, banking and so on.
The space itself will be run as a community model. We have already found the site through the Uniting Church and with community help we can do the renovations required.
The location is also highly visible which will help us achieve a major goal; that is to change community expectations about what is possible for young people with disability.
It really helped us focus on our mission and showed us how to engage the local community to facilitate volunteer work placements. By working with the community, we can change expectations of what young people with disability can do. We’ve also built a great network of business support through the GRIST program.