Employment Outcomes

Lucy

When a role as a project officer became available at VALID (the Victorian peak advocacy organisation for adults with intellectual disability) catalyst identified Lucy as a good fit.

Her role is to support participants living in group accommodation and make them aware of their residential rights.

This role has been established as a result of the Royal Commission into Disability where it was discovered that many residents were not aware of their residential rights. Lucy’s role includes public speaking, speaking to residents individually and report writing.

Lucy is passionate about her role and, as a woman with lived disability, she has the ability to empathise with and support others. Lucy will be visiting accommodation in both metro and rural Victoria.

Josef

Law Architects are a medium sized sustainable architecture practice based in North Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Law Architects are familiar with the work of catalyst training & disability services and approached us to see if we could create a role for a person with a disability that would add value to their current practice.

Together, we identified tasks that would free staff time, improve quality and provide a variety of tasks to a suitable creative candidate.

Josef Power was identified as the most Suitable candidate who now is successful fills the part-time position as Administrative Assistant.

Chris

From the time we met Chris, he made it clear that he was only interested in being a Postman or working for Australia Post.

He was not interested in other work placements and would regularly discuss his dream of being an Australia Post employee.

After many attempts and leveraging some personal contacts, we managed to find Chris his dream work placement at an Australia Post close to his home.

Following several extended placements, and support from Uniting Employment Services, Chris was finally offered a paid job three mornings per week (12 hours).

Despite the early rises, Chris has fully embraced his role and plans to work hard so he can keep and extend his work hours.

Anthony

Anthony initially required some encouragement to undertake work placements in the program and he tried placements in a variety of roles and industries. 

When we approached Western Water about potential employment opportunities they were very keen to create an opportunity for one of our students. Together with Uniting Employment Services, we created an administration role that suited Anthony’s skill level.

The first step was a work placement with all the teams to learn the business and then he moved into his own role monitoring the CTV cameras for maintenance issues and alerting the maintenance team. He started off 3 days a week but now works four days.

His confidence has soared in this role and he has also developed some great friendships with colleagues.