Team Up

Team Up offered grants, resources and free training to disability support groups across NSW in 2017 and 2018.

Team Up was a project of Council for Intellectual Disability, Community Disability Alliance Hunter and Diversity and Disability Alliance.

The Team Up website does not exist any more. But you can see all the stories and resources below.

Articulate Festival was a celebration of inclusion, art and culture with a diverse group of artists, dancers, musicians and more entertaining the crowds.

It was organised by Creatives Collectives, a group of artists with disability who want to make their community more accepting and inclusive.

More information on Articulate here.

Watch the festival video.

Wellness Warriors is a group of people with intellectual disability who get together to learn about good health and mindfulness.

In their sessions they have been learning how to make healthy meals, how to cope with overthinking and overreacting, practising yoga and much more.

Minding Our Business is a peer support group in Penrith for people with a disability who are interested in learning about how to run a very small business.

The group run weekly meetings and is working on securing a suitable workspace for the projects ongoing.

This group was featured in the local papers.

Check the Facebook page for details of their next meeting.

Peer Power was a two day conference for people with a physical disability who use wheelchairs or mobility scooters.

Day 1 was about learning the key elements of peer support. Day 2 gave the time and space to do peer support. Topics ranged from employment to travel and advocacy.

Read more and watch a video from the event.

Deaf Peers Hunter worked on making Team Up peer training accessible for the deaf community, adapting the resources as needed.

The group then delivered both Introduction to Peer Support training and Peer Mentor Training to other deaf peers in the area.

Au2gether is a newly established peer support group based in Hornsby, Sydney run by Autistics and welcomes adults on the Autism Spectrum as well as the Neurodivergent.

The group meetings and discussions focus on confidence, self-advocacy and self-determination.

Find out more about Au2gether.

The Hive is a closed group for people with mental illness and/or a related psychosocial disability who need support in their interactions with the mental health system.

They have held a public forum and continue to connect to more peers through newsletters and social media.

Note: The group wishes to remain anonymous. This is a stock image.

The Maitland Peer Support Group meets monthly and have covered topics like peer support and carer support, housing, equipment demonstrations and microboards.

The group Facebook page is a platform to share information and tell members about local events that may be of interest.

Find out more about the group here.

Wheelies is a new peer support group for people with Spinal Cord Injuries and their carers.

The group meet monthly and have had various different speakers come to their sessions.

The group met with the mayor to discuss accessibility issues in Dubbo and he is eager to get these problems solved with the assistance of the group.

Read more about the group.

A newly formed peer support group for people with disabilities that meets monthly.

The group have had Local Area Coordinators for the NDIS attend so members can discuss with them problems they may be facing with their NDIS claims, and access requirements.

The group has also formed strong ties with a peer support group in Kyogle.

An established literary group comprised of around ten regular members, who have a diverse range of disability, including autism spectrum disorders, auto-immune disease, visual impairment, mental illnesses, and experiences of homelessness.

The group has monthly writing challenges and have welcomed special guest poets to their group as well as members of CID’s Mainstream and Me project.

Read more about Write Up here.

Speak Up Hunter is a group of people with intellectual disability who created their own song and music video.

This Is My World is about respecting people with intellectual disability and listening to what they enjoy in life.

Read more about the group here.

Watch the music video!

Talking traits with Tip is an exploratory program that invites members to have open discussion about autism spectrum disorder traits and how they manifest through adolescence and adulthood.

Topics include sensory issues, emotional  traits, sexuality/gender, physical/medical, social traits, food/diet, daily function and general personality traits.

Find out more about Tip here.

Regional Disability Advocacy (RDAS) has been working with Aborigianal Ability linkers in Deniliquin to identify and gather participants to establish a disability peer support group.

They have also meet with service providers to talk to them about advocacy and the NDIS.

A peer support group has been established in Albury and is meeting weekly.

Find out more about RDAS.

This pilot program was designed to meet the social and neurocognitive functioning of autistic children and approaches autistic socializing and friendship from a strengths-based perspective.

Participants received coaching and support from gaming specialists at Microsoft in order to enhance their own capabilities. The kids then had a chance to introduce six younger children, some autistic, some not, to the joys of Minecraft.

Participants formed authentic friendships and their sense of belonging, inclusion and empowerment have all correspondingly increased.

Read more about Minecraft Mentor.

Reframing Autism helps non-autistic parents of autistic children to shift focus from causes and cures to instead embrace their children’s unique gifts.

The leaders help the non-autistic parents to reframe their journeys with autism to see the opportunity and the optimism of parenting autistic children

Autistic experts and autistic parents of autistic children sharing their lived experiences has resulted in genuine autism acceptance and has decreased the pervasive social isolation felt by many families involved in the group.

Find out more.

A peer support network for women with intellectual disability living in rural NSW.

The group provides and opportunity for peer leadership and to gain access to independent information on rights and the NDIS.

CDIA founder sourced and mentored a new facilitator to run the peer groups and seek out new members.

They ran a workshop for people who want to self-manage their NDIS funding.

They also held an Employment Options Expo to inform people of the different ways to engage a support worker, where to find them and what makes a good support worker.

Find out more about CDIA Ballina.

A peer network for Vietnamese family members and carers of children with disability.

The group works to decrease the social isolation experienced by PWD and their family members.

Each week the group listens to one child present what their main hobby or interest is and collectively they support the children to achieve their goals, feel comfortable and participate in the community.

A new peer group that was set up to share knowledge and experiences, and come up with solutions about how to improve the community and the way people use their NDIS funding.

The group wants to help members gain voice and control through peer to peer sessions.

A group of people with an acquired brain injury who run an art studio together.

The group provides a new sense of belonging with opportunities to regain social skills.

The group made a trip to the Art Gallery of NSW which allowed participants to exercise these skills as well as their navigation and timekeeping skills.

The group are planning a public exhibition of their art works.

Check out their Facebook page.

This peer group will be conducting accessibility audits of local businesses.

They will give advice on how businesses could improve access to promote awareness and build the foundations for a more inclusive community.

This group ran an employment workshop and forum to discuss issues around disability and employment to help build momentum for people with disability to enter the workforce.

Find out more about Essential Employment.

A peer group that helps increase the knowledge and skills of group members, improve exchange of experience/ideas and promote confidence with members acting as mentors to each other and other people.

The group has made two films to raise awareness of deafblindness:

• Hunter Deafblind Group
• Hunter Deafblind Peers – A Brief History

A learning hub for people with intellectual disability. The group builds the digital literacy of its members by exploring different technology.

They also made a short film and a book in Easy Read format to tell people about how they use technology.

Read more about CCA Parramatta.