At Hunter Community Services we have been providing home, community access and centre based activities and supports to local people for almost 30 years.
We have a dedicated
team of professional support workers who provide service in the Cessnock, Maitland and Newcastle LGAs.
We pride ourselves on the personal level of service we deliver – for your tailored plans, which are designed by you for your specific needs. Enablement is central to everything we do. We ensure you, our client, always has options and total control over your care which ensures your wellbeing is maintained and allows you to live at home and enjoy all that is important to you. We aim to enhance the wellbeing and quality of life of our clients and provide much needed support.
Our Community Service team provide support that enable people with a disability or those who are aged or frail to remain living at home for as long as possible. We take an enablement approach with all clients so they have choice and control of their care. One such client is Delores Presland, or Del to her friends.
Del has been a client of the Community Services team since she moved into a unit just off Lang Street in 2014. Del was born in the Kurri Kurri area but lived in various parts of the state while her husband carved out a career in the Australian Navy for over 20 years.
In fact, in her teenage years Del worked in the footwear department at the Co-op Store where our Community Centre now operates over 60 years later!
Del attends centre-based activities each Thursday and also makes use of the Community Transport service from time to time. She is extremely grateful for the assistance and even more pleased about the friendships she’s developed over the past few years.
“I really enjoy the contact I have with the others who attend our weekly get-together and the staff who help out. Nothing is ever a problem for them and they genuinely care about how we are all going. I’m very pleased to be back living closer to family and it’s nice to feel like I’m part of a community again. The time I spend at the Community Centre has become a very important part of my week."
Emma, a 22-year old resident of Weston, was unsure of what the future held for her after the Kurri Kurri retailer she’d worked for since leaving school closed suddenly in 2015.
In the two years after successfully completing Year 12 at Kurri Kurri High School in 2012, the retail position had given her a degree of financial independence which allowed her to move out of home.
After the sudden closure of the shop Emma was left unemployed and, unable to find work, she had no choice but to move back home and sign up for Centrelink payments to support herself.
This low point took a toll on Emma’s wellbeing as she struggled with a lack of motivation and the uncertainty of what lay ahead.
With a family member already working in the community care sector, Emma decided to follow suit. She enrolled in a Certificate III in Disability Services course through Joblink Plus and, as part of the training, was offered an internship with Hunter Community Services. The work placement was a success and immediately upon attaining the certification, Emma was offered a permanent part-time role with the organisation.
Emma now works with a mix of aged care and NDIS supported clients living with disability. Her role varies from domestic duties, personal care, home support, social support and flexible respite. She loves being out in the field helping people in the community.
Emma quickly regained her independence and has since moved back out of home, purchased a brand-new car and was able to commence a significant amount of dental work which she’d been hoping to start for several years.
With a new sense of purpose and achievement, Emma wants to continue with her studies to further her career in community care. Working at Hunter Community Services has had such a strong influence on her attitude and her outlook for the future and she is enormously grateful for the opportunity.
"The positive change in my life is almost unimaginable. I love being a support worker, I love being in the field and undertaking different tasks almost every day. The Hunter Community Services team have been extremely supportive. We all work very well together and look out for each other. I’m already planning to start my certificate four (Cert IV) in Home and Community Care so I can further my career in this sector."
