Category: Sharing Stories

Working and contributing to community is such an important part of most peoples identities. When we meet someone for the first time, we often ask “What do you do”? Ensuring people have a job they love and are good at is key!

Ilana* is 29 years old, and was determined to gain meaningful paid work doing something she loves. Explorations of Ilana’s future career path commenced with discussions with her mentor from The LMC Group, around her interests and strengths. For Ilana, this was quite straight forward. She loved dancing, singing, music and theatre. Additionally she had experience working in customer service roles and food retail. Therefore it was identified that pursuing a job in a local theatre would be the perfect setting for Ilana to thrive.

As a job seeker, Ilana had to spend some time with her mentor getting herself job ready. Completing her resume, refining her interview skills, researching potential employers, networking, and ensuring she had all the relevant competencies and qualifications such as her Working with Childrens Check, Responsible Serving of Alcohol (RSA), Fire Warden and Food Safety Handling Certificate. Additionally, Ilana was supported by LMC to connect and volunteer with some local Not For Profit community theatre companies.

After applying for many jobs and attending lots of network meetings, Ilana finally landed several dream jobs; working as a Front of House employee across three of Melbourne’s Theatres.

As the saying goes “the show must go on” and so will Ilana’s journey towards a full and rich career in theatre!

*Name has been changed to protect persons privacy

Learn more about our approach to helping individuals with their career pathways.

Having a place to call home and feeling a sense of safety, security and comfort is vital. Its important to have full control over who, where and how you live.

Emma* is a female in her 30’s who had lived in a group home for over 10 years. She was becoming increasingly frustrated in her living environment; not getting to choose who she lived with, what they did and how they did it.

Yes, she had a house over her head, but it was not a home; i.e. a place she could relax, unwind, and express her preferences and passions.

Emma was supported by The LMC Group to start thinking about her dream home. They met many times, together with a small group of friends and family to vision and strategise for a better life.

The LMC Group made a detailed plan over many months, to help bring Emma’s vision to life. This involved thinking about: finding a suitable place to live, advertising and screening for potential housemates; establishing a new structure in the home; finding ways to personalise the home and make it feel welcoming and safe. Careful consideration went into exploring and deepening Emma’s roles in the home such as housemate, homemaker, neighbour and homecook.

After over a year, Emma finally moved into her own home! The LMC Group continues to support this arrangement, offering support to Emma, her housemates and family to ensure it is a happy and sustainable arrangement.

*Name has been changed to protect persons privacy

Learn more about our approach to helping individuals move into their own home.

Giving back your time, skills and energy to the community is so important. Its about helping others and feeling a sense of purpose and meaning in what you do.

Noah* has always been a blokey-man; he loves going to the gym, for a bike ride and fixing things. He was determined to find a way to meet new people who shared his interests.

After meeting weekly with The LMC Group, explorations of his love of bikes, and skills in fixing things, led to the idea of him becoming a Bike Repairer. After careful researching and planning, to Noah’s surprise, there was a volunteer-driven Bike Repairs Centre just down the road.

It is amazing to see all the wonderful opportunities within a close by community when you just start to look…

Noah and his LMC mentor made contact with this small organisation and set up a face to face catch up. Noah was welcomed into the centre and embraced as a volunteer. To ensure he was able to fulfil his job requirements, his LMC consultant also worked to connect him with a to mentor to support him to thrive in the role. Turns out, there was a perfect candidate already working at the centre who was happy to help.

After almost 12 months, Noah and his co-volunteer Bike Repairer ride into the centre together every week, and work side by side helping fix broken bikes. Noah enjoys spending his lunch breaks connecting with the other volunteers and sharing a laugh.

This volunteer work experience culminated in Noah gaining his dream job as a part time employee at a local bike shop. We hope the wheels in this adventurous ride continue!

*Name has been changed to protect persons privacy

Learn more about our approach to helping individuals connecting with their local community.

We believe everyone has the capacity to grow, learn and develop. When given the chance, and with the right support, we can all thrive!

Andrew* is in his early 20’s, a gym-goer, swimmer and active man. He was attending a disability day program full time, and was becoming increasingly withdrawn and frustrated in this environment. He was seeking something different; an opportunity to learn, grow and do something he loves outside of the segregated disability space.

The LMC Group met with Andrew every week exploring the things he loved to do and was good at. Through this work, it was identified that Andrew was interested in having a career in the health/fitness sector. Andrew and his mentor spent time networking and meeting with others in the sector, developing his resume and applying for jobs.

The LMC Group supported Andrew to gain a First Aid Certificate to work in a gym or aquatic centre. Andrew attended a Specialist School and had never completed a certificate like this before, so this was a big deal for Andrew! His mentor worked together with Andrew and his family to develop suitable course material and prepare Andrew for the task. A personalised study guide was created so that information was presented in a way that was meaningful to him.

The LMC Consultant also networked with people, to find a suitable tutor to help Andrew complete his studies.

Through this, Andrew connected with a qualified First Aid Instructor who became his tutor. As she knew the course so well, she was able to explain it to him and provide first aid equipment so Andrew could practice and refine his skills.

After 6 months of studying and role playing, Andrew and his mentor attended the first aid course together. After all his practice and preparation, Andrew aced the course and received a certificate of completion. He shared a bottle of champagne with his family over dinner to celebrate!!

Since completing the First Aid Course, Andrew has applied his learnings in many real settings. He has gained paid work at a local Sports and Aquatic Centre, and he is now about to complete a Certificate in Sport and Recreation. He no longer attends the Disability Day Program.

*Name has been changed to protect persons privacy

Learn more about our approach to helping individuals learn and develop new skills

As human beings, we are social creatures. Finding ways to connect with people we like and share interests with is so important.

Sarah* was about to turn 30 years old. She wanted to do something special to celebrate this exciting milestone.

With the support of her mentor from the LMC Group, she planned her dream birthday bash! It involved planning a dinner party with some of her close friends and family members. Sarah was supported to create a guest list, send out invitations and reminders in the lead up to the big day. Together with her mentor and her cooking teacher, she wrote up a menu and shopping list.

Sarah was in charge of setting the table, placing the decorations and cooking some delicious food for her Mexican fiesta. Her guests arrived on the evening of her party, and she greeted them all at the door.

This was a wonderful way for Sarah to further explore her love of cooking, socialising and hosting. Overall, the dinner party was a huge success! Sarah is now thinking about her next big social gathering…perhaps a cooking class.

*Name has been changed to protect persons privacy

Learn more about our approach to helping individuals connect and socialise with others.

A micro business involves creating a small business enterprise based on a persons interests and skills. It enables them to have access to a customised job based around their strengths.

Samantha* is a 20-something year old female with a love of all things entertainment; she was born to be a star and enjoys singing, dancing and acting. She is a socialite who thrives when spending time with friends and family. Samantha attends a disability day program full time and is seeking paid employment in the community.

Samantha was attending weekly mentoring sessions with a Consultant from The LMC Group.

They would spend time together, and with a small group of her family and friends talk about her ‘dream job’. This involved exploring her skills, strengths and passions.

Through these regular gatherings and conversations, the idea was born to support Samantha to become an Event Planner.

Samantha’s business is still in its infancy stages. However, she has hosted two very successful events, both well attended with over 100 people coming along to connect and enjoy! The first event involved a partnership with her local movie cinema and the second was a virtual movie night.

To enable her to fulfil the role of Event Planner, the LMC Group has helped Samantha: identify her business name and branding; develop promotional material; host a website; network and connect with others; prepare catering; bump in and bump out of events and more.

We hope to continue to support Samantha in her ventures as an Event Planner; watch this space!

*Name has been changed to protect persons privacy

Learn more about our approach to helping individuals start up their own small businesses.