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I kicked off the month of March with assistance to Vox FM on their Cadbury chocolate fundraiser, selling both in the community and on my Altered Abilities market stall at Warrawong Markets on Saturdays. Each Saturday, Altered Abilities holds a stall at the Warrawong Markets to raise awareness in the community and provide people an opportunity to purchase my book…. Shit!!  I’m 26 and had a Stroke, my personal experience on the challenges, emotions and dealing with long term hospitalisation.

Continuation of my weekly co-host role on Ability Matters took place each Tuesday with Tony and Alan – awesome team talking about services available for the community to connect with and a great selection of music make a wonderful program. I had the pleasure of a fill in presenter 3 times in the month with regular hosts unable to make it for their usual programs – a massive THANK YOU to VOX FM for their confidence in my ability and support to present!!!

The Stroke Foundation put out the call for participation in a review of their Stroke Strategy as well as input into the current Diet after Stroke factsheet. I felt valued for my feedback and contribution with a great group of people that each brought their own special insights to the conversation.

Late in the month the first Living Books for 2024 took place at Elenora Montessori School. I really enjoyed chatting with the wonderful young students for the morning and catching up with team at Wollongong City Council at lunch afterwards. An excellent way to wrap up the month before the Easter Long Weekend.

February began with a new Access Campaign I have been asked to help out with – Beverley Whitfield Pool at Shellharbour. It’s a great cause that I am happy to assist and pass on whatever knowledge I can. We held a meeting with 4 Shellharbour Councillors to discuss options to install a ramp into the pool. My Ability Matters co-hosting continued every Tuesday at 12pm on Vox FM – we had some great interviews that you can listen to on Spotify or UTube by looking up Ability Matters.

Early in the month I was ecstatic my Psychological Health and Wellbeing Article was released on the Young Stroke Project Website, click on the link to read. Late last year, I had taken part in reviewing the Upper Limb Fact Sheet for the Stroke Foundation – final checks were made on the changes made before the update is printed and released on the Website.

I am helping to create some videos with the ASSET Project to demonstrate out of the box thinking with daily tasks – watch this space for more details as they develop. Sunday Markets at Warrawong will take place on the last week of each month, I attended and had a great day networking as well as engaging with people that came on the day. Special thank you to Jeff for all his help providing shade and a seat at my stall.

My month ended with a bang, being asked to participate in Stroke Research with a focus on Nature in Rehabilitation. My insights gave some information as to how important nature was in the process of my recovery and creating spaces for people to connect with on their own personal journeys.

Warrawong Markets

Saturdays from 7am

The new year kicked off with a bang, co-hosting Ability Matters on Vox FM right at the start of the month then weekly as usual. We had a great mix of lived experience interviews and services helping those in the community. I continued my weekly sessions of Presenter Training to operate the panel while on radio. The Ability Matters Team met up to discuss our direction for 2024.

I worked on updating logs and creating new materials to keep track of stock and ordering for Altered Abilities. The article with the Young Stroke Project was finalised and I spoke about creating some videos showing people how to complete tasks by thinking out of the box after my Stroke. My advocacy skills were sought to assist with a campaign to provide access to users of the Beverley Whitfield Pool at Shellharbour, I am now assisting with this campaign.

I was honoured to be nominated and attend the inaugural City of Wollongong Awards Ceremony (formerly Australia Day Awards) and absolutely blown away to receive 1 of 4 Lord Mayor Awards for Recognition of Advocacy in the area of Diversity and Inclusion. My month ended as it began, with a massive bang when I was provided the opportunity to complete my Presenter Training as a Learner Driver on air at Vox FM. Thank you to my trainer, John for his confidence in my ability.

The last month of the year started catching up on administration and my regular weekly Ability Matters co-hosting on Vox FM. Living Books held their combined 15-year celebration and Christmas dinner for all the participants. I was honoured to take part in Wollongong Council’s Diversity Training speaking with new employees about my personal journey after a brain stem Stroke. Time was spent toward the middle and end of the month working on my article for the Young Stroke Project.

I continued my Presenter Training at Vox FM and got extremely excited to join my trainer for some on the job training while he was on the air. Ability Matters Podcast can be viewed on U Tube or Spotify or alternatively you can listen live every Tuesday at 12pm. Catch some great tunes in between interviews connecting people with local services or hearing about the daily challenges and resilience of people with living with Altered Abilities.

Another month of weekly co-hosting on Ability Matters and a continuation of Presenter Training at Vox FM. Plans and creation of the article for Young Stroke Project also took place early on while helping with the Procedure and Policy updates for Berkeley Neighbourhood Centre. I attended the Paul Scully Anniversary Lunch later in the month, followed by the Official Opening for Unanderra Train Station at the end of the week. I participated in a workshop to provide lived experience feedback to update more of the Stroke Foundation Fact Sheet’s and finished the month on a high, speaking to students at Bulli High School with the Living Books Program. A wonderful group of young people it was an absolute pleasure to spend the morning talking about my story and resilience.

Not a huge amount to report for October, the first couple of saw me in holiday mode taking time out and travelling with my husband. Once back home, I got straight into Presenter Training with VOX FM as part of my Ability Matter’s co-host role. During the middle of the month, I visited Keira High School as part of the Living Books Program run by Wollongong City Council. An awesome bunch of young people keen to hear life experience stories.

 Late in the month I attended the Berkeley Neighbourhood Centre Annual General Meeting where I was re-elected as Assistant Secretary on the board and the very next day the VOX FM Annual General Meeting to learn more about the station and its members. And finally, Halloween seen me put together a selection of music to celebrate with VOX FM listeners.