February 2025 Newsletter
Happy New Year and Lunar New Year and welcome to the first newsletter of 2025.
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year with family and loved ones and enjoyed a summer break. As we step into February, we still have quite a few team members on holidays overseas and anticipate most people will be back by mid-February. Our Social Groups are back in full swing—the Walking Group on Mondays and Fridays is going strong, and Pizza & Pasta Night is back (held on the last Thursday of the month) and the Swan’s club is busy preparing for the AFL season. I am grateful to those team members who worked over the festive period to ensure the support needs of participants was met.
Our THC Christmas Party held on 31 November last year was a huge success – albiet maybe a little chaotic! – with 160 people in attendance! We are so grateful to everyone who joined this joyous celebration and for making it memorable. True to form there was a lot of heat on the dance floor and it could have gone on all night! We have attached a few images from the Christmas Party below, to see all the pictures simply click on this link ➡️ Christmas Party 2024
Sherry’s Tribute
We were so happy to and fortunate to see Sherry in fine form and in attendance at the Christmas Party and unfortunately she passed away unexpectedly the following day. The team of staff at William Street and those who had supported her over the last six or so years were extremely shocked and distressed at her passing, and this was a difficult time.
Sherry joined the William St family in August 2022, and from that moment on, she brought much laughter with her quick wit and sense of humour. She often said she was “living her dream” at William St and over the past year and a half, we had the privilege of seeing her achieve remarkable growth and transformation. We had the honour of sharing Sherry’s inspiring story of growth in our 2024 Annual Report.
As we say goodbye, let us hold onto the beautiful memories Sherry has left behind. Though she will be greatly missed, her spirit will continue to inspire us. A heartfelt thank you to Goma and the entire William St team for standing by Sherry and providing such invaluable support. Her family would also like to thank Barbara (Support Coordinator) and Scout (Social Educator) along with the rest of the direct support team who worked with Sherry to achieve her dream of living in accommodation where she felt safe, included and respected.
We are now exploring Expressions of Interest for one vacancy at William St. The eligibility criteria for the new person is SDA and SIL funding. We also potentially have a SIL vacancy at Roseville and Artarmon. Please share these opportunities with your network or if you know anyone looking for a suitable home. Send your EOI to us on https://thc.org.au/contact-us/ or email Anne Louise at annelouisehickey@thc.org.au.
NDIS updates
NDIS has extended the timeframe for participants to provide information for eligibility reassessments from 28 to 90 days. This gives participants more time to gather and submit details about their support needs. Participants who have already received a request to provide information due to their eligibility being reassessed and need more time, can contact us for help. We would also like to remind you that if NDIS contacts you for check in, you should request for more time to prepare for the review meeting.
Late last year, the NDIA announced plans to modify the pricing for art and music therapy. If the adjustments had been implemented, the price limit for these supports would have dropped from $193.99 to $67.56 per hour. This news prompted an enormous protest from art and music therapists, people with disability who use these services, and their families. In response, the NDIA commissioned an independent review of the price of art and music therapy. The pricing limits for art and music therapy won’t change until after the review is completed. The independent review will make its final recommendations to the NDIA by mid-March. For the time being, however, nothing has changed, and Art and Music Therapy can be claimed for under the same rate of $193.99 per hour.
Website Accessibility & Language Support
We would also like to remind you that we have installed the Recite Me Toolbar on our website since October last year. This tool provides Accessibility and Language Support on our website which offers a screen reader, multiple reading aids, styling options and live translation that includes 100 languages, 65 of which are text-to-speech. We encourage you to use this tool to customise the website to suit your reading preferences, or to have audio narration. A copy of this Newsletter is also available on the website which will give you access to our translation tool, please click on this link to access: https://thc.org.au/thc-newsletter/
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us via email at thc@thc.org.au or you can call our reception, 02 9415 2311. We are grateful for your ongoing cooperation and support with The Housing Connection. We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of our newsletter.
We’ll be back in April with our next update—until then, take care and stay connected!
Kind Regards,
Nicola Hayhoe
