Greystanes is in a number of successful and dynamic partnerships.
La Trobe University
Greystanes has demonstrated its commitment to Person Centred Active Support through its partnership with La Trobe University. Greystanes is one of nine disability service organisations in Australia joining La Trobe in a five-year research project on Person Centred Active Support. Over this time, our practice will be monitored and data collected so that we can continue to improve the way in which we facilitate meaningful engagement and activities for the people we support. Our Training Coordinator and Day Programs Manager have gained accreditation as Person Centred Active Support trainers and have been busy conducting this important training throughout the organisation as well as to external agencies such as NSW Government’s Family and Community Services, previously known as ADHC.
Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) Grants
For the fourth time, Greystanes has successfully applied for funding from the Commonwealth’s Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) grants program to develop an online learning resource for the disability sector. Our latest resource, which will be entitled “Every Moment Has Potential: Person Centred Active Support Practice in Australia”, was developed in collaboration with La Trobe University, Western Sydney Institute of TAFE NSW and other industry partners in 2014.
Centre of Autonomous Systems at the University of Technology of Sydney
Greystanes has a strong and effective partnership with the Centre of Autonomous Systems at the University of Technology of Sydney (UTS). Our friends from UTS have been to Greystanes several times in the past two years, consulting with staff on the design and development of a range of robotic devices intended to enhance the independence of people with disability.
This partnership has been featured on ABC National News
Blue Mountains Grammar School
The students and staff at Blue Mountains Grammar School are key partners to Greystanes in the area of art activities as well as in facilitating better community understanding and inclusion for people with disabilities.
For the past several years, students from Blue Mountains Grammar School’s Visual Arts department join people with disabilities at Day Programs to create art works, including collaborative pieces. The partnership is about extending relationships and exploring new ways of working together through the shared medium of creating art. It has enabled greater understanding between students and people with disabilities and provided new opportunities for both.
Greystanes holds an annual art exhibition to help promote abilities of people with disabilities in the Blue Mountains community to locals and tourists from far and wide and helps to educate about the diverse abilities and contributions that each and every person in the community can make. In recent years, the annual Greystanes Art Exhibition has also featured the works created in partnership with the students from Blue Mountains Grammar School.